Rental Property Investor · Tennessee Florida · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 5k+ votes
Hello! I just moved into a new market and bought 3 low income doors.
1 Single Family flip in a D neighborhood that is just on the other side of an A neighborhood
1 Duplex that is 15 years old in a C area that is coming up.
It took me a month to put a tenant in the single family as everyone wanted section 8 and I knew nothing about that. I drove by yesterday and the tenant has sheets on the windows and a bunch of junk on the lawn. I left a voicemail asking her to remove the sheets and get cheap blinds and please get a storage unit for the junk. How much can I do and how much should I really care when her neighbors have pitbulls?
The duplex is already occupied. The right side has been there since it was built and is a bit of a horder. She's also selling candies and snacks to neighbors like it's a conveience store. Should I care?
What should I put in the letter to these new tenants (which I will also post on their doors) and should I think about getting rid of them or just leave them in there if they pay on time? Should I fix things in the duplex like cracked windows and bent mailboxes or just leave as is?
Lots of questions here. My first time dealing with anything less than an A property so I'm looking for advice! Thanks
Rental Property Investor · Erie, PA · Member since 2018 · 6k+ posts · 9k+ votes
8y
@Lucas Carl
I invest in the ghetto and I can tell you that you must learn to take these things in stride . It ain’t Beverly Hills bro ! people are going to be doing stupid things and they usually have no class or style in these areas . They are going to live the opposite of how you live and you need to learn to pick your battles in low income areas or your going to be mailing /postIng out notices every other day and you will give yourself a heart attack . When you pull up to your property and see something that boils your blood ( WhIch happens to me frequently BTW) you need to first ask yourself
A - is the tenant hurting my property???
B- is the tenant paying their rent on time each month ???
Contractor · IL · Member since 2018 · 20 posts · 46 votes
8y
@Alan Jones
@Alan Jones
What else is the same as green years ago?
The federal minimum wage.
Of course real estate in these areas haven't increased. Unless they are being gentrified there isn't any reason for it to grow. You don't invest in C and D class properties for appreciation. You invest in them for the cash flow. If you want appreciation then invest in A and B properties but expect lower cash flows.
You keep stating your personal opinion of a type neighborhood that you either have no experience in or are very inexperienced in investing in. It's painfully obvious that you are trying to provoke a certain conversation. There are plenty of other platforms that welcome and encourage that type of rhetoric. This platform on the other hand, it isn't useful at all and dilutes the purpose: helping the original poster with their perceived problem.
If you hate those who live in D class neighborhoods, or fear entering/ managing them, these aren't properties you should invest in. You will easily be considered a slumlord. Invest in properties that you are invested in. You will get a much better return and have a significantly easier time with them.
Earlier i meant that @Kerry Grimshaw had great ideas. @Jill F. Did too but I meant to say Kerry.
Investor · Akron, OH · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 4k+ votes
8y
Originally posted by @Account Closed:
I had to join in . Couldnt help myself. I work in Florida parole office. You can be rest assured D class residents are indeed animals. Not all but way too many.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that class C-/D investing would not be a good fit for you. Your post calling residents of a neighborhood "animals" says way more about you than it does about about the group of people that you are denigrating in a public forum. Shame on you. I sincerely hope that you are not working as a parole officer.
Just because you could not successfullly invest in a low-income neighborhood, doesn't mean that investments in those neighborhoods won't be a good fit and successful investments for other investors.
*Sigh* I know I shouldn't feed a troll but I can't believe this post has remained up. Mods???
Rental Property Investor · Durham, NC · Member since 2016 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
8y
@Alan Jones
Your last two comments made me laugh super hard lol. Great analogy.
I’m with you. I gotta change my time. D class properties are amazing. I helped a guy today not pay 90k for a duplex in the hood. I should have let him have it. These are killer deals folks. Killer. It’s gonna be yuge.
Akron, OH · Member since 2015 · 178 posts · 189 votes
8y
Originally posted by @Account Closed:
It is not I im worried about its all these newbies who think cheap D class is EZ money. I was riding a bus yesterday a D type tenant wanted to kick an old mans rear end because he accidently touched his shoe. The D type dude only had his legs sticking way out into the aisle. The old man did motion excuse me. But the guy went on and on how he was being dis-respected. That if he assaulted the old man he would be in the wrong. This went on for 10 minutes. Maybe longer as i got off the bus.
Somehow i dont think sending this type of guy an email reminding him his rent is 6 months late is going to result in anything.
Rental Property Investor · TN · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
8y
I am new here, can someone post a link so I can tell what a Class A, B, C, D, F neighborhood is?
Also, just for the OP to consider: do you know for sure exactly what the lady is selling? I once lived in a neighborhood where an elderly lady sold chips, candy and soda to the kids from her very messy garage. Most kids in the neighborhood stopped by on the way to and from school. Adults stopped by in the evening. One day the police stopped by too, lots of them with their K-9 officer. She had been selling drugs as well. The K-9 found she was very well stocked with a wide variety of drugs stored in various places through out her messy garage.
And she was the nicest, kindest neighbor, everyone loved her!
I used to put up curtain rods in my rentals and found that people didn't have the money to buy curtains, so they just put up sheets. So then I put up curtains, and found that usually, they would just continue to use them and leave them when they moved out. I'd wash them and rehang them -- nothing to toss in the landfill like mini-blinds that always get destroyed.
Otherwise, you'll need to provide window coverings for lower-income tenants. When they move into a place and provide security deposit + first month's rent, that saps all the money they have. That's why in lower income areas, March and April are good times to find tenants because many are getting tax refunds back and have money to spend.
Dawn, I used to go with miniblinds, but last year I tried curtains with a new tenant. I remember when she moved in the new tenant paid special attention to the curtains and liked them, but said she might buy different curtains. A year later and a renewed lease later, the same curtains I chose are still there. Some of the miniblinds are already damaged, but those curtains look as good as ever.
I think I may be converting to your line of thinking on this. For one thing, at every tenant changeover, some of the miniblinds will always need to be replaced. The curtains, as you point out, can be washed and reused for the next tenant. Good thinking!
Investor · Ocala, FL · Member since 2016 · 299 posts · 110 votes
8y
I have C-D rentals and will not accept Section 8. I tried it before and it didn't work for me, but that's just my personal feeling. Most of my tenants are hard working and live paycheck to paycheck and are grateful for a decent house. Yes, the rent may be a week or so late, but I collect late charges. Yes, one family left apx. 200 poop stains (not the pile, but the ring where it had been) when they moved - glad it was terrazzo floors so could be stripped and not permanently damaged. Those tenants are the exception. I sometimes add mini blinds, but they tend to break easily. My tenants tend to stay well past the end of their leases on a month to month basis so I have little turnover. I also repair anything as quickly as possible and as for rent, if they are late over a week or two, the eviction process starts and they are out in a month at most. When you do have a vacancy, you have a huge amount of people begging for the place because there are so few places available in their price range, so you can pick and choose your tenants (and I do look at their social media posts to see how they live).