Prior to raising the rent, introspect with these few questions:

How does rental revenue look on your mortgage?  If you’re servicing a mortgage on your property, there must be a percentage of the rent that goes towards it. Hence, you need to know whether it’s time to raise the rent by calculating your rent-mortgage ratio. This involves analyzing the specifics of your mortgage as well as revising your ROI projections.

Do you need to raise the rent?  You need to find a resolution between what will generate profit for your business and persuading your upright occupants to remain. One way around this is gleaning what rates the landlords in your vicinity are charging. If what you intend to charge exceeds the value of similar properties, then the tenant may opt to move on. This may put you at the risk of the turn around a lengthy period of in occupancy.

What are the legal concerns about raising rent?

What are the rights of your tenant? When it comes to rent increments, tenants have certain privileges. It is best to become acquainted with the local laws so that you handle any circumstances properly.

Is your property rent-stabilized? This characteristic depends on the location of your property. The article above explains the conditions for raising rent.

Does your property feature senior citizen rent increase exemption? Some local laws cover rent increments on the elderly. Due to this discrepancy, it’s best to know the legalities of increasing the rent of senior citizen tenants in your area.

What are the legal stipulations about Section 8 increases? If you’ve decided to provide housing solutions for Section 8 occupants, then expect some limitations. There are merits and demerits of choosing section 8 tenants, and once again, you must consider the legal implications of raising the tenement rate on this cohort.

Now you’ve decided to raise the rent, what’ next?

Timing is essential: There are various reasons why you may raise the rent on your property. One such idea is keeping in tune with rising prices. Find the most appropriate time to break it to your tenants about the change in clear terms.

Writing a rent increase memo: You’ll need to notify your tenant of your decision to raise the rent in a written letter. This must be done before you offer them an option to renew their rent so that they have ample time to weigh their options.

Negotiating rent increase: Your decision to increase the rent may be met with rebuttals from your tenant. They may wish to open negotiations. And that’s why you must anticipate the angles they may be coming from and whether you’ll conform to them or not.

Cushioning the effects of the increase: If your tenant is great and you don’t want them to leave over hiked rent, offer them some benefits if they opt to renew their contract. By doing this, you’re showing them that you care, incentivizing them to stay and that your decision to increase the rent was influenced by surges in the local market.

Add-on options: In addition to enticing your tenant to stay on, you may liaise with local businesses to know if they keen on collaborating with you. You can offer yearlong rebates, rather than a one-off gift.

Mortgage rates have been smooth sailing in the past few months, and last week’s hike has led to a dip mortgage activity.

Mortgage applications slumped 11.9% from last week according to the seasonally adjusted index published by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Volume stands at 54% higher than the previous year.
The mean total interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage with conforming loan balances ($484,350 or less) rose to 4.02% from the previous 3.92%. Points also moved up to 0.38 from 0.35 (as well as the origination fee) for home loans with a 20% down payment.

The sliding rates resulted in a 17% fall in applications to refinance a mortgage.

Refinance volume has been stable for several consecutive months, considering the general low-rate setting. However, higher rates are creeping in. Refinance activity was well-placed at 126% higher as of the exact week 12 months ago, but yearly profits are dwindling.

Mortgage applications for home purchases, which had been less affected by weekly rate changes, dropped by 4% this week but was 6% higher compared to its corresponding week last year.

Going by how low mortgage rates are now than they were last year, mortgage activity ought to be experiencing a boom. Rather, buyers are currently dealing with higher mortgage prices that are counterbalancing the savings from lower rates. This scenario is the result of a progressive scarcity of homes for sale despite soaring demand.

In September, mortgage prices registered its greatest uptick in almost two years, according to statistics from the National Association of Realtors. Accordingly, sales nosedived more than envisaged.

Sales of existing homes in September dipped well below expectations, following two months of profit. The reason for this is declining supply alongside high prices. Prices spiked nearly 6% per annum, based on figures from the National Association of Realtors, indicating the highest gain since January 2018.

Roof-hitting prices are ascribed in part to lower mortgage rates. Lower rates imply inexpensiveness, with purchasing power shifting to the buyers, forcing prices to increase.
Realtors claim that there is an increase in demand, which they estimate by the frequency at which their lockboxes are opened. Lockboxes, which grant entries to homes when the owner is not in, can now be tracked electronically. Buyer influx across homes is now on the rise; however, the influx does not convert to enhanced sales.

The volume of homes placed for sale was almost 3% less than September of the previous year. This means 4 consecutive months of annual descent.

Builders are bolstering production gradually but mainly in the upmarket areas. PulteGroup observed a boost in sales for fresh orders in Q3. Its CEO alluded this to poor mortgage rates, which enhances affordability. However, Yun was frustrated with the homebuilding market, on account of the profound dearth of general housing.

More competition is required in the homebuilding segment. Well-established builders are performing remarkably, but the market needs small builders to provide stiff competition. We also need to identify other viable options.

Among other solutions, he suggested repurposing ailing shopping malls into condominiums and erecting more micro-units.

What is Bankruptcy?
Bankruptcy is a legal proceeding that involves a judge and a court trustee assessing the assets and liabilities of individuals and companies who cannot honor their financial responsibilities and reach a verdict as to whether to absolve those debts, so the debtor is no more obligated to pay them.
Insolvency laws were created to avail those with troubled finances with a basis with which to start over. Failed businesses on account of poor decision-making or ill-luck deserve a second chance in a capitalist economic system.

Who files for Bankruptcy?
Individuals and businesses who file for insolvency have more debts than the funds to service them, with the status quo far from circumvention. As of 2015, bankruptcy filers had debts of $113 billion and had assets of only $77 billion. Most of these assets are real estate assets. However, their actual value remains controversial.

Surprisingly, individuals – not businesses – seek help the most. They have accrued obligations such as a mortgage, car loan, or student loan – in some cases, all three, and are without the wherewithal to service it. There were 844,495 bankruptcy cases filed in 2015, with 97% (816,760) of them filed by people.
In 2015, businesses that filed bankruptcy cases were only 24,375.

Most individual bankruptcy filers are not necessarily wealthy. The median income for the 819,760 individual filers was just $34,392, while expenses were just $30,972.

When Should I Declare Insolvency?
While there is no perfect time for declaration, it’s best to keep in mind that the real question is: should I file for insolvency? If you’re going to need more than 5 years to repay your debts, then it might be time to proclaim insolvency.

The rationale for this is that the bankruptcy code was designed to accord people a chance to turn things around and not penalize them. If the ruination is caused by a mixture of mortgage debt, credit card debt, medical debts, and student loans, then declaring bankruptcy is the best option if you feel things won’t change. If you don’t meet these requirements for declaring bankruptcy, all hope is not lost.

There are debt-alleviation options such as debt management programs or debt settlement, both of which inherently require 3 to 5 years for a resolution to be reached. However, none of them guarantees that your arrears will be settled.

Why Should I Declare Insolvency?
The major reason for declaring bankruptcy is to have a new start.
In addition, filing for bankruptcy may ease some of the pressure related to your financial woes. Declaring bankruptcy will halt all the pesky cold calls, emails, letters, and other attempts to contact and collect funds from you.

In legal terms, it is called “the automatic stay.” It means that creditors are forbidden to file a lawsuit against you or making claims against your assets, as well as contacting you in order to get you to service the debt. It also immunizes you from actions like evictions, utility disengagement, and wage garnishments.

What does Filing for Bankruptcy mean?
Filing for bankruptcy is a legal procedure that reduces, reforms, or revokes your debts. Filing for bankruptcy with a court is the initial step. You can also file with an attorney. Bankruptcy costs involve the payment of attorney fees and filing fees. Furthermore, if you filed on your own, you would cover the filing fees.