Timothy Birdnow

Mamcommie just destroyed real estate in New York.

He pushed through two schemes 1.he put on a two year rent freeze, essentially making it impossible for landlords to keep up with inflation and 2. he ordered that landlords who want to sell have to offer the property to the city first or two NGO's.

The first issue is obvious; without being able to pay for capital improvements and repairs these buildings will begin to deteriorate and eventually the decline will lead to the landlords losing their shirts. Bear in mind that as buildings deterioirate the good tenants leave and are replaced by whosoever the landlord can get to take the dump. In the end it's a death spiral because they get bad tenants who then won't pay anything at all (and no doubt Mamdani will make evictions nigh unto impossible) and the the landlord is dead in the water.

Contrary to popular opinion (and I speak as a real estate man who did a rental properties) being a landlord is not a very profitable venture and it requires a huge amount of effort and money. Over and over the property management company I worked for picked up clients who were of relatively modest means who thought they could buy a building, rent it, and do a lot of the maintenance themselves. They usually lost the buildings even with our help because it was too late. It takes a lot of time to restore a building's reputation and it costs a lot of money to get it not just up to code but up to desirability. You have to offer something to get urban pioneers to risk moving into sketchy neighborhoods. You can't do it with just a mediocre property. And of course they want to pay less if they are willing to take a shithole.

Meanwhile the building keeps degrading and if vacant you risk people breaking in, squatters, drug users, and people hiding from the police.

I remember a property we had in a bad neighborhood and the local criminals actually carved a hole in the outer wall, dug out bricks, to leave an escape hole they could climb in if the cops were after them. You can't salvage a place that is that far gone. The lone tenant we had left there was unemployed and she sat on the stoop outside every day with her children, who were school aged but obviously didn't go to school. So these children were going to be just like her and raise children of their own like feral animals, stupid and woefully ignorant, so that they themselves could then have children. Lather, rinse, repeat.

But it all starts with landlords finding they can't get enough money to maintain their properties and then having to accept marginal tenants.

Now, if we want to discuss the matter of the government requiring you to sell to them, I do not believe that is legal (and I know quite a bit about real estate law). Note this is NOT using eminent domain and paying fair market price - it's about forcing property owners to simply go to them and if the government decides to make an offer you will have to take it. I assure you they will lowball these offers.

If you can't cut your loses and if you can't sell what can you do? Moran is right; properties will be abandoned at record rates as they become unprofitable.

New York is already a city that has to struggle to keep it's neighborhoods looking good. Old buildings abound, and people have to struggle to find decent places to live. There are so many people that vacant properties will be torn up very quickly, losing their copper pipes and fireplace mantles and crown molding. The only thing keeping the city livable is the high property values, which means landlords can charge a lot.

It's like Goodfellas when Henry Hill was explaining how it worked with Mafia-owned businesses "then, when you can no longer buy a bottle of booze or a keg of beer you go into bankruptcy and burn the place out". Hill was explaining how the Mafia stole a business blind when they went in with a legitimate business owner and wrung it dry.

That is what Mamdani is doing to New York. He's no different than the Mafiosa in Goodfellas.

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