The anecdotal evidence is also quite overwhelming. Our collections have barely dipped since the begin- ning of the pandemic as has been the same with every other investor and landlord we know. The vibe in various real estate forums and Face- book groups is the same. Remember, the unemployment rate is back below six percent and the federal government has passed two trillion dollar plus stimulus packages (the CARES and HEROES acts) which have offered support. And many of these programs are still in effect. (Now this has caused inflation and will likely lead to stag - flation, but that’s the topic of another article.) EVICTIONSARE OFTENNOT NECESSARY It should be noted that the evic- tion moratorium was not a complete moratorium. It only covered people who made less than $99,000/year ($198,000 jointly) and met other requirements such as “Have used
their best efforts to obtain govern- ment assistance for housing.” So there have still been some evictions during the federal moratorium. In addition, many renters who can’t afford their rent will make “cash for keys” deals with their landlords where the landlord pays them a few hun- dred dollars to leave quickly. We had a handful of people who weren’t paying during the moratorium and all but one left with such an arrangement. Others fell behind and couldn’t catch up on their delinquent rent, but they eventually got a new job and can now afford to start renting a new place. Many landlords will let them leave instead of waiting (and paying) for them to be evicted. After all, there is going to be a backlog in the courts so it will take a while to work through the old fil - ings. In other words, there won’t be a spike or “tsunami” just a modest increase from what it was before the moratorium was put in place. And if somehow I’m wrong, well, the federal government has shown no hesitancy in spending lots of mon-
ey of late. They would almost assur- edly step in to offer support in order to avoid further political instability.
CONCLUSION Evictions are ugly and not some - thing that anyone wants even though they are necessary sometimes. And there will be an uptick in evictions for a while. But the scare stories of mas - sive evictions putting millions upon millions of families on the streets overnight are wildly overblown. Thankfully, there will be no “evic- tion tsunami.” •
Andrew Syrios has been investing in real estate for over a decade and is a partner with Stewardship Investments, LLC along with his brother Phillip and father Bill.
Stewardship Investments focuses on buy and hold and particularly the BRRRR strategy—buying, rehabbing, and renting out houses and apartments throughout the Kansas City area. Today, Stewardship Investments has over 300 properties and 500 units. He writes for Think Realty, BiggerPockets and The Data Driven Investor.
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