Hello Everyone,

    This version of our testimony on rent control and rent stabilization is improved. And I include the email addresses of the Housing Committee members at the bottom. You can copy and paste the email addresses into the “TO” line of your email. A pdf version is also attached. We are open to suggestions. Thanks for your help.

Small Landlord Letter   No. 27   November 12, 2023

  By Skip Schloming, Ph.D. & Lenore Monello Schloming, M.A., 50 years as small landlords, 23 years as leaders of the Small  

  Property Owners Association (1996-2021).  617-354-2358   contact@SmallLandlord.com

Rent Control Harms EVERYONE

Only landlords pay for rent control? Hell, no! Everyone pays.   

Single-family owners, condo owners, ALL multifamily owners PAY

&n
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 https://blog.nomadlease.com/prepare-property-winter-checklist

https://www.homedepot.com/c/ah/how-to-winterize-a-house/9ba683603be9fa5395fab90eefdc135

Summary & my 2cents

Maximize your Heating Options: Gas, Oil, Wood burning, GeoThermal, Solar?

Inspect your Homes Exterior: Roof, Gutters, Downspouts (Water is directed AWAY from your Foundation!) Insulated Cover for ALL exterior faucets. (Frost Proof Sill Cock is Best!) 

Inspect your Furnace and Filter

Keep the Warm Air Inside: Weather stripping, Spray Insulation, Windows & Doors fit tight.

Prepare for Emergencies: Flashlights that work, batteries, Battery powered Radio, Prescriptions, Xtra Pet Food, (Bag of Sand, Shovel & Jumper Cables in your Trunk)

Cleaning up: Start your SnowBlower & Gas up also Call your Plow Guy. I start Every Winter with New Snow Shovels at each house (house # painted all over the Shovels, Extra Bags of Sand and Salt. and Advise Residents: I'll have someone here as soon as possible but if you need to get out in a hurry, here's the Shovels, Sand & Salt) 

Everyone knows that as interest rates rise, real estate prices drop.  It is only natural.  If the current interest rate is 4% on a $300,000 loan, the monthly PI (Principle & Interest) payment is $1,432.25.  If the interest rate goes up to 7% and the average buyer can only afford a monthly payment of $1,432.25, then the maximum amount they can borrow goes down to $215,277.40.

This is affectively what has happened over the past year and a half, so why have prices continued to climb?  That’s a great question and can be explained by the extremely low inventory levels.  The level of inventory has been so low for so long that the principles of supply and demand have caused prices to increase dramatically. 

In other words, if interest rates hadn’t risen so much so fast, the average loan balance may have risen to $565,000.  That is what the borrowers could afford based on the current average monthly PI payment of $2,700 and an interest rate of only 4%.

The following chart shows the affect interest rates have on a borrowers ability to pay over the past 18 months.

 Are You Working on the Wrong Things

By Barney Zick (Ron LeGrand)

There’s a common mistake I see students making repeatedly and it doesn’t seem to matter if they are new or been around awhile. That mistake is:

Doing Everything They Can to Feel Busy Except the Critical Things Required to Stay in Business.

It’s so easy to be busy. Anyone can do it and most people would say they’re very busy almost all the time.

“If I only had more time.”
“The days just aren’t long enough.”
“So much to do and so little time.”

A rat in a circular cage is busy running in circles but getting nowhere. Pretty soon he has a heart attack and dies. Being busy will not make you rich. In fact, it can have the opposite affect and prevent you from ever achieving wealth. Don’t get me wrong. Rich people are busy too. I’m very busy most of the time. Always something chasing my attention. An endless supply of things to work on that sucks up my time. 

The difference is I constantly and consciously work on…only those items I can’t delegate and are worthy of my attention.

Minutia is a deadly disease that steals away the most productive time of
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