Allentown to shame landlords into property cleanup

ALLENTOWN – Allentown's mayor is putting landlords on notice. They'll have to clean up their properties or face public humiliation.
Mayor Ed Pawlowski has unveiled a Landlord Hall of Shame.
It's aimed at publicly embarrassing landlords into action when issuing code violations doesn't work.
Inductees' names, phone numbers and home addresses will be posted on large signs attached to their properties so neighbors can call and demand action themselves, according to WFMZ-TV.
If the landlords live out of the area, the city will send news releases to their hometown newspapers. If that doesn't work, the city will purchase advertising space to ensure that the public shaming reaches into their own neighborhoods.
Allentown has established a page on its Web site dedicated to outing neglectful landlords.

View the Landlord Hall of Shame here

My post on Friday talked about Sheriff Tom Dart in Illinois that is refusing to evict tenants from properties where the landlord was foreclosed. What he wants is to push the banks to give notice to the person living in the property that foreclosure is coming.  I agree with this as it can protect the tenant but I can see bigger issues it may cause.  First, there is the potential of a sale.  If a good tenant is in a property, one that pays their rent on time and maintains it well, the house will sell faster to an investor with a good tenant than empty.  You know that once a tenant receives word that a foreclosure is in the works, they are gone.   Second, and I am cynical here, there are always people who try to ride the system for all they can.  This gives tenant's one more weapon in their arsenal to not pay rent.

Tom Dart's stand seems to be contagious as a Genesee County Missouri Sheriff, Robert Pickell, is following suit.  He's started a moratorium for renters who are facing foreclosure.  Here is a link to the article. Anyone see a trend starting?

 Here are some links to articles on tenants who are being forced out.

This tenant in Philadelphia was taken for a ride by an investor who assumed the owner's mortgage.

This Wesley Chapel tenant moved into a property that was heading into foreclosure.

This Laguna Hills guy paid $30,000 in rent and the place in in foreclosure.

This article gives some good pointers on how to protect yourself from landlord's who may be facing foreclosure.

What I do have a problem with is a sheriff not doing his job.  His statement that "Until the banking industry steps up and does the right thing, I won't continue to risk violating the law and open taxpayers to further liability" is wrong.  He admits he tried to lobby the legislature to pass a law which never happened.  If he tried to get a new law passed why would he now say that he is worried about violating the law?  It sounds to me like he is on a personal crusade and needs to uphold the laws on the books.  Just because he was unable to get his own law passed does not mean he can ignore his duty.  

On the flip side, there is this law which affects only three small areas within Philadelphia.  Here city council passed a law that on certain blocks within a vicinity of one college students must live in owner occupied housing.  Now you need to know that there are at least 6 major colleges or universities in Philadelphia.  This law only applies to the houses near one of them.  I can't see how a law can be passed only for certain parts of a city and not others.  Someone needs to challenge the legality of this law and fight back.

web log for us – those that see some huge regulations coming for landlords in the future

I've kept politics out of this blog in the past but this bailout bill has gotten be angry.  I can say that this is the first time I have felt anger at what my government is doing.  Up to this point in my life I have disagreed with what my Congresspeople and Senators have done.  It may be that I come from a different type of person than this bailout bill was intended for.  I am middle class.  I am a business owner, as the main topic of this blog can tell you.  I've spoken to others in my general financial class.  I have yet to speak to anyone who wanted this bill to pass.  I was amazed that it went through. 

I understand the theory behind the bailout.  I believe the theory is completely wrong.  The market was on its way to a correction.  No one can exist on credit alone.  I know macro-economics are much different than the small time economics of everyday life but I can't get past two main points that I feel are needed for stability.  

1. Credit has its place in business and life.  It is not something that can be used for long term existence.  
2. If you sell products that no one wants, you will go out of business.We are in the position we are in now because both of these rules have been violated.  

Companies and individuals have been operating outside their means for a long time utilizing credit.  Both people, small business and large businesses are stuck when there is no credit.  They do not have the stability that true capitol brings.  There have been reports for the past few years that people have been saving the least amount of money since the great depression.  What caused the great depression?  Many things, but it was largely brought on by a large part by credit.  Living large off credit is a sure way to go downhill fast.

Companies took very risky mortgages and packed them into securities that were sold to investors.  When things tanked, no one wanted to buy these risky mortgages any longer.  These banks were left holding a lot of products no one wanted to buy.  Correct me if I am wrong but if you are trying to sell something no one wants, you should go out of business.  If you open store that sells Marti Gras beads, condoms and other risqué merchandise in the middle of an ultra-conservative religious neighborhood, you're probably not going to sell much.  Eventually you will go out of business.  You should.  You made a bad business decision.  You were selling something no one wanted. 

Now we are on the hook for buying these bad mortgages.  I am angry because I could have purchased a house for much more than I did.  I played it safe and bought what I knew I could afford, not what the bank would lend me.  So I played it safe and have a house that is smaller than I could have gotten.  not only that but I now get to watch my tax dollars help reduce the interest rate for those people that did buy too much at a higher interest rate.  Anger is just the start of what I feel.Anyway, I've been looking around the internet to try and find how my representative’s in Washington DC voted.  I wasn't able to find an easy place to tell me how the Senate and House voted on the bailout bill.  To help out I have compiled the representative name, vote, part and state in a convenient table to use.  You can click on the top of the table to sort the columns. 

Do you want to contact your senator about how they voted Wednesday on the financial bailout bill (S. Amdt. 5685 to H.R. 1424)?  You can find your Senator's contact information at:  http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

If you want to contact your Congressperson, the House contact page is:  https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml 

If you want to see how your senator voted on the bailout bill, I have a nice sortable table here:

If you're interested in seeing how your Congressperson voted, the House vote for the bailout bill is here:

Do you want to contact your senator about how they voted Wednesday on the financial bailout bill (S. Amdt. 5685 to H.R. 1424)?  You can find your Senator's contact information at:  http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm 

Looking to see how the House Voted?  Click Here

Senate vote for Bailout Bill S. Amdt. 5685 to H.R. 1424

There is 1 vacancy in the 435-member House.  There were 172 Democrats and 91 Republicans that voted yes.  There were 63 Democrats and 108 Republicans that voted No.  A "yea" vote is a vote to pass the bill.

If you want to contact your Congressperson, the House contact page is:  https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml  

Want to see how your representative in the Senate Voted?  Click Here

House Vote for Bailout Bill

Results on how your representative in congress voted on the Bailout Bill.