Originally Posted by kraftwerk

Lot's of empty store-fronts now in NYC Brooklyn, Queens etc. As I understand it the greed motivator is such that you can take a business write -off for 'the rent you're NOT getting' and it goes well for developers and such to keep store-fronts empty & rents high. They suffer not at all, while the common person looses their job or their local store etc. So it's basically corporate greed making this world into a black hole. A bicycle store or record shop book store or anything duplicatable on-line is really just low-hanging fruit.
Though if you need a bank or a HUGE pharmacy there is one every where. Banks 'hold the note' on the building they occupy, so they don't pay rent and the big chain stores are just crunching numbers somewhere.

Originally Posted by Revoltingest

There's no deduction for rent one doesn't receive.
(Although there are accounting complexities when using the accrual system.)
So there's no financial or tax advantage to leaving a unit vacant.
The way this works...
If I collect $xxx/month for an occupied unit, then I declare this income on my tax return.
If the unit becomes vacant, that $xxx/month simply isn't recorded as income, so I don't pay taxes on it.
The taxpayer doesn't give me anything.
It's easy to discover that occupied units are more profitable than vacant ones.
Pretty simple, eh?

Background:
I've been a licensed real estate broker, developer, & commercial & residential landlord.
I've worked closely with my CPA on tax strategies & compliance, & done well in IRS audits.

Now, for everyone's entertainment....