You're still going to have to pay the mortgage on a vacant unit.
Not if you sell it. The real estate market is extremely active right now, especially with interest rates dropping below 3%. if I’m stuck with a renter who can’t pay the rent, causing me to not be able to pay the mortgage, sorry, I have to evict so I can sell.
I wonder what the Expected Value is of selling today vs holding and waiting for the rental income to come back. Surely some smart person has figured out an algorithm to plug in numbers to figure out the EV?
Smart money is almost always to own land.
You don't really own the land when it's mortgaged. Selling property to reduce risk is a good strategy in times like this. No rental income on a property is a negative return, that can't be managed for long.
You are presuming the active real estate market is full of people looking to become or extend their landlord role which seems counter to this whole discussion.
Or that a current renter is looking to own their own home instead, which seems like the much smarter option. Especially when the economy is uncertain.
That's what banks are for, you make deals with them. They are prepared for such events, or should be.
When you're mortgage has been passed around a few times and is little more than a PO Box across the country, that's not an option.