I Have a Moral Dilemma with Investing in Rough Neighborhoods

[Dave Younts]

I have a moral dilemma with the idea of investing in rougher neighborhoods. It seems like the houses there are the only ones that a) are within my price range ($75k-200k) and b) return good cash flow. I struggle because I have lived in a rough neighborhood and hated seeing slumlords buy dumpy homes and put bad renters in them. Does anyone else struggle with this?

[Linda Weygant]

I buy at the bottom of the market and provide clean, safe and affordable homes for people who have lower incomes.  I love that, for some of my tenants, my homes are the first place they've lived in where everything works and their landlord responds to a repair request.  

I had one tenant say they saw a mouse and they were shocked when I showed up with traps, showed her how to check them and rebait them and then did an inspection to see if I could figure out how they were getting in.  Found it, plugged the hole and kept in communication with her for weeks to find out if she was catching anything in the traps.  

Had another tenant call about the dryer not working and was pleasantly surprised when I showed up the next weekend with a new one.

All of my tenants pay their rent on time and (except for one notable exception) are friendly, respectful and treat my properties very well.

I have ZERO moral dilemma about investing in these areas and sleep very well at night.

While the Denver area does not have any truly rough neighborhoods (not like Chicago or DC or some of the larger cities have), I do have properties where other people otherwise would not.  It's all about screening and choosing the tenants, being responsive and communicative and treating others with the same respect that you want to be treated.  For those tenants that are not like this, I bide my time and remove them as quickly as I am legally able.