@george-k said in Vacancy Tax:
Presumably these properties are vacant because the cost to rent/purchase is too high. When I was in San Francisco in 2014, a one-bedroom apartment was $3000/month in a reasonable part of town.
So, how is a "tax," which will only increase the cost to rent/buy solve the vacancy problem?
George, we cross-posted. I wasn't replying to this.
If we're looking at the rental/landlord market, then they have multiple choices. They can continue to leave the property vacant, they can lower the rent to what the market will bear, or they can sell the property for what the market will bear. Those may be bad choices. Perhaps the rental price or selling price will be a loss for the landlord/investor. So sorry to hear that. Sounds like it turned out to be a bad investment. You're going to have that. Their real estate market NEEDS a correction. That's going to suck for quite a few people. Oh well. They chose to invest in that market.
At the end of the day, I fully expect the tax to drive the pricing down, frankly. It is going to be in the best interest of the owners to either get tenants or sell the property...