April 30, 2012Dear Sir,Re: ‘Homeowners feel pinch’February 13, 2012Dear Sir,This Government’s economic policies are having a negative and often overlooked impact on Bermudian homeowners.Until recently, Bermudians who built or purchased homes with attached apartments have rented out those apartments to guest workers. The rent paid by these guest workers has helped these Bermudians pay down their mortgages and become an accepted and important part of a homeowner’s financial planning.Today, however, one only has to walk through any neighbourhood to see many of those apartments sitting empty as a result of companies either shutting down or cutting back operations.”GLEN C SMITHApproved CandidateOne Bermuda AllianceUpon reading this I took a few days to digest the fullness of it all. Now on one hand Mr Smith very well might be correct in stating that there are empty apartments and there are less guest workers. However I see no mention in his letter about Bermudian tenants or Bermudians now being able to have better choice in apartment options. Nor do I see Mr Smith addressing the issue of Bermudians having to live two families in one house as apartment rentals were either over priced or landlords only wanted IB guest workers.To me this only goes to amplify the difference in viewpoints between some Bermudians.Now let me be frank and honest here. I am one of the fortunate ones to actually own my own property and have apartments available to be rented. So I won’t be pretending to be crying as a downtrodden tenant. What I can attest to is that each one of my apartments have been rented to Bermudians and not one of them ever says “I can’t afford to pay my rent”. Could I have gotten more by renting to a guest worker? Most definitely..The One Bermuda Alliance make big issues of the fact there are empty apartments presently. Yet they never made an issue out of when landlords were gouging persons eyes out to make that extra couple thousand per month. How many landlords only built their houses or renovated existing houses hoping to land the golden $5,000 to $10,000 per month tenant? Why does Mr Smith not address the fact hundreds of Bermudians have had to migrate to UK just in order to have their family live under one roof? If it is any consolation to the OBA most of these persons and their family traditionally voted Progressive Labour Party.The OBA make an issue out of the fact PLP Government has put in place housing for over 400 Bermudian families to now say they have a “piece of the rock.” Would they have preferred that a private developer had provided 400 homes or would they prefer 400 families never to have their own home? What and where is their plan for the next 400 Bermudian families to own a part of Bermuda?In an effort to be as fair as possible I will attest I am one of the hundreds landlords with empty apartments at present. And I am sure of one thing I am feeling it in the pocket. Yet the reality is this: ‘we are our brothers keepers’. So is it better a few hundred landlords feel a pinch or a few hundred Bermudian families (few thousand individuals) to actually have something to call their own? Let’s be realistic, no one is forced to build a secondary house or to build apartments to rent. This is a choice persons make as a form of investment. Or are we to remain a parasitical and predatory people just preying on the less fortunate of our countrymen? Or do we be like Christ and sacrifice our own personal profits to enable another to walk on their own two feet?I have never met Mr Smith in person, but I would like him and the rest of the OBA persons who are complaining about the government building condos/town houses, that when persons do not own a “piece of the rock” there is a large social disconnect. This disconnect has contributed to the “get rich or die trying” mindset of many persons young and old. And it is this very mindset that has contributed to the social mayhem we are experiencing as a country. I encourage Mr Smith to do a quick poll and see how many persons who find themselves in Her Majesty’s prisons come from multiple generations of renters. There is a distinct mindset a person takes on when they have nothing to loseSo perhaps it’s affected the bottom line, but there is a thing called social values and self-esteem that no real estate agent could ever appraise. There are those who say government should never have entered the real estate market. Well there are thousands who, if at left to the mercy of the private sector, would never have had or never will own their own homes. I can count on my two hands the number of persons in my generation who have ever been able to build their own home or purchase a stand alone home.Perhaps the irony in this matter is Mr Smith has been chosen to run in a constituency in which half my family live and one in which I have just built some apartments. One of which is empty. Mr Smith needs to be mindful of the demographics of his constituency. There are many many in his constituency who rent, who can only dream of one day owning their own home. Where is the advice or concern for their future sir? In fairness to Mr Smith we as a country need to find a balance, where persons can use real estate as a worthy investment tool. However we must be as socially conscious as we are business savvy. Dear Mr Smith would you like a nice apartment? This way you can actually say you live in the area you wish to represent. Or you can utilise it as your campaign HQ. I will rent it to you for the Bermy rate.CHRISTOPHER FAMOUSDevonshire