Arksansas - Where it's a crime to not pay rent.

[dfrecore]

One of the reasons CA is so expensive is because they are the opposite - so tenant-friendly that many people just don't want to rent out property, which then creates it's own issues.  It's basically a vicious cycle.

There is NO WAY I would rent out property in CA.  None.  There is just not enough upside as a landlord to deal with the downside.  It is impossible to get someone evicted even if they don't pay rent.  So I'm paying the mortgage, but they're not paying the rent, this goes on for months, and I'm screwed.  I know so many people that used to rent out property, but they eventually sold it to get out of the game, because it sucked so bad.

I imagine there are many states out there in the happy medium, where tenants who don't pay have to get out quickly to mitigate the landlord's losses, and landlords have to act quickly to repair/maintain their property for their tenants.  Those are the only places I'm going to own rental property in the future.

I was under the impression that it was expensive to rent in California because the salaries are high, demand is high, and the cost of buying a house is high. If you have to pay $500k for a decent-sized house, it only makes sense that rent will be expensive. 

Yes, those are the reasons rent is high in SOME places.  But in CA, there are laws everywhere, even places where salaries aren't high, demand isn't high, and housing prices aren't high.  I'd say at least 50% of the state is NOT the Bay Area & LA - but everyone still ends up with costs higher than they should be because of these issues.