Trade Show a Huge Success!
WOW! What an event! Our “Million Dollar” Trade Show and Landlording Conference last month was a huge success! Very knowledgeable speakers delivered fantastic content that provided our members with loads of ideas that will empower them to make and or keep more money than ever before. What was your big takeaway? Some members even walked away with valuable prizes given away at every seminar! Didn’t make it this time? Read on further to discover the time and place of the next AOA Million Dollar Trade Show.
There was no place in the world like the Long Beach Convention Center on Thursday, October 27th! Our members really know how to take advantage each year of this incredible source of information and…it was all free! It’s just one of the many services we provide for our members in addition to the lowest membership dues and credit check fees as well as the best service in town!
Many thanks go to our dynamic speakers – Tracey Merrell, Esq., Jeffrey Taylor, “Mr. Landlord”, Eviction Attorney Dennis Block, Esq., Real Estate Expert Lou Brown, Asset Protection Specialist Larry Oxenham, Michael Brennan, Esq., Tax Specialist Karla Dennis, Tax Lien Specialist and Steven Rein. They provided the most powerful and contemporary information on wealth-building and apartment landlording that you’ll ever be able to find.
Our thanks also go to our large variety of exhibitors and their commitment to our members in offering the best possible professional assortment of services. Be sure to see highlights of the show and photos included in this issue.
And … a very special thanks goes to you, our members, who truly are the essence of our trade show success! It was so nice to finally meet many of you face to face. Your generosity to our Union Rescue Mission Canned Goods Drive was greatly appreciated. Thank you! And your thirst for knowledge in your pursuit of excellence is a driving force in the betterment of our industry! A thousand thanks….and we’ll see you at our next trade show at the Los Angeles Convention Center in West Hall A on Wednesday, April 19, 2023!
It pays and saves you big just to be an AOA member. BUT…it pays and saves even more for those owners who turn up every year to discover new ideas at the Big Show!
FINALLY … L.A. County Tenant COVID-19 Protections End December 31, 2022!
In September, The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to end pandemic tenant protections on December 31, 2022.
This last vote is the first to explicitly set December 31st as the “defined end date” for the county’s pandemic tenant protections.
It was quoted that “many homelessness policy experts credit the local eviction protections and bans on rent increases with reducing the number of Angelenos falling into homelessness during the pandemic”. They forgot to add the fact that it all landed on the shoulders of rental housing providers and that your property rights were dismissed!
Tenant Advocates Now Want Permanent Protections Before Year-End
Tenant advocates are now calling for the county to enact permanent tenant protections before lifting the COVID-19 rules. Some of the rights they are asking for include:
- Rent control in all of the 88 cities that make up L.A. County
- Rules limiting evictions to “just cause” reasons such as causing a nuisance or damaging property
- The right to an attorney for all tenants facing eviction
- Higher thresholds on how much back rent tenants must owe before landlords can start eviction proceedings
Carla De Paz, with a nonprofit organization aligned with the Keep L.A. Housed coalition said that folks really need permanent protections to stay housed and that doing whatever we can to keep people housed is critical right now. She stated that without some new permanent protections, L.A. would see spikes in homelessness.
Rental Housing Providers Have Footed the Bill Long Enough!
The state program “Housing is Key” ended in April. As some owners received partial funds for unpaid rent, many did not. Many of you have gone through the entire pandemic without any rental income while your bills still become due and payable. Property taxes, insurance, maintenance and repair, utilities and in some cases, property management fees. There’s also rent registration fees, SCEP fees, the mandated earthquake retrofitting and the upcoming balcony repair law. Where are housing providers expected to get the funds to continue to pay for our expenses? What about our protections?
Economics 101 – Rent Control is Not the Answer!
Respected economist, Jay Parsons says science and history show why rent control does not work and hurts the affordability of rental housing. He goes on to say “Rents have kept up with incomes in market-rate apartments, which is why rent control is mostly a misallocation of resources to wrong households. The root problem is underfunding and undersupply of affordable housing by governments at every level.” In his Twitter thread, he says that lots of articles of late are saying things like ‘rent control remains rare due to landlord opposition.’ This is very misleading. Sure, landlords oppose it. But who cares? More importantly: The SCIENCE of economics opposes rent control. And history, too.
A Stanford economist says that rent control is a short-term fix for current residents, at the expense of long-term affordability for a much broader population.
Nobel Prize winner, Gunnar Myrdal, stated that rent control has in certain Western countries constituted, maybe, the worst example of poor planning by governments lacking courage and vision.”
Harvard’s Ed Glaeser said: “The most natural tool towards affordability is supply, and to make sure that we are making it easy enough to build moderate-cost rental-apartment buildings in these cities.” But not ironically, most cities with rent control or that are seriously discussing it are themselves guilty of making it way too difficult to build housing– which makes all new construction more expensive.
Protections to Remain in the City of L.A.
The vote to end tenant protections apply to unincorporated parts of L.A. County, as well as any cities within the county that do not have their own stronger tenant protections in place.
- For AOA members in L.A. County, log into your member portal and visit the “Forms” section. Search “L.A. County Maximum Allowable Rent Increase Table” and view the chart to see if your property is located in a city with its own rent increase cap.
- If you are a member outside of L.A. County, under AB 1482, search “AB 1482 Maximum Allowable Rent Increases for 2022” for a quick reference of allowable rent increases in your area.
It does not apply to the city of Los Angeles. As of this writing, the city’s tenant protections have no end date. We anticipate the City Council ending LA. City Eviction Moratorium either at the end of December or January. On what basis? The L.A. Housing Department issued a report recommending that the moratorium end December 31st, so this issue will be voted on by the full City Council. Unfortunately, the report does not recommend ending the rent increase freeze. We assume that the rent freeze for properties in L.A. City will remain in effect for a year after the moratorium ends. We vehemently oppose the rent freeze. Please visit https://aoausa.com/pac/ to discover how you can help oppose the rent freeze, even if you’re not an AOA member.