Jim, thanks for your excellent summary of some of the financial realities of being a landlord with the intent on adding to your future retirement account. I frequently have a differing view on some of your public statements but agree on this one. Our family owned a duplex for over 35 years and some commercial rental properties. We have owned a small business that had to compete with State and City salary/benefits for our employees to live in Thurston County so we and they can pay the taxes and provide their own "rental options". All of your observations are correct, but there is much more to the story of being a "business (landlord) in Olympia". Take your example and then add to the expense side of the ledger the regularly increasing "government solutions that require more taxes, more reporting, more LID improvements, more utility taxes added to our utility bills to meet more City expectations. The expectation come from the "now generation"--better bus service, better city programs, city regulation of rents, more for the homeless, more for safety, more more, more ---mostly funded by those that seek to self-generate their future retirement and kids collage education and that have rental properties and that hire employees for small business. My suggestion. Take your article and add about four case examples that most people can understand and relate to. Standardize it for Thurston County, and then use this comparative example to explain to our larger community how each new "service, housing fee, and major new government policies add to the housing crisis". One simple new huge hit is the new building code that is going to cost every new residential structure a huge increase in cost. It is the renter/new homeowner that is going to pay for this. We want more, we must pay more. The well is almost dry.
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