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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
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157 Sisters Park Dr. • 541-549-3575
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