Landlording And Neighborhood "reputations"
We have a couple townhouses in a lower income neighborhood, a neighborhood that frankly has quite a "reputation" as being a drug infested, hoodlum ridden place. Which was in fact true at one time in the past, several years ago actually. The place has really cleaned up the last few years, but just the mention of the "name" of this street still holds very taboo in many people's minds. It is one lonely street in this community, a total of 140 townhouses. One we've owned for 16 years, and have seen good and bad (and really bad) and much better now. It was so bad at one time the county commissioners stopped allowing Section 8 voucher recipients to be place in there, and still they are not allowed to live there.
What it comes down to is the place can be a "hard sell" to rent. One of the first questions I'm ALWAYS asked is about the neighborhood and it's reputation. Yes people still "hang out", but are not dangerous, wont approach you, threaten you, follow you, etc. It just doesnt look good. We even rent for about $200-250 under market rent for the area. I'm starting to think I try to hard to overcome the neighborhood reputation. Anyone else ever had to deal with this situation? I've come to the conclusion I feel I should just say "it's cheap because it's low income area and not as desirable as others" and leave it at that. It's really depressing sometimes. :-( :evil: :-o
Low income neighborhoods are obviously less desirable. On the other hand, they have great advantages to landlords who know the niche. Sure, the properties will rent for much less than in the nicer neighborhoods, but on the flip side, you can buy the properties for next to nothing. Also, virtually everyone you see in the neighborhood is a renter. Advertising isn't even necessary. Simply put a sign in the front yard and you'll have plenty of possibilities for tenants if the price is right.
That's pretty much what my husband has said, from now on let's just hang a "For Rent" sign on the back fence instead of advertising. Obviously the people who come over there already know people there and would probably rent it. We have one last prospect tonight to show it to, who seems interested, again because of the price. The house itself is very nice, we totally remodeled it in 2001, it's just the neighborhood. We are asking $850, anywhere else in this town rents are $1000 and up. Keeping my fingers crossed........
You Could Offer a 6month to a yr of free rent to a local or new police officer and if you own other units this would raise the property value and make it a more desirerable place to live. JUST A Thought
Dave
Hey,
If you truly want to invest the time and effort, the best solution to to talk to the OWNERS of the houses on the street. Sometimes a lot of things can be done to improve an area.
For example: I bought a house in a neighborhood where there were no street lights. Someone in the neighorhood got a petition starting to have street lights installed. The cost of the lights is charged to the resident on their electric bill each month.
Another house was in a nice neighborhood, but was the "cut-through" from a not so nice neighborhood. I put up a fence and on the For Rent sign said DOGS WELCOME. The first tenant I had owned a 3 year old Boxer. No one ever cut through the backyard again.