[AT]Slumlords ??

[ROBBRUT at aol.com]

Walt-
My wife and I have two houses we rent which happened kind of by accident, 
since one was hers when we got married and she wanted to keep it mostly to 
irritate her former boyfriend.

The second one was one which one of my older sons had been renting from a 
friend's mom, who then wanted to sell it "off the market".
Since it was a very solid 150 year old Federalist-style 2 1/2 story brick 
end-of-row, we bought it, I renovated it inside (and made it into a mini-Taj 
Mahal) with the vague idea that a family member might want it.

And now, the tales:

Both of them have tenants now, with my B-I-L living in Margaret's old place, 
and Section 8 tenants occupying  the renovated one.

The Sec. 8 folks are from Trinidad (although the matriarch of the family just 
got her US citizenship), and they are the most decent, hard-working people I 
know, they keep the house spotless, pay rent on time or before, and have very 
respectful children.
I will fix or modify anything they want, even though the lease says that they 
are responsible for anything under 50 bucks, because it is a pleasure to have 
them there and they have made it a .
Therefore, the real income from that place is only about 3 grand a year, but 
it's property value is rising along with the market.

The "rental" to my B-I-L is another story, since he has turned it into an 
eyesore with cars, "found items" and car/truck parts in plain sight of the main 
road.
It is located 40 miles from here, and in another state, so I don't hear about 
it till it gets too bad and we get another notice from the township, we bitch 
at him, he sort of cleans it up, and the cycle begins anew.
The rent and utility payments are always in arrears, with "forgiving" taking 
place from time-to-time.
As to what I will be faced with he and his GF vacate (as if !!) just let me 
say that since his companion is determined to save every cat she sees, there 
are currently 12 or 14 of them living there.
The real income from that one is 1500 dollars on a good year, and I will 
probably have to have it razed when they leave.

On the whole, my life as a "mini land baron" is not so easy, and if I were 
trying to make a living at it, it would require so many rentals that it would be 
impossible to service all that is required, at least at a "good" level.
So, I suppose that I can understand how those who do it for a living have to 
compromise even if they are decent people.
>From what I can hear on this list no one is getting rich abusing their 
tenants.
-Bruce