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Yup that is the only way to go. You want someone who knows the value of a dollar cuz they worked hard for it, someone who will appreciate the things that they have and the places they live because they earned them, someone who understands peace and quiet at home after a long/stressful day at work, and someone who has a history of paying bills, and the repercussions of when you don't pay them.
Unfortunately too many subsidized/program tenants don't know these things, and just make life miserable for not just the LL but other tenants in the building. It is not worth the risk to go through all the trouble to find someone you believe is a good tenant on a program, when with just minimal time and effort you can get a regular, working/middle class person in my experience. You have to sift through the 25 people on section 8 responding to your ad before you actually get a regular working class tenant, but its worth it in the end.
I usually rent out to section 8 tenants. I unfortunately have little choice. Ive got some of the nicest apartments here in the south bronx and no working familu could ever afford them or want to live here because theyre sonparanoid over the spooky ghetto.
Section 8ers can be a mixed bag. Some are worse than others plain and simple. Yes, theyre poor. Yes many of them hold characteristics we would hold against poor families, theyre certainly not typically white collar conservative stiffs, but i wouldnt go as far as some in this thread to say all people on section 8 are purely unruly inherently "ghetto" people. Many of them for the most part have been decent families.
Of the more than dozen section 8 families ive rented out to in the past few years only three stood out most to me. One was a lady who use to fight with her man like it was the WW friggin E at least once a week. It was unbearable. She left a lot of work behind when she eventually moved out. The other is a lady who stopped paying her rent for months and the city made it EXTREMELY difficult to evict her before an agreement was settled. She still lives here. She keeps her apartmet fairly decent and only has one child. The other is a large family with at least six kids. Their kids are very loud and i have to speak to them again and again about littering. They also still live here and they keep the apartment spick and span. For the most part, other than the occasional "excuse me please turn down the volume" and other little misbehaves theyyve been decent people to me and my buildings.
Keep in mind however my family and i actually occupy and live here. We manage everything firsthand and they know it. I dont doubt it would be more difficult if i was one of those landlords that lives far off, rents, and has no involvement with the building or the community other than to collect money. They would probably run amok and not care about the building.
On top of actually being here i meet and interview all potential families first hand. I especially pay close attention to the family unit and their overall personality. A family with one or two kids who are kindly well spoken, look at the place, asks me sensible questions about what they are and arent allowed to do, and show a real appreciation for the quality they see is ideal.
A family with six or more kids all with different last names, no one working at all, brings her kids just to see the apartment and has to scream and curse at them to settle down, and as far as questions to me only wants to know where shes allowed to smoke and is otherwise ready to move in. No, no, and hell no. Theyre all gonna have their flaws but I do my best to simply weed out the VERY bad ones from the decent ones.
Im with hilltopjay on one thing. I dont take what i have for granted. Im glad to see theres other fellow bronx landlords who believe in being involved in these communities and creating a better standard for housing in these neighborhoods. And id like to believe its working. Even some of the sleaziest guys i know around the block personally thank me, congratulate me, and swear to never mess with my area because we've done such a great job making this a better neighborhood. More businesses and better housings are coming to this area as well. Where i do part ways with hilltopjay is discriminating against low income families. There are many decent, workig families in these neighborhoods who try their best and are just as deserving of a decent place to live and raise their kids. Theres a lot of hopeless, jobless, drug addicted, excons and baby mommas to weed out (and i dont even like to use these terms cus they tend to have racial connotations that from my experience arent always true) but i wouldnt hold anything against all families on assistance.
I remain involved in my property and community. i dont let the fact that people are poor or generalized as "ghetto" around these parts stop me from investing and expanding on the quality of this area. I often feel good knowing that if anything im providing hope to these young ones who didnt ask to be brought up with less. But thats just me.
I usually rent out to section 8 tenants. I unfortunately have little choice. Ive got some of the nicest apartments here in the south bronx and no working familu could ever afford them or want to live here because theyre sonparanoid over the spooky ghetto.
Section 8ers can be a mixed bag. Some are worse than others plain and simple. Yes, theyre poor. Yes many of them hold characteristics we would hold against poor families, theyre certainly not typically white collar conservative stiffs, but i wouldnt go as far as some in this thread to say all people on section 8 are purely unruly inherently "ghetto" people. Many of them for the most part have been decent families.
Of the more than dozen section 8 families ive rented out to in the past few years only three stood out most to me. One was a lady who use to fight with her man like it was the WW friggin E at least once a week. It was unbearable. She left a lot of work behind when she eventually moved out. The other is a lady who stopped paying her rent for months and the city made it EXTREMELY difficult to evict her before an agreement was settled. She still lives here. She keeps her apartmet fairly decent and only has one child. The other is a large family with at least six kids. Their kids are very loud and i have to speak to them again and again about littering. They also still live here and they keep the apartment spick and span. For the most part, other than the occasional "excuse me please turn down the volume" and other little misbehaves theyyve been decent people to me and my buildings.
Keep in mind however my family and i actually occupy and live here. We manage everything firsthand and they know it. I dont doubt it would be more difficult if i was one of those landlords that lives far off, rents, and has no involvement with the building or the community other than to collect money. They would probably run amok and not care about the building.
On top of actually being here i meet and interview all potential families first hand. I especially pay close attention to the family unit and their overall personality. A family with one or two kids who are kindly well spoken, look at the place, asks me sensible questions about what they are and arent allowed to do, and show a real appreciation for the quality they see is ideal.
A family with six or more kids all with different last names, no one working at all, brings her kids just to see the apartment and has to scream and curse at them to settle down, and as far as questions to me only wants to know where shes allowed to smoke and is otherwise ready to move in. No, no, and hell no. Theyre all gonna have their flaws but I do my best to simply weed out the VERY bad ones from the decent ones.
Im with hilltopjay on one thing. I dont take what i have for granted. Im glad to see theres other fellow bronx landlords who believe in being involved in these communities and creating a better standard for housing in these neighborhoods. And id like to believe its working. Even some of the sleaziest guys i know around the block personally thank me, congratulate me, and swear to never mess with my area because we've done such a great job making this a better neighborhood. More businesses and better housings are coming to this area as well. Where i do part ways with hilltopjay is discriminating against low income families. There are many decent, workig families in these neighborhoods who try their best and are just as deserving of a decent place to live and raise their kids. Theres a lot of hopeless, jobless, drug addicted, excons and baby mommas to weed out (and i dont even like to use these terms cus they tend to have racial connotations that from my experience arent always true) but i wouldnt hold anything against all families on assistance.
I remain involved in my property and community. i dont let the fact that people are poor or generalized as "ghetto" around these parts stop me from investing and expanding on the quality of this area. I often feel good knowing that if anything im providing hope to these young ones who didnt ask to be brought up with less. But thats just me.
I agree with you MoBX but just so you understand, I don't discriminate JUST BECAUSE a person is poor. That's a total lie. I discriminate (for lack of a better word) against GHETTO people. Last time I checked, ghetto people are NOT a protected class. That said, my building is in the Bronx, a relatively poor borough. I don't have rich people living in my building. This isn't Manhattan. I HAVE a mixture of poor and middle class people in my building. Only difference is, the poor people aren't GHETTO. They are HUMBLE poor people who work hard, mind their own business and keep to themselves. Not a ghetto bone in their body.
Your situation is a bit different than mine in that despite you wanting to rent to regular working folks, your neighborhood is sooooooo far gone (from a ghetto standpoint) that it deters or scares away any decent and respectable working or middle class people from moving to that area. The only people desperate enough to live there are people on programs because they just want a roof over their heads and are willing to tolerate the ghettoness in the area. And many who are willing to "tolerate it" also contribute to the ghettoness of the area. So its a never ending cycle.
I agree with you MoBX but just so you understand, I don't discriminate JUST BECAUSE a person is poor. That's a total lie. I discriminate (for lack of a better word) against GHETTO people. Last time I checked, ghetto people are NOT a protected class. That said, my building is in the Bronx, a relatively poor borough. I don't have rich people living in my building. This isn't Manhattan. I HAVE a mixture of poor and middle class people in my building. Only difference is, the poor people aren't GHETTO. They are HUMBLE poor people who work hard, mind their own business and keep to themselves. Not a ghetto bone in their body.
Your situation is a bit different than mine in that despite you wanting to rent to regular working folks, your neighborhood is sooooooo far gone (from a ghetto standpoint) that it deters or scares away any decent and respectable working or middle class people from moving to that area. The only people desperate enough to live there are people on programs because they just want a roof over their heads and are willing to tolerate the ghettoness in the area. And many who are willing to "tolerate it" also contribute to the ghettoness of the area. So its a never ending cycle.
Fair enough. Hope i didnt come off too personal. Jus curious if you dont mind sharig which area of the bronx you deal with.
MoBX your perception that you cannot get working/middle class tenants in the Southern Bronx is completely wrong. I have no trouble getting working/middle class tenants, and have never had to rent to any subsidized tenants. I don't know what the size of your building is, or how many tenants you have, but I think part of the problem is that if you have a building that is already filled with welfare cases, nobody wants to live around that. Also, if you building is not well maintained, you won't get decent tenants either. If people are going to live here, they want a nice place.
Don't sell yourself or your neighborhood short. There is a strong demand for quality housing by working/middle class tenants in the Southern Bronx. I live directly across the street from towering housing projects in the Southern Bronx and have no trouble getting quality, working tenants. If you are willing to take less money than section 8 pays (they always pay more than market rate), then you should have no trouble with getting a working/middle class tenants.
Right now I just renovated my 3rd floor apt. It is a 2 bedroom, 1 bath, with central heat (tenant pays their own heat) and the rent is $1,400. My tenants are a (white) late 20 something couple who work for the Botanical Gardens as arborists....got them straight from craigslist where I get all my tenants. There is no secret other than offering a nice apt, quiet/non-ghetto neighbors, and below market rent (below what section 8 pays that is).
If you need assistance getting better tenants, PM me.
MoBX your perception that you cannot get working/middle class tenants in the Southern Bronx is completely wrong. I have no trouble getting working/middle class tenants, and have never had to rent to any subsidized tenants. I don't know what the size of your building is, or how many tenants you have, but I think part of the problem is that if you have a building that is already filled with welfare cases, nobody wants to live around that. Also, if you building is not well maintained, you won't get decent tenants either. If people are going to live here, they want a nice place.
Don't sell yourself or your neighborhood short. There is a strong demand for quality housing by working/middle class tenants in the Southern Bronx. I live directly across the street from towering housing projects in the Southern Bronx and have no trouble getting quality, working tenants. If you are willing to take less money than section 8 pays (they always pay more than market rate), then you should have no trouble with getting a working/middle class tenants.
Right now I just renovated my 3rd floor apt. It is a 2 bedroom, 1 bath, with central heat (tenant pays their own heat) and the rent is $1,400. My tenants are a (white) late 20 something couple who work for the Botanical Gardens as arborists....got them straight from craigslist where I get all my tenants. There is no secret other than offering a nice apt, quiet/non-ghetto neighbors, and below market rent (below what section 8 pays that is).
If you need assistance getting better tenants, PM me.
Well said Sobro. And I think you're on to something when you mentioned that MoBX is selling herself and neighborhood short. The same can be said about other Bronx landlords that think just because it's "Da Bronx" they have to rent to the same "hood" demographic. And that's not totally true and part of the problem. It all really depends on the make up of your property. If you have an apartment building and the majority of the tenants are on programs that like to hang out, play loud music, smoke weed, and sell drugs, then YES it will be very difficult to turn your building around and attract regular middle class working folks. The building itself is too far gone to attract that demographic.
HOWEVER, if your vacant apartments are in good shape combined with good curb appeal or aesthetics of your building from the outside as well as all common areas of the building such as hallways, basement/laundry room and lobby with no graffiti, weed smoke in the air, broken hallway windows, liquor bottles on the floor, etc., then you increased your chances of attracting desirable non-program tenants.
MoBX...does your building have renovated apartments and good curb appeal/aesthetics from the outside and in common areas?
You will note that nobody is complaining about tenants, so don't derail the conversation. Kefir you are simply the polar opposite of hilltop...both extremes of 2 different sides and that's not a good thing.
You will note that nobody is complaining about tenants
Are you reading the same thread that I am???? THIS one???
Smoking weed, liquor bottles, not HUMBLE enough, poor is okay but GHETTO is not (meaning ETHNIC of course) but poor AND receiving Section 8 is makes them awful?
Really, nobody is complaining about tenants? Try a reread.
You landlords are really a special species of human...if even that.
Last edited by Kefir King; 08-08-2012 at 08:33 AM..
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