Here is an unfortunate email we just wrote to one of our landlords. The property was a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom house in the Sunset which was slated to rent for $3800.00/month with a March 1, 2021 start date.
<Landlord>
I hope you are doing well. I unfortunately would like to let you know that your tenants have decided to withdraw their applications. <Tenant > company <Amazon> just released the news that employees do not have to return to office until next year. Due to the change, they will extend their travel to different destinations.
ReLISTO has been very successful in securing tenants for our landlords clients during Covid. We conduct virtual and private tours, post videos of each property and have an amazing set of online tools allowing prospective tenants to easily view each unit. Most importantly, we pay for a lot of advertising so our landlords listing gets seen.
In the last month, tenants have been returning to the city to “get a lease secured before prices go up”. We have rented multiple properties due to this. With recent announcement from Salesforce and other tech companies, the need to return to work is again a distant requirement. Tech workers will stay away and landlords, restaurants and businesses will need to wait longingly for their return. For some , this will result in a significant economic hardship if not bankruptcy.
On behalf of our landlords, I call upon the San Francisco Govt to proactively engage/ partner with the companies in our community as well as local schools to make a plan to get things back to normal. Some cannot wait till 2022.