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i think you should be fine then. Historically, west Elmira has been a fine area and I believe it still is.
Thank you again for your reply.
I am currently living in California, I happened to like the houses in Elmira, New York. The houses there look so beautiful, yet so cheap.
If I purchase a small house and lease it out, how soon do you think I can find reliable tenant? I know nobody can really predict this kind of things, but can you or anybody give me a general idea ?
I have a rental property here in California, and it took me two months to find somebody to rent it out.
14901 encompasses parts of East and North Elmira. 14905 is definitely West Elmira....
The West Side of Elmira actually consists of two adjacent neighborhoods: the Near Westside, and West Elmira. Both are "the West Side", and both are 14905. There is a third neighborhood (Golden Glow) which is west of West Elmira, and is semi-considered West Side, but it is more rural and is the area along 352 heading to Big Flats, and at any rate, is not in the 14905 zip code...
While I believe Elmira's crime is probably higher than where you are coming from, there is nowhere in Elmira where you should be afraid for your life. Break-ins, burglaries, and other property crimes are not even of such a high occurence that one should be deterred when deciding where to go in Elmira. If you have any issue in Elmira, it is one of having nasty tenants who won't take care of your property, and/or those who don't care about being late with your rent; there seems to be more of that here than would be thought for a city its size....
As far as neighborhood breakdown, the dividing line between West Elmira and the Near Westside is basically Guinnip; everything west is WE, points east are NW. The areas that are probably undesirable to most are all in the Near Westside: Gray between College and Walnut, and the Elm/Davis/Columbia corridors. These are the areas with the most unkempt homes, and because seedy areas tend to attract seedy people, these are the areas with the most drug addicts/dealers/winos/bums, etc. These are the areas where you'd find the most "noise", for lack of a better descriptive. And while violent crime is not a problem anywhere in Elmira, when it does occur, it likely happens in the aforementioned areas of the Near Westside. Everything west of Walnut is nicer and pretty straight...
The borders between the West Side and North Elmira is essentially Elmira College/Washington; everything south and to the west of College is West Side. I've spent the majority of my time in Elmira on the West Side, with two residences on Gray St, one just west of Hoffman, the other just east. Crime here, and Elmira at large, is grossly exaggerated by people who have never lived in areas where crime was a daily event or constant threat, and as such have no real gauge on how dangerous an area is. There is nowhere in Elmira that deserves such a reputation, although as with almost anywhere, there are areas that are less desirable than others in town. And my assessment of crime being overblown isn't given because this is a small city; Petersburg and Hopewell, two cities south of Richmond, Virginia, are small cities about the sam size of Elmira. One would change their stance on crime in Elmira spending time in either of those towns....
And I currently reside on the "notorious" East Side of Elmira, near the intersection of Lake and Oak. I won't even begin to speak on this, though...
If you have any issue in Elmira, it is one of having nasty tenants who won't take care of your property, and/or those who don't care about being late with your rent; there seems to be more of that here than would be thought for a city its size....
Also, the fact that you are so far away sets you up for the label of "absentee landlord" - and the Elmira city council recently passed laws regarding this. I think I posted this in an earlier thread, too, but this is a YNN news report from earlier this year.
Quote:
ELMIRA, N.Y. -- Officials in the City of Elmira have had enough with dead beat landlords.
"It's time to clean it up and that's the bottom line. That's what we're looking for," said Elmira Fire Chief Patrick Bermingham.
Back in November, city council passed an ordinance to require all landlords in the city to register their properties. Eight months later, more than 200 properties are still not registered.
Notices have been posted on the units requiring all tenants inside to get out because the units are being shut down. It's all an effort to make the landlords more responsible for what goes on when they're not around.
"A lot of the problems that take place in the city are an indirect result of absentee landlords not caring for their property," said Police Chief Scott Drake.
We caught up with some neighbors and tenants who have to deal with this problem every day. They're sick of it too. They're glad the city is finally stepping up to fix this problem.
"I think it's a good idea, I really do. Some of these landlords around here don't care. They just let everything go. They don't come down. They don't do house checks," said Sheri Watts, a neighbor of several run-down properties.
Brian Minnier and his daughter, Malinda, say their landlord lives in Australia and they can't even get a hold of him to fix anything.
"We're not even going to wait. We're leaving. It's not worth the time, I mean, he doesn't want to take care of the house, now we got this problem, they don't want to take care of this. Why even bother staying," said Minnier.
Starting Monday, four of the more than 200 properties will get their final notice. If the landlords still don't respond, they are no longer allowed to rent to anyone in the city.
For those first four houses, the tenants have until the end of the month to get out. The city will offer assistance to help them find a new place to live.
The city will continue to vacate homes with absentee landlords until there are none left.
I own my home now, but back when I was renting, I preferred to rent from a landlord who lived in the area. I would also consider myself to be a "desirable" tenant - pretty much spotless credit, conscientious about my pets (when I had them), kept my home/apartment clean and in good repair (as much as I could as a non-owner, that is).
I am currently living in California, I happened to like the houses in Elmira, New York. The houses there look so beautiful, yet so cheap.
If I purchase a small house and lease it out, how soon do you think I can find reliable tenant? I know nobody can really predict this kind of things, but can you or anybody give me a general idea ?
I have a rental property here in California, and it took me two months to find somebody to rent it out.
You should understand that the reason so many houses are selling so "cheaply" in many areas is that there's nobody willing to buy them. I would say that any home, single or multi family, selling for less than $50,000 in any Upstate community is in need of significant repair or in a very bad area. It's possilbe that the cost of repairing said house would be more than the house would ever be worth. I would say that single family homes in the $50,000-$75,000 are probably going to need at least some updating, but some multifamilies in this price range are good to go because multifamiles, especially 2 families, tend to sell for less because most residential home buyers don't want to deal with tenants.
Also keep in mind that in areas with cheap real estate prices, you are not going to get top dollar rents, either. In my nice, quiet, safe residential neighborhood, you can rent a 3 bedroom, 2 bath totally updated single family cape cod style home with garage for $850 a month. I suspect a home like that would rent for a lot more in California.
Have you actually been to Elmira to look at properties or are you simply doing this via the Internet?
Instead of worrying about finding reliable tenants, what you should be hunting for is a good, reliable property management company to repair/maintain your house. A good company can then also find you tenants. I've owned rental properties in the past, and conscientious long distance rental property ownership is simply not feasible without having somebody local to take care of problems that are going to arise.
Instead of worrying about finding reliable tenants, what you should be hunting for is a good, reliable property management company to repair/maintain your house. A good company can then also find you tenants. I've owned rental properties in the past, and conscientious long distance rental property ownership is simply not feasible without having somebody local to take care of problems that are going to arise.
Yes, bolded is exactly what I plan on doing. I want to find a reliable property management company and pay a monthly payment for them to take care of the property for me. (taking care of the Tenant, collecting rent, etc.)
I want to purchase a small house anywhere between $75,000-$85,000 in a very nice neighborhood. The house doesn't have to be big (800-1200 square feet is good enough), I heard house like that in a nice neighborhood can rent at least $1100
Thank you for your reply. It is very informative.
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