More government regulations are never the answer .. unless you are a politician who loves government and the power it provides them. In this case, let's go to San Francisco. The city's Board of Supervisors has come up with new regulations for landlords. These 'renters' rights laws' were written by Supervisor Chris Daly. One proposal would make it illegal for owners who want to move into their property to evict a family with children. With or without a lease. This would mean that once you've rented an apartment ... all you have to do is download a tricycle motor and you're in for good. The idiot politician who introduced this regulation moaned about "children having to leave the city where they were born." Cry me a river.

Among the most outrageous proposals from Daly is one that "bars landlords from increasing rent to more than one-third of a tenant's income. Realizing how asinine this idea is, he proposed an amendment that would limit eligibility to those who are unemployed, people whose wages have fallen more than 20% over the past year or those who solely rely on the government for a living.

By the way ... did you know that in San Francisco they have something called a "Tenant's Union?" Just wonderful.

I've owned rental property. It's a good deal. But here's a word of warning. If you're going to own rental property be sure that the property can command rents far and above what would be deemed "affordable" for some household living at or near the poverty level. In today's economy I wouldn't touch a piece of rental property that rented for less than about $2000 a month. Once you're above that level your tenant isn't going to be among that class pandered to by politicians. You might actually end up making some money on your investment.