[HN Gopher] Office Landlords Use Cash Gifts, Loans to Inflate Bu...
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       Office Landlords Use Cash Gifts, Loans to Inflate Building Values
        
       Author : JumpCrisscross
       Score  : 37 points
       Date   : 2024-01-22 17:38 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.wsj.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.wsj.com)
        
       | ProllyInfamous wrote:
       | Dear LLs: as your commercial CDO^3's end up eating themselves
       | [and assoc. real assets], will you please lessen-up on triple-net
       | and rents? Capitalism "works both ways," and watching storefronts
       | sit vacant for years with ridiculous rental terms is just
       | astonishing.
        
         | Workaccount2 wrote:
         | It's because those rent prices are being used as collateral for
         | other commercial real estate property loans. The rent price
         | used is based on the rent the previous tenant paid, not the
         | market value of the property.
         | 
         | If the owner leases at a lower rent price, they will
         | essentially get margin called on their other properties.
         | Therefore it actually might make sense to just have the
         | property sit vacant with a (now) ridiculous rental price.
         | 
         | If governments start implementing a vacancy tax that grows as
         | vacancy duration increases, essentially forcing the market to
         | unstick, we'd likely see a rapid implosion of commercial real
         | estate.
        
           | dgfitz wrote:
           | > If governments start implementing a vacancy tax that grows
           | as vacancy duration increases, essentially forcing the market
           | to unstick, we'd likely see a rapid implosion of commercial
           | real estate.
           | 
           | Doesn't sounds like a horrible thing, but perhaps I'm not
           | understanding what the impact would be to us "regular folk"
           | if the commercial real estate bubble popped.
        
             | datadrivenangel wrote:
             | Probably another recession for no good reason.
        
           | therockspush wrote:
           | Every time I explain this to people you see the 5 stages of
           | grief go across their face, especially when it's a property
           | that used to host their favorite restaurant or something.
           | 
           | I sometimes have to go back and remind myself this is really
           | happening, it's such bullshit.
        
             | anotherhue wrote:
             | Yup. Truly our representatives are not representing us.
        
           | StreetChief wrote:
           | How does this work? The rate and therefore _value_ is fixed
           | in contract? Is that why the previous tenant rent is used and
           | not a market rate?
        
         | ethanbond wrote:
         | Land Value Tax is the solution. Simply tax vacancy into
         | oblivion and force landlords to put the land to productive use.
         | 
         | The current dynamic is how economies seize up.
        
       | koito17 wrote:
       | https://archive.is/NdXMd
       | 
       | ---
       | 
       | Hate to be that guy, but WSJ is blocking Firefox on my end for
       | unknown reasons, whereas with a base install of Chrome it loads
       | fine after a "human verification" process. The only way I can
       | view this with Firefox is through an archive link. Hope it helps
       | others. Not sure if this is something new since I rarely browse
       | WSJ.
        
         | observationist wrote:
         | It's DNS.
         | 
         | Change your DNS to something else that isn't using CloudFlare
         | and this won't happen. Cloudflare isn't compatible with
         | configurations used by archive.is . You can search "cloudflare
         | DNS hackernews" with your favorite engine to find extensive and
         | comprehensive details about what's happening and why.
         | 
         | Take control of your DNS - using your ISP's default never
         | benefits you, and almost certainly benefits them, and almost
         | certainly at the expense of your time, effort, and comfort.
         | Find a DNS setup that you like that isn't using cloudflare,
         | doesn't censor you, doesn't funnel you into walled gardens or
         | censorship bubbles or otherwise try to position itself as a
         | gatekeeper between you and the internet.
         | 
         | Good luck!
        
           | orf wrote:
           | I quite like using cloud flare DNS, and the posturing in this
           | comment is not helping whatever cause you think you have.
           | 
           | > Cloudflare isn't compatible with configurations used by
           | archive.is
           | 
           | archive.is blocks cloudflare for non-technical reasons. The
           | "configurations" mentioned is to block cloudflare.
           | 
           | This also impacts private relay users, annoyingly.
        
           | koito17 wrote:
           | I think you have misunderstood what I said. Wall Street
           | Journal -- the website -- is blocking me. Ironically, I use
           | Cloudflare DNS and archive.is links now work, even though
           | they used to be an endless captcha loop.
           | 
           | The message I get from WSJ is the following. Note: the
           | following does NOT happen when browsing with Chrome.
           | You have been blocked              Why? Something about the
           | behaviour of the browser has caught our attention.
           | There are various possible explanations for this:       - You
           | are browsing and clicking at a speed much faster than
           | expected of a human being.       - Something is preventing
           | JavaScript from working on your computer.       - There is a
           | robot on the same network as you.
           | 
           | I am used to these kind of sites calling me a robot, so I
           | guess the third point is true to some extent :)
           | 
           | P.S. I had to change the Accept-Language headers in Firefox
           | to get this message in English. Otherwise I get machine-
           | translated gibberish, which is ironic considering the page is
           | accusing _me_ of being a machine.
        
       | killingtime74 wrote:
       | My dad alleges that it's common practice for apartment/condo
       | developers to sell the first few units with an undisclosed rebate
       | so that the selling price is anchored to a higher point for later
       | buyers.
        
         | illwrks wrote:
         | It's true unfortunately, at least based on what I've been told,
         | and read.
        
       | datadrivenangel wrote:
       | This sounds like the type of transaction that would be illegal or
       | require more transparency if it was a security offering.
        
       | aetherspawn wrote:
       | Commercial realestate is ridiculous right now.
       | 
       | I have no idea how most shops are profitable when they are paying
       | $3k+ per month, either for a run down shopfront in a non-prime
       | location, or for a 100m2 office.
       | 
       | I'm going to also blame VC money on inflating the price of
       | everything and making it difficult to afford to do profitable
       | tech business at local scale. That's my theory anyway.
        
         | crmd wrote:
         | My corner bodega in a non-posh neighborhood in Brooklyn is
         | paying $5550/month rent for a 750 square foot space. That means
         | having to sell approx 45 packs of cigarettes smuggled up from
         | Georgia per day just to pay rent. I don't know how they do it.
        
           | killingtime74 wrote:
           | Many small businesses do it by using family members as labor
           | (or themselves) and not paying minimum wage.
        
         | bsder wrote:
         | Residential is ridiculous, too.
         | 
         | In Austin, I'm starting to see things like "2 months free".
         | They'll do _ANYTHING_ to avoid actually--you know--lowering the
         | damn rent.
        
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       (page generated 2024-01-22 23:01 UTC)