My Dad Gives Bad Advice. Help
Real Estate Investor · Kansas CIty, MO · Member since 2009 · 93 posts · 8 votes
Disclaimer: I am not racist, but my dad may be.
I am marketing my first rental and have had a few calls. My dad advises me not to rent to colored people because he says the property value will drop, it will alienate the neighbors, homeboys will take over the property, etc.
This really makes my blood boil because he has never been a landlord and his advice seems highly unprofessional. My dad and others have been very helpful in fixing the place up and I think they just want to give me their honest advice, but I can't take it.
Here's how I see it. I treat all prospects the same, gather application info, and screen them based off legal criteria. If they make it, I rent to them and collect the rent. Simple right?
I know some have been in my shoes, and I need to hear from you. Thanks.
Tony,
Nobody on this board knows your father better than you do. YOU should certainly know whether he's a racist or not. Furthermore, I agree with Tim that skewering him on a public forum is not good.
While your father's advice (as stated by you) was certainly misguided and illegal as given, I would at least give him the benefit of the doubt if he were my father.
His advice certainly should have been to screen EVERYONE thoroughly because you don't want druggies, gang-bangers, or scumbags OF ANY RACE in your property. Druggies, gangbangers, or scumbags OF ANY RACE will hurt property values, alienate the neighbors, and fill the property with criminals (exactly as your father said). While it's not politically correct to say so, thanks to decades of entitlements being forced on them, young black men have a TERRIBLY HIGH CRIME RATE. That's a FACT and possibly what your father was trying to convey to you. Doing a proper screening of all applicants will eliminate the riff-raff regardless of their race.
Here are the (politically incorrect) facts in my own rental business. During the past 7 years, I have had probably 8 or 9 black male tenants (all of these were inherited when I took over the properties). Every single one was a drug dealer and all were legally evicted. One additional middle-aged black male tenant (one that I screened and accepted) was evicted when he failed to pay the rent because he used to rent money to bail out his drug-dealing son. Every other black male I have screened could not pass my WRITTEN criminal background check, which basically consists of no felonies in the past 5 years; no drugs in the past 3 years; and no more than 2 misdemeanors in the past 3 years. It's a very sad state of affairs and why I'm constantly railing about the socialists and their entitlement programs. I have MANY black female tenants and have not seen any difference in their performance as tenants compared to tenants of any other race. I would love to have black male tenants, but simply can't find any in my area that will pass the criminal background check that I outlined above. It's a shame, but that's the way it is.
The point is that maybe your father is aware of the ugly statistics and is trying to tell you that. That doesn't necessarily make him a racist. The bottom line is to simply have WRITTEN screening criteria and screen every tenant the same.
Incredibly bad advice. You could potentially lose the property if you follow this horrible advice. Not only is it unprofessional its illegal. Learn and follow both the federal fair housing laws and any local statutes. You may well have applicants that are testers who will test to see if you will discriminate.
I'd be pissed at my dad for even saying that considering most of my family is black although I'm as white as white can be. I don't think anyone has as many black or halfbreed cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces as I do.
Besides all that, I wouldn't personally care what color a tenant is or what their primary language is, if they qualify, they qualify. I'm sure your dad cares about you but more so, I bet your smarter than to take his advice on particular matters like this.
Yes it is a generational thing for sure and yes people are people. Good to hear thank you.
Who says "colored" anymore? Someone's been reading too much Uncle Reamus.
My advice - obviously you don't follow your dad's advice on renting. It's illegal.
Second piece of advice - don't talk about your dad like this on a public forum and don't reveal sensitive issues of a very private nature on a publicly read forum like this that can hurt your dad. The wrong people read this and his job, pension, membership at certain clubs, church, etc... can be very negatively impacted. Also, according to recently passed legislation, all he has to do is get in an altercation or disagreement with someone who is a minority and you've established a hate crime motive for your dad here for any attorney to google and see.
Think carefully before you post.
Tim
The only color that should matter is the color of their MONEY ...
Tony,
Nobody on this board knows your father better than you do. YOU should certainly know whether he's a racist or not. Furthermore, I agree with Tim that skewering him on a public forum is not good.
While your father's advice (as stated by you) was certainly misguided and illegal as given, I would at least give him the benefit of the doubt if he were my father.
His advice certainly should have been to screen EVERYONE thoroughly because you don't want druggies, gang-bangers, or scumbags OF ANY RACE in your property. Druggies, gangbangers, or scumbags OF ANY RACE will hurt property values, alienate the neighbors, and fill the property with criminals (exactly as your father said). While it's not politically correct to say so, thanks to decades of entitlements being forced on them, young black men have a TERRIBLY HIGH CRIME RATE. That's a FACT and possibly what your father was trying to convey to you. Doing a proper screening of all applicants will eliminate the riff-raff regardless of their race.
Here are the (politically incorrect) facts in my own rental business. During the past 7 years, I have had probably 8 or 9 black male tenants (all of these were inherited when I took over the properties). Every single one was a drug dealer and all were legally evicted. One additional middle-aged black male tenant (one that I screened and accepted) was evicted when he failed to pay the rent because he used to rent money to bail out his drug-dealing son. Every other black male I have screened could not pass my WRITTEN criminal background check, which basically consists of no felonies in the past 5 years; no drugs in the past 3 years; and no more than 2 misdemeanors in the past 3 years. It's a very sad state of affairs and why I'm constantly railing about the socialists and their entitlement programs. I have MANY black female tenants and have not seen any difference in their performance as tenants compared to tenants of any other race. I would love to have black male tenants, but simply can't find any in my area that will pass the criminal background check that I outlined above. It's a shame, but that's the way it is.
The point is that maybe your father is aware of the ugly statistics and is trying to tell you that. That doesn't necessarily make him a racist. The bottom line is to simply have WRITTEN screening criteria and screen every tenant the same.
Perhaps your father is old enough to have lived through the era of block busting.
He's your dad. Smile, nod, and then go out and do the right thing.
Have written criteria, apply it evenly to everyone who applies, and select a tenant who meets your criteria.
I could care less if an applicant had green skin and scales. If he met my criteria, I'd rent to him. I want a tenant who pays the rent and doesn't tear my house up. I have no interest in any of their characteristics that don't impact on the care of my house and the payment of the rent.
Everything in your criteria should be something that affects payment and care. Make sure there is nothing illegal in your criteria. Then stick to your criteria and apply it equally to any and every applicant.
I'm not saying this to kiss liberal a--, I'm saying it because it's the truth. It's like there's no middle ground. I have a suspicion that the african american males who would be good tenants are not tenants because they are very successful investors and business owners themselves. Guys like Freddie Taylor, Dwayne Hirsch or Kevin Pritchett. These guys will run circles around white bread prep school types. Freddie's the same age as me and is one of the best, most motivated entrepreneurs I know - and he does it while supporting a family of 3 kids who beat adults playing Cashfow when they were 6 years old. It's very interesting. I've not seen this in any other specific group of sex and ethnicity where has been such a wide socioeconomic gap. Some researcher somewhere would do well to find out what the "secret" here is to see if it's either a mindset or a lifestyle that others can learn from because it seems like a level playing field of opportunity.
I can explain it. Decades of entitlement have destroyed a large segment of the black commuinity (especially black males). A huge, disproportionate segment of the black male population is involved in illegal drugs and is constantly in and out of prison (that's a fact - doubters can look it up). At the same time, there is EVERY IMAGINABLE ADVANTAGE for minorities that are willing to put in a little effort. They get priority in just about everything (just look at the housing bubble - can you say quotas)? So, any African American who is willing to work hard and put forth the effort has a fast track to success (unfortunately, far too few are willing to work).
If you like this model of social engineering, then prepare to be THRILLED! The government has expanded their great social experiment to main street and is now in the process of destroying the white majority middle class using the same strategy. As evidence of that, I have a FAR greater number of female tenants than male tenants BECAUSE the white trash males only stop by for a quicky, so the white trash females can get pregnant with their 5th, 6th, 7th, or 8th illegitimate child (and therefore get more government money and a bigger section 8 house). Gotta love socialism.
As Tim pointed out, there is essentially no middle class in the African American community. The white middle class is now being destroyed RIGHT BEFORE OUR EYES! Our job as landlords is to figure out how that is going to affect us and to see if we can still make money under the new reality!!!
One of those votes up above on Mike's post belongs to me.
But I'm certainly open to different explanations. Matter of fact, I'm so eager to hear a better explanation that I'll provide you with FREE LODGING in one of my places for 90 days AND PAY YOU for doing my job for those 90 days, just to hear your better explanation.