Scranton Property Management (low income, rental, house)

[TomMoser]

Does anyone know of any good companies in Scranton that provide property management services for small landlords?

[FightinPhils]

We don't need any more out-of-town landlords in Scranton. They are a big part of the problem here....renting to low-life scum as long as they get the rent money.

No thanks.

[weluvpa]

What do you need done? How many properties?

[TomMoser]

One property. A four family. Looking for overall property management (collect rents, maintenance, tenant issues, etc.)

[versaron]

Originally Posted by FightinPhils

We don't need any more out-of-town landlords in Scranton. They are a big part of the problem here....renting to low-life scum as long as they get the rent money.

No thanks.

I've seen more properties here with "low life scum tenants" owned by locals than absentee landlords. so show a little love to the out of towners cause were buying those properties that would just sit there eventually be condemmed and all the copper stripped out of the house. then i'm sure you'll put a post about all the crap properties in scranton.

[pj0026]

Originally Posted by versaron

I've seen more properties here with "low life scum tenants" owned by locals than absentee landlords. so show a little love to the out of towners cause were buying those properties that would just sit there eventually be condemmed and all the copper stripped out of the house. then i'm sure you'll put a post about all the crap properties in scranton.

That is absolutely a false statement, at least 80% of the problem rental properties in Scranton are owned by out-of-town landlords. They buy the run down properties and do not put a dime back into them, they buy proeprties which should be condemned, and most of them end up being condemned within a few years of the purchase. THey rarely screen tenants, and could care less about who is in the property because it is not "in their back yard", the only time they care is when they dont receive the rent. I had a long conversation with one of the inspectors about this and he confirmed everything. The management companies for the most part are useless as they either 1. Don't care about the actual property and do not visti them on a weekly basis or 2. They cant do anything about the problems because the landlords do not want to pay. At lease if there is a problem with a propertyy and the landlord is local, the can be there within a few minutes, they are not hours away.
My advice call and talk to one of the inspectors, Jack being the best one to talk to, they know what managers are actaully sincere. Do not talk to the dept. heads or the bilding inspector because they will baically tell you to go pound sand, they are the ones on a mission to rid the city of rental properties and undesirables

[bobconan]

Originally Posted by versaron

I've seen more properties here with "low life scum tenants" owned by locals than absentee landlords. so show a little love to the out of towners cause were buying those properties that would just sit there eventually be condemmed and all the copper stripped out of the house. then i'm sure you'll put a post about all the crap properties in scranton.

I would actually rather see alot of the properties around here torn down rather then be rented. We have a housing glut witch leads to low income inter city types moving in to live off their welfare.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by bobconan

I would actually rather see alot of the properties around here torn down rather then be rented. We have a housing glut witch leads to low income inter city types moving in to live off their welfare.

The only reason we have a housing glut is because the morons who supervise our suburbs and outlying townships continue to rubber-stamp each and every housing developer's wish and whim. This is why the bi-weekly Homes Magazine has now swollen to 95 pages of listings, up from roughly 60-something just a couple of years ago as our population has only grown very slowly.

[bobconan]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

The only reason we have a housing glut is because the morons who supervise our suburbs and outlying townships continue to rubber-stamp each and every housing developer's wish and whim. This is why the bi-weekly Homes Magazine has now swollen to 95 pages of listings, up from roughly 60-something just a couple of years ago as our population has only grown very slowly.

That is only part of the problem. The majority of it is just Drastically declining population in the cities. It's nothing to inherit an empty house from some relative that hadn't fixed it up since Agnes so its hardly worth the hassle to sell. Person I bought my house off of had 2 homes and so did the person my mom bought from(hers was move in though).

[TomMoser]

As the original poster and an "out of town landlord" (well, semi-out of town anyway), I thouoght that I would give you my perspective on this.

I actually own two homes. One in NEPA where I spend about 25% of my time. I have invested in properties in Scranton (southside) because I like the city's efforts to turn that area around and I think that it will pay off in the future.

I am extremely cautious about who I rent to because I want my properties to be taken care of and the last thing that I need is problems with the neighbors.

Financially, my properties just about break even because I put a lot of money back into them for maintenance and upgrades. It's not like I am letting them deteriorate and milking them for money in the meantime. I believe that approach would be very short sighted.

Although I spend about 25% of my time in the area, I use the services of a professional management company so that the tenants have someone who is always there to contact if they have a problem. When I am in town, I regularly inspect my properties to ensure that they are well kept up.

I agree that the bad landlords should get what they have comming to them: problems with the city and a steadily deteriorating asset. However, there are many of us who are careful and conservative, and we should not all be lumped into one basket.