drug dealers/vandals at back of house`
Hi...still looking for my first investment property..being careful but open minded. Found a GREAT house. good size..below mkt...potential to be a duplex easily..not zoned yet though. Good rental.. But....I was suspicious that it was so cheap & found the origina, owner that sold it to an investor buyer who is now in foreclosure. Not sure why nor is that my business. But I asked him if there was anything I should know about this property. He told me there was a "bad" street at the back of the property & the local druggies had used his property as a thoroughfare. This is accurate as I saw the pathway in the backyard. He told me that the property had been vandalised many times when he lived there. It is obvious that people hanging out in it. the back door is open. My question is this? Would you buy the property , stick an 8ft fence up, do it up cheaply & rent for a good cashflow. Or walk away because these drug dealers may get really mad, cut a hole in your nice new fence, or worse still, vandalize the property more? 
Is this an isolated case or is it prevalent throughout the whole neighborhood? If you try to rent in a bad area with these kinds of problems I think your market will be narrower and rents will have to be reduced. Is the neighborhood in transition? Are people fixing up homes and improving the area or is it on the decline?
Hello
In assessing the situation, In my opinion this is where you need to rely on the ol' "gut feeling". Take into cosideration all the factors including how familiar you are with the neighborhood, what your people skills are as far as dealing with these types of people, etc. In some cases in may be better to walk away, but in some instances not. You can make a difference as well.
Depending on your "gut feeling",decide what's best. Even drug dealers change the way they look at things. I have seen first hand what people can do who don't "fear" this type of endeavor. You can make a difference and maybe help turn the area around. Hey buy the house build the fence, clean up the property and keep it that way, don't let your tenants run the show and you may come out on top! Then not only have you got a great real estate deal but also helped make a difference in the community and beleive me when I say that there are more people who want you around doing these type of things then there are peole who want the drug dealers taking over. Figure out what your priorities are. Sometimes making a difference in the community can give you more of a sense of accomplishment then the monetary gain alone.
Happy Investing and Good Luck!
Brandon " Optimum" E.
Quote:
On 2003-02-04 20:18, land01 wrote:
Is this an isolated case or is it prevalent throughout the whole neighborhood?
Is the neighborhood in transition? Are people fixing up homes and improving the area or is it on the decline?
The neighborhood is in transition. Every other house is cute or crappy but I have been around a lot of streets & have seen more homes being fixed up in other streets. I thank you for your input.
To Optimum..thanks. You make a good point. Money is not everything. One of the reasons I am interested in rehabbing is to inprove a community. I must say I am under pressure NOT to rent out properties in the neighborhoods that are transitional as locals buying don't want renters! Anyway, I believe my gut feel is this: I want someone to buy this house & close off the property to drug dealers & improve the street. But I don't think a little English girl like me is the one to do the job. I was proud of myself though that I was able to contact the original owner!! That's a start right? Thanks for the replies.
Limeylass,
Do you think if you aquire the property that you might be able to lease -option the property? This way you will have a tenant with more of an interest in the property and the community.
I'm not familiar enough with lease options to dabble in those yet. I have heard they are most attractive investment vehicles though. I think that the property has a lot of appreciation potential in a few years so would be afraid to put a price tag on it now. Did anybody else ever feel that they were trying hard to get started but ended up going in circles spinning their wheels or is it just me?
I have some properties in a neighborhood that sound like what you are describing. It is a quad so I was actually thinking of making one of the houses into a police substation.
However, I did put a 6ft fence around the parimiter and am thinking of planting some holly bushes around other areas that still have to much tresspassing.
The COPS started a neighborhood watch as well. That has helped alot.
CONTACT the police department. They will let you know how many calls have gone out to one area.
Hey,
This sounds almost exactly like a house I own. Nice house, fairly nice neighborhood but a crack house in the backyard! The backyard was the M25 for all the people in the area. The yard was huge and there was a six foot fence, but someone had taken it apart.
The art of securing a house is not one of creating Fort Knox, but instead in making it so difficult that a person will find something better to do.
First step was to put the fence back together and put it "No Trespassing" Signs. Second step, was to haul all the broken tree limbs and plants and create a barrier about two feet high and eight feet across (the area was woods, so this did not look funny). This did not cost a thing and cleaned up the rest of the yard.
Climbing a fence would be easy, but walking across this pile of crap was hard work. Most people found another way around, that did not involve walking through the yard.
I hope this helps!