lower end rental and possibly politically incorrect question

General Landlording & Rental Properties
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lower end rental and possibly politically incorrect question

Vicki Gleitz
bennett, CO · Member since 2014 · 225 posts · 122 votes

I have been wanting to ask this for a while. I hope it is an appropriate question.  In a lower priced rental, are there  generally less needs for fixing simple things by the landlord if there is a family with a male adult living in the home versus a single mother.  If there is a male [and female] in the home is there more likely to be holes in the walls, kicked in doors, etc?  Also, in a home with two adult tenants and their kids [and dog] do they tend to stay longer and take better care of the place?

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Curt DavisBusiness Member
Flipper/Rehabber · Memphis, TN · Member since 2008 · 5k+ posts · 2k+ votes
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You will most likely find that in lower income areas, regardless if there is a man living there or not they are helpless and can barely change a  light bulb let alone do anything else.  You will be just happy they pay the rent. 

They dont stay longer and they dont care about the place.

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  • Curt DavisBusiness Member
    Flipper/Rehabber · Memphis, TN · Member since 2008 · 5k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    11y

    You will most likely find that in lower income areas, regardless if there is a man living there or not they are helpless and can barely change a  light bulb let alone do anything else.  You will be just happy they pay the rent. 

    They dont stay longer and they dont care about the place.

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  • Vicki Gleitz
    OP
    bennett, CO · Member since 2014 · 225 posts · 122 votes
    11y

    It's sad sometimes how times change. When I was first married to my late husband, we rented a lower priced house in a lower class neighborhood in Denver. Our place was pretty shabby because it was difficult to find anyone to rent to people with a wolf as a pet. About half of our neighbors also rented, and they would ussually stay where they were at until they bought their own home [or the home they had been renting] If a man who rented were to call his landord to fix small stuff, he was considered a "wussie." If a female or old person [ussually owned their homes] needed help, the guys in the neighborhood did it.  

    There were tons of block parties, and quite a few people on our street were able to save for a down payment with a small neighborhood business.  My husband was a stage hand and met TONS of celebrities.  We would pick enormous mj leaves from the banks of the Platte River, place them on huge spools, and cover them with "fifty coats in one." The whole neighborhood made a killing and we rationalized that they were not illegal because since they were encased they were not smokable. We also cleaned, painted, and sold old toilets as chairs that had built-in storage.

    I was hoping that lower income areas were still pretty much like that.

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  • Vicki Gleitz
    OP
    bennett, CO · Member since 2014 · 225 posts · 122 votes
    11y

    We sold 20 tables to Leon Russel [who you probably have never heard of]

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  • Patrick L.
    Real Estate Investor · Saint Petersburg, FL · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 951 votes
    11y

    @Vicki Gleitz be careful picking any of your tenants based on the items you listed, both sex and familial status are protected classes under the fair housing act.  As far as pets I generally find those with pets take worse care of the property and often allow the pet to do a lot of damage, feel free to discriminate against pets. 

    That being said I have a number of good low income tenants, the best are those on fixed income (social security or disability).  It's all about extremely careful screening with low income people.  If you can find someone that has 20 clean years of rental history and hasn't been evicted and doesn't have any judgements for damages or unpaid rent and also isn't a convicted felon then that might be a good tenant.

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  • Scott Weaner
    Rental Property Investor · Yardley, PA · Member since 2008 · 1k+ posts · 561 votes
    11y

    Vicki, you had a wolf? As a pet?

    Any neighborhood children go missing while you were there? ;-)

    I recently discovered that in PA it is illegal to own a hedgehog as a pet...but legal to own a giraffe!

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  • Karyn T.
    Investor · Bellingham, WA · Member since 2013 · 210 posts · 138 votes
    11y

    @Patrick L. 

    You're renting to the WRONG kind of pet owner. 

    I have 3 dogs, a high income, no kids, a military spouse, and rent currently due to recent job transfer.   There are LOTS of people like us out there.  If you provide a nice rental, people like me will be looking for it and will be willing to pay a premium for our dogs AND not living among riff-raff.

    You're doing it wrong.

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  • Michele FischerPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Seattle, WA · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    11y

    Vicki, agree with the advice you have already received and yes times have changed.  Most of our tenants do not do any of their own maintenance, even unclogging toilets.  They either call us or don't do it.  When we don't hear from tenants we get nervous and make sure we do inspections, since we've failed to be informed of a failing roof in the past.  Probably because they wanted to hide the fact that they were using the unit as a puppy factory.  I haven't seen any correlation to family size or composition and how long they stay, but agree that it is discriminatory to be a factor in choosing applicants.

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