Oh, and I would NEVER rent from you if your rental contained cheap carpet and low end appliances.
Maybe if you made your rentals nice you would attract a better class of renters.
you are every landlords dream renter. I do HVAC in Texas and I can tell you firsthand most renters do zero maintenance on their AC units which often just replacing the filter is too much for them. If I was a landlord, I’d hate to be intrusive but I think I’d show up monthly or semi-monthly to change the filter. Often times the indoor coil is so filthy the only remedy is replacement. Landlords, too, do not like to part with their money either.
Outside of Center City, Philadelphia housing is disposable. I grew up there and good working class white neighborhoods were absolutely destroyed by Section 8 Housing. In one neighborhood I lived in our kids could play in the streets and you could walk down the back alley at midnight and not feel threatened or scared one bit. Now, I wouldn’t walk down the black I mean back alley unless I was with an armed militia.
I went back to that neighborhood not a decade later after I left and one thing really stood out to me. When I lived there the days were quite and not many cars were parked on the street because quite simply everyone was at work. When I went back to visit during the day time the street was loaded with the brothers hanging out everywhere.
I tell you what -- when you get together the cash to buy a few rentals, you can run them the way you want. Meanwhile, I will run mine the way I want.
As a renter, feel free to choose the best unit you can afford. This is what free enterprise is all about. I have very low turnover, and when a unit does come open, I have a wide selection of tenants to choose from.
My units are well-maintained, and represent the best value for 30 miles in any direction. My market is working-class families. With an emphasis on the working. If no one in the family has a job, please rent somewhere else. My experience is that if you live on transfer payments, you will stay up late at night and hold loud parties. Low class friends will congregate in the parking lot, drink beer, smoke pot, and create a nuisance. People who have that lifestyle are promptly replaced by family-oriented renters.
If you want high end appliances and luxury carpet, I understand that desire, but you will pay 50% more per month than in my rentals. Don't go away angry, but please find someone else to rent from.
I have had tenants who thought they knew more about my business than I did. I try to screen them out at the beginning, because somewhere along the line they will be troublemakers.
I also screen out the prospective tenants who have too much money. Ultimately they are going to want a more luxurious unit than I have, and they can afford to move up.