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Business Q&A -- Roberta Claudson The June vacancy rate for Rogue Valley rental property was 3.8 percent. How does that compare to a year ago and past years? The vacancy rate has maintained between 2 and 5 percent for several years. When we have a lot of development in the valley it jumps up to as high as 6 percent, but we have quite low vacancy compared to the rest of the state. Five percent is very healthy for both the landlord and the tenant. If the vacancy rate gets too high, then the landlord doesn't have the extra money to upgrade his units and if the vacancy rate gets extremely low then it's very difficult for the tenant to ever move. What are some of the critical errors that new rental owners make? A lot of rental owners think that just because it's logical, that it's legal. I've seen landlords come in with rental agreements they thought made good sense. They and the tenant both agreed to the issues and they signed it. When it came time for the tenant to move out or the rules weren't being followed and the landlord came in to find out what they could do, the form didn't meet the law so the rental agreement was quite a problem for both. Does your organization lobby to make things practical for both parties? We work with other landlord groups, tenant associations and legal aide to effect change in the law. Each legislative session an omnibus bill is presented to the Legislature by the group. If it swings one way or another too much, then someone is going to get hurt. As usual, it passes pretty much without fanfare because all of the problems have been worked out ahead of time. We will be updating our landlords in our monthly meetings. Has the decline in stock values and fall in interest rates led more people into investing in rental property? It makes sense that would happen, because property seems to hold its value in the long run. It's always a good investment for the professional landlord. Sometimes the mom and pop investor gets burned because they don't screen their prospective tenant and then they go two or three months without rent and they can't make their mortgage payment. Then they'll get disgusted sell the thing and there goes another piece of property that's not available to tenants. Has your membership grown and has it made for better-informed landlords? Our membership has definitely increased, we have about 225 members. We have from what we call the mom and pop operator, with one to six units, to the larger property management firms. But our membership isn't enough, because we find that a lot of the silly laws come about because of a bad tenant or a bad landlord does something really strange. If we could educate all landlords and tenants, the law could be very simple: Just keep your unit clean, let us know when something isn't working, don't disturb your neighbors and pay your rent and we wouldn't need to have these six-page agreements. A good landlord is going to want to protect their property. They're going to want to fix things promptly. Oftentimes, some landlords inspect the property more often than a tenant wants them to, because some tenants never let you know that any thing is wrong - replacing a bathroom floor can be very expensive. What issues are on the horizon for rental owners? If any area is overbuilt with too many new homes. That's going to raise vacancy rates. Or if interest rates drop so low that it's economically feasible for renters to buy their own place, then vacancy rates decline. Part of Portland has a 15 percent vacancy rate, because they overbuilt. Over in Coos Bay, they've been up to 15 to 20 percent vacancy rate and that hurts everybody. We have seminars on all kinds of issues, maintenance, mediation, fair housing issues. Keeping up on fair housing laws is extremely important. The risk to a landlord that doesn't follow fair housing laws can be quite expensive. To suggest a subject for this column, please contact business reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.