Mailbag: Owning property is a business

Owning an apartment building is an investment just like buying stocks or bonds and it is also a business.

An individual takes money he or she has earned and saved and purchases a building and land with the expressed intention of making a return on that investment. Just like the person who purchases stock hopes the value does up so does a landlord hope that his investment grows. This happens through real estate value increase, asset improvements and rent revenue.

When a vacancy occurs it only makes sense to try and rent the apartment at the going market rate just like when you purchase stock the price is at the current market rate. Not the rate one year ago.

Owning income property is like any other business. It is not a charitable endeavor.

Our city council is now amazingly concerned about affordable housing. Never mind the over 4,000 new apartments in Glendale with rents ranging from $2,200 for a 662-square-foot studio apartment to $4,850 for a 3-bedroom, 1,386-square-foot apartment.

Their solution is to now build 1,200 new affordable housing units. Whatever those are. And we, the citizens, should somehow pay for it through a potential bond measure.

If I were a landlord in Glendale I would be looking at all these new apartments as setting the market rate. There are unattended consequences. The current median monthly rental rate of $1,308 or $1,450 would be a thing of the long ago past.

Jim Kussman
Glendale