Overnight News: Conflict-free property management? Try The Affectionate Display.

Lucky us, we have had zero real estate problems during the pandemic of panic. We manage a portfolio of rental properties, but we had zero missed or late payments – and we even sold two of them occupied, a third-rail red flag when eviction may be forbidden by law.

If you read me elsewhere, you’ll hear me talking about The Affectionate Display: The default proffering and presumption of good will, and the assumption that any difficulties arise from miscommunication or mistake, not malice. That’s a social strategy – assuming the best about other people – but it’s how we run our business, too. We don’t want conflict, so we don’t have conflict.

I can’t swear that’s why the past year has been easy for us – the entire trick to property management is resident selection, and we have wonderful people living in our rentals – but it’s how we know our properties are secure from negligence or damage.

In other news:

CNBC: Weekly mortgage demand stalls as rates rise and fierce competition hurts home sales.

Fox 5 Vegas: Renter trashes Las Vegas house on way out, property managers say it’s a pandemic trend.

Katie Pavlich: Americans Set Another Gun Purchase Record in April.

City Journal: Urban Growth Will Continue.

Mises Institute: How Trillions in Newly Printed Money Created a Labor Shortage.

Angelo Codevilla: Oligarchy, and Remedies.

City Journal: Less Than Meets the Eye: How admissions officers could be setting up minority students for failure.

Robby Soave: In the Name of Equity, California Will Discourage Students Who Are Gifted at Math.

Dana Loesch: A Model for Fighting Critical Race Theory in America’s Schools.