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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2020)
16 Wednesday, April 1, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Renting and owning in the time of coronavirus Dear Property Guy By Mike Zoormajian Dear Central Oregon: I9d like to interrupt our normal format to pro- vide some information and thoughts during the corona- virus shutdown. Let me start by saying that everything, and I do mean everything, is very fluid right now. And any- body who says they know what is happening (including me) is wrong. I also want to recognize the very human and very real suffering that is occur- ring right now in our com- munity. Not just the people who are sick. But the people who are scared, people who are unemployed, families who are worried about mak- ing payroll, people who are struggling with anxiety and depression, people who are just plain sad and lonely& These are our neighbors. Now let9s talk about being a renter and being a property owner right now. There is no playbook for what we are experiencing. Straight up: there is plenty of pain to go around, and nobody is going to escape it. The biggest driving factor of this financial pain is that this shutdown has put innu- merable people out of work. Please note that almost 70 percent of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings and live paycheck to pay- check. Right here, right now, our neighbors are running out of money. Money to buy food, money to take care of their children, and money to pay rent. The reality is that neither unemployment, nor government stimulus checks are going to help for very long. So we now (or will soon) have large numbers of peo- ple who not only can9t pay rent, but struggle to meet basic needs. I9m hearing from clients and tenants that April is mostly good, but May is another story if the shutdown continues. There is an emergency rule in effect that temporar- ily prevents evictions for non-payment of rent. It9s not rent forgiveness, but allows renters to pay back rent over time. Again, we are in uncharted territory, and nobody knows how this is going to work as we move forward. Many property owners depend on rental income as their sole or main source of income. The prospect of not collecting rent has many owners scared and consid- ering putting their residen- tial rentals on the market. This reduced supply will put further upward pressure on rental prices. Banks and mortgage debt holders are still work- ing out how they are going to work with borrowers who are unable to make payments without rental revenue coming in. Some seem to be offering pay- ment deferments, but the common thread is that lend- ing institutions are difficult, if not impossible, to get a hold of right now for firm answers. That9s kind of a rental <State of the Union,= but what to do about it? Every personal situation is so dif- ferent that there is no uni- versal answer, but there is a universal starting point: communication. Landlords, talk to ten- ants. Tenants talk to prop- erty owners. Discuss what your respective financial situations really are. Discuss how to best work through it. Avoid surprises. Some may end up with a temporary rent reduc- tion. Some may work out a payment plan. And some may opt to move to a lower priced rental. I am urging both renters and property owners to be flexible, com- passionate, and to take this as an opportunity to follow the ultimate direction: <Love Thy Neighbor.= 4 Mike Payment for this column donated to Sisters Food Pantry. Mike Zoormajian is prin- cipal at WetDog Properties in Sisters. Providing local property management and investor services. Questions, comments, and mail to: letters@wetdogpnw.com. Free legal advice is worth what you pay for it. Consult a real attorney before doing anything crazy. DOG BITE: Sheriff9s office seeking identity of dog owner Continued from page 1 <were not cooperative with providing information= to the victim. One woman was wearing a dark coat, the other a white coat. The run- ner did not have a mobile phone with which to take photos. The victim reported that he was bitten a second time as he turned to run back down the trail. There was a second dog present on the trail, appar- ently belonging to one of the two women. Bailey told The Nugget that, according to the vic- tim9s report, <There was a verbal confrontation between them and the dog bite victim. One of the women (pulled) out a taser- type device and pointed it at him and told him he needed to 8get the (expletive) out of here.9= The runner contacted the sheriff9s office and deputies responded to investigate. Bailey said that deputies confirmed that the runner exhibited two dog bites, one of which broke the skin. Sheriff 9s deputies are investigating the identity of the women and the dog involved. <We want to follow up on the dogs themselves, their history, their shot history, and get (the women9s) per- spective on what happened,= Bailey said. Anyone with informa- tion who can help depu- ties located and contact the women involved is asked to call the non-emergency dis- patch line at 541-693-6911. 541-549-9388 Open for curbside pick-up or takeout and limited home delivery! Wed.-Sat., 4 to 7 p.m. 22&14K, Fancy-Cut White Topaz CALL FOR NEW WEEKLY SPECIALS . 391 W. Cascade d Ave. | 541-549-2675 corkcellarswinebistro.com CLIMATE STRIKE SISTERS +g]-ma?kb]Zrlh_^o^krfhgma ,:)0 – -:)0 Intersection of Hwy 20 (Cascade) & Larch Street Sidewalks only – Bring your signs Visit sistersrecreation.com for updates and “like” us on our Facebook page for virtual recreation opportunities. SNO CAP MINI STORAGE Sisters Industrial Park 157 Sisters Park Dr. • 541-549-3575 www.SistersStorage.com • State-of-the-art Security Technology • Sizes from 5x5 to 12x40 • Individual Gate Codes • Long-term Discounts • On-site Manager See NuggetNews.com or Facebook.com/NuggetNews for breaking news and COVID-19 updates