La Crisis. Is your rental in foreclosure? Don’t know, well here is a resource.

I was reading the Uncle Fatlips blog and on his page I found a great resource, RentalForeclosure.com.

On it you can look up where you are renting and see if you will soon be homeless.

I found out my building is in foreclosure or has received a notice of foreclosure.

It’s nice when the little people get a heads up.

While Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa has put a moratorium on evictions on these grounds until the property is sold, I’m not sure of the details of this or what happens when the property does get sold. And I’m sure many renters don’t know about what is and is not legal and have just left properties in foreclosure when served an eviction notice by owners because they did not wanting to cause “problems.”

Moving for me is not going to be a big deal. I move all of the time, but if you have kids and they are enrolled in school, maybe having to move might matter to you.

I suggest you swing by and take a look, just so you can know if this year will get any worse for you and at least have time to plan for your demise.

Browne Molyneux

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About Browne Molyneux

My name is Browne Molyneux. I'm a lady. I'm a radical feminist. I'm black. I'm an Angeleno. I'm an artist. I'm carFREE. I'm a freelance writer. I'm a blogger. I'm a philosopher. I'm a humanist. I'm a journalist. I formerly wrote a column on transportation, Tracks for LA City Beat. The above are all of the things I have to work on being, got questions email me. browne@shametrainla.com My topics of interests include but are not limited to politics, transportation, dark green issues, economics, race relations, feminism, culture, working class urban life, media, art, Los Angeles and literature.

10 thoughts on “La Crisis. Is your rental in foreclosure? Don’t know, well here is a resource.

  1. Hi Browne, wanted to stop by and thank you for mentioning our site to your readers. None of what we are doing would make much of a difference if folks like you didn’t talk about it, Thanks!
    We have been working on getting information about the new law in the city of Los Angeles since they announced it. So far they have been very vague. I’m sure they are taken a beating from the mortgage companies over it.

    Thanks Again,
    Shawn Shepherd
    RentalForeclosure.com

  2. “On it you can look up where you are renting and see if you will soon be homeless.”

    I don’t think that the new owners whether the bank or a new investor will be eager to evict someone in this economy. We have had difficulty trying to get (creditworthy) tenants into vacant apartments. In some instances it has taken 5 months to turn around a vacancy. Unless your building has way below market rent, but even that way, the rents reflect the price paid for the building, unless the investors are pretty stupid and pay too much. From my own apartment search, I remember putting in an application at a complex in September and got accepted but did not need the apartment right away — they did not want to budge on holding the apartment for 2 months/giving me a concession — well — idiots should have taken that deal, they still have it vacant.

    I work for a property owner where the tenant mix is 25% residential and the rest is commercial and industrial (approx 320 tenants). As of today we still have 15 tenants that have not paid their December rent. We are not eager to evict them because we know the costs associated to re-rent the units. In the valley we have 3 stores that have been sitting empty for almost a year with no bites or inquiries from small business owners.

    Here’s some info from the LA Housing Department:
    http://lahd.lacity.org/lahdinternet/LinkClick.aspx?link=Rent%2fFORECLOSURE+EVICTION+MORATORIUM+Bulletin.pdf&tabid=36&mid=542

  3. In big apartmenets your statements are true Urbanista, but in smaller places who knows? I in the past have had quite a few friends lose their apartments when the owners changed hands, as I said bigger buildings no worries, but smaller buildings or if you are renting a house luck may not be in your side. And knowledge is good. If you are renting it’s always good to know the financial state of your building. Maybe you can renogotiate your rent to more favorable terms, we at the bottom of the real estate food chain deserve to know about the larger workings of real estate that may or may not impact us.

  4. Browne,

    from the City of LA — it even includes single family homes.

    “The Los Angeles City Council enacted the Foreclosure Eviction Ordinance on December 17,
    2008. The Ordinance provides that banks or lenders who foreclose on or after December 17,
    2008 on single family homes or new multi-family properties (those with a Certificate of
    Occupancy after October 1, 1978) cannot evict a tenant merely because they foreclosed on
    the property. They can only evict a tenant based on the twelve legal reasons permitted
    under the RSO.
    What should I do if I receive an eviction notice from the bank or lender?
    Tenants who receive an eviction notice because the building is entering foreclosure need to
    know that a foreclosure or sale of a building is not a lawful reason to evict tenants under the
    Los Angeles Municipal Code. If a tenant receives a Summons and Complaint for an Unlawful
    Detainer, time is of the essence! It is important that the tenant respond to the summons
    within 5 calendar days. For legal assistance after receiving an eviction notice, tenants
    should contact an attorney or seek assistance from a legal aid agency. For a referral list of
    agencies, please see our Referral Information bulletin.
    Once a tenant receives a notice from a financial institution informing them of the foreclosure
    and change in ownership, tenants should make every effort to contact the financial institution
    and inquire about how to make rent payments. Tenants who are uncertain of who is the legal
    landlord should save their rent and be prepared to pay upon proper notice.
    For questions regarding evictions, please call the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Hotline
    at (213) 808-8888 or (888) 557-RENT (557-7368).”

    I would also warn people to be aware of shady people out there trying to rent foreclosed properties that are already owned by the bank. These people take deposits and first month’s rent from many unsuspecting tenants. Ask neighbors about the building and the landlord. I believe there was a case where a guy on craigslist scammed people out of $30k out in the westside and we know how desperate those out of work realtors can get. So if life gave the realtors lemons, I am sure that they will not make lemonade and find someone to rip off.

  5. Metro,

    Van Nuys (auto center), Winnetka (shopping strip), Simi Valley (3 shopping strips) and more stuff out in the Westside/South Bay, and the San Gabriel Valley. We’re a small company owner-operated. Owner and two minions 😉

  6. I know that some of us want to brush this off as not being a big deal, but if the Mayor of LA had to put a moratorium on this kind of eviction this must have been a problem.

    Or he’s trying to make it seems like he cares…so it’s some kind of pr thing…but I’ve heard of people getting evicted owing to this very thing.

    And does this new moratorium apply to places outside of the LA city proper?

    The above resource isn’t just for LA, it’s for the entire US.

    Browne

  7. Urb:
    We do the City of San Fernando, Hollywood (east of 101), and now Moorpark. Infill/Senior Housing/Commercial. Mostly specialize in re-use/change of use type.

    We have a couple of empty commercial units in S.F, including prime storefronts….one of them is currently being used as an art gallery (rent free) in the interim. Another one has also served as off and on art/mixed-media/community events venue used by different groups including Architecture Students from Woodbury Univ. There’s another beautiful storefront (empty) that will possibly be a rotating art-installation type.

    This is definitely the time to be creative in how we utilize spaces.

  8. Wow that sucks and not in a good way.

    it is true its the smaller apt buildings like 3 or 4 units only where the tenants really get screwed.
    This ordinance is only for the city of Los Angeles.

    I live in Montebello and have friends and relatives that live in other surrounding cities.

    I think most buyers of multi unit apt bldgs make a purchase and tend to like to have it empty.

    So the new owner can start fresh and of course raise the rents and hopefully also make improvements.

    One of my friends has a 4 unit place and he bought it fully occupied thinking positive cash flow well one year in he tried to evict a bad tenant (drugs/paying late/more than 3 people in 1bd apt) and damn took him over 8 months.
    This was not in the city of Los Angeles and was not rent control either.
    It must be harder now that most places require credit checks etc to weed out the scammers, squatters and non payers.

  9. and by the way to top it all off..this friend had his 4 unit place mortgage with countrywide…this was about 5 1/2 years ago and also had a varied interest rate..he was smart enough and able to refinance to a fixed rate in 2006 and either way he could still afford to make the payments. We talked about it last year and he said..I dodged a bullet..his property has gone down in value about 25% but its still worth more that what he owes.

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