Foreclosures are at an all time high due to the lowest point in the economy since the great depression. This in turn has affected the rental market in many ways. One would think evictions would follow the foreclosure trend, but what has actually happened is that abandonments have out weighed evictions. Here is why. If an owner decides a foreclosure is his only way out of a property because they cannot afford the mortgage any longer, the tenants have no choice but to vacate the property before the home is auctioned off. One of my many duties as Maintenance Director here at the Tucson branch of Brewer Caldwell is to meet with a police constable at an eviction, or drive by the home where the renter is behind on rent and check for abandonment before the eviction is processed. I have done about 5 to 6 abandonments in just 2 months verses 2 or 3 evictions I am accustomed to over that period of time. If you have rented in Arizona before, you know the eviction process does not take long. If someone loses their income in this market, it is going to be extremely difficult to immediately find a good paying job. This is why most tenants will immediately leave the home and try to avoid a lock out. This is similar to an auction on a foreclosed home, only abandonments happen very quickly in the rental market. Those that abandon a rental home are usually tenants who know the process and don"t want to stay in the home to face the inevitable eviction. We also have the renters who have no idea how the process works. Two of the evictions I have done recently obviously didn"t know the process, so we did not lock them out so fast even though they owe close to $3000. Nine times out of ten the tenants will pay their outstanding balance and stay in the home. Bottom line is there is no safe way to let any kind of property, rented or owned, just go away without some kind of harsh recourse. This is a big problem in America as a result of this very hard economic time. I would propose landlords adopt a plan that the car companies and mortgage companies are now implementing. Allowing a hold or a lowering of the rent for a few months to allow the renter to hunt for a job while staying in the home could possible save the home. If the tenant has not found a job, the tenant should be able to leave the property fairly with no harm done to credit. It is highly doubtful that landlords would ever allow this, but it would be a great way for companies to retain tenants, and investment owners to avoid their own foreclosures with that very important flow of rental income.
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