[oregontim]

I know very well a couple in their early 30s, both making decent incomes, who chose after marriage two years ago to invest in rental houses instead of the stock market. They are exactly the smalltime landlords your post worries about. If tenants stop paying rents, they are screwed. Both of their rental houses have mortgages on them. I have my fingers crossed on this one, because renter protection without mortgage protection seems a popular option. Exactly as you suggest, it will hit the middle classes, not the wealthy.

Very minor quibble...I think it will hit the poor -- the renters -- more than the middle class who own 1-2 rental properties.  Chairman of the Fed Jay Powell said that 40% of those hit make less than $40k per household.

Not a quibble. You make an important addition there and I agree with you. Of course this hurts the poor more than the middle class. That's a fact of life in this country. And it is well worth adding.

[oregontim]

I know very well a couple in their early 30s, both making decent incomes, who chose after marriage two years ago to invest in rental houses instead of the stock market. They are exactly the smalltime landlords your post worries about. If tenants stop paying rents, they are screwed. Both of their rental houses have mortgages on them. I have my fingers crossed on this one, because renter protection without mortgage protection seems a popular option. Exactly as you suggest, it will hit the middle classes, not the wealthy.

Very minor quibble...I think it will hit the poor -- the renters -- more than the middle class who own 1-2 rental properties.  Chairman of the Fed Jay Powell said that 40% of those hit make less than $40k per household.

Not a quibble. You make an important addition there and I agree with you. Of course this hurts the poor more than the middle class. That's a fact of life in this country. And it is well worth adding.