Yet another great piece! While the 18% interest is arbitrary and high, it's most definitely meant to be coercive to drive timely payment of property taxes. Curious to think how or if a lower rate would change behavior. How do you deal with the "bad actors" who game the system even now? At least programs like PAYS, which would need to be renewed, aim to relieve the most vulnerable from this burden. I look forward to Part 3.
Yes, features like PAYS are great for low income homeowners to avoid the debt spiral (although it should just be fully retroactive, not partial). I tend to think, when it comes to bad actors, tax debt is an indicator, not a means to an end. When you see landlords and speculators using delinquent property taxes as a credit card (which is essentially how they've often though of it) it's an easily visible flag for "this property & its owner are worth looking into." Then if you find widespread delinquency across a portfolio, you can develop tactics to address that.
Yet another great piece! While the 18% interest is arbitrary and high, it's most definitely meant to be coercive to drive timely payment of property taxes. Curious to think how or if a lower rate would change behavior. How do you deal with the "bad actors" who game the system even now? At least programs like PAYS, which would need to be renewed, aim to relieve the most vulnerable from this burden. I look forward to Part 3.
Yes, features like PAYS are great for low income homeowners to avoid the debt spiral (although it should just be fully retroactive, not partial). I tend to think, when it comes to bad actors, tax debt is an indicator, not a means to an end. When you see landlords and speculators using delinquent property taxes as a credit card (which is essentially how they've often though of it) it's an easily visible flag for "this property & its owner are worth looking into." Then if you find widespread delinquency across a portfolio, you can develop tactics to address that.