I just read a recent MSN article, entitled Many towns tightening “no rental” rules. The fact that homeowners nationwide are having a tough time selling their homes, given the current economic situation and housing markets, is no surprise. However, the article said many Home Owners Associations (HOA’s), and even some community leaders, across the nation are implementing rules that would ban homeowners from renting out their home(s), even though the housing market is in a slump. (http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=18246184>1=35000)
“Instead of greeting renters with hosannas, many towns and subdivisions are barring their doors, arguing that tenants usher in neglect, misbehavior, and even violent crime. Almost 60 million Americans live in developments governed by homeowners associations, and by some estimates as many as 40% of those communities enforce restrictions that keep owners from becoming landlords.” – MSN – SmartMoney.com
“Thus, the thinking goes, renters are less likely to maintain and improve their homes. But proof that this phenomenon affects property values isn’t overwhelming. A California study found that homes fetched lower prices in communities where more than 30% of properties were renter-occupied, but that study dates from 1987. Whether governed by perception or reality, anti-renter sentiment is pervasive: Even Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refuse to underwrite mortgages in condo projects where a majority of units are rentals.” – MSN – SmartMoney.com
Do renters truly destroy neighborhoods? Should HOA’s have the right to tell other homeowners what they can and cannot do with their own property? What are your thoughts?
Popularity: 11%
Related posts:
Gato got runned over by Marcus many moons ago. Be ye daft, 2486? 
Let's have a new poll, alright, Joe?
Loading ...
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
An interesting concept. I’m not too uptight about the value of my home, but I also live in an established neighborhood with very decent property values. I live alongside many elderly homeowners, which has its perks and pitfalls.
I’m honestly not sure how I would react to homes being rented in my neighborhood. I became a homeowner to escape the kind of garbage that renting brings – ignorant neighbors, crime, etc. But we should also avoid stereotypes. Not all renters are scum, just like not all property owners are saints.
What are everyone else’s thoughts?
http://www.kidk.com/news/30822239.html
Decent example of the average renter in my neighborhood. I’m pretty happy that these folks are gone now.
There are several very nice apartment complexes in town that seem very well kept. The complex that I live in is pretty middle-of-the-road but it is clean and taken care of.
I have seen many rented homes that were in a state of disrepair, but I’ve also seen many that were well maintained.
I would think a lot of that depends on how involved the owner is and how tolerant the owner is of having sub-par renters.
Wow, Marcus, that story was really poorly-written. Who the HELL is writing our local news? Are they hiring? I’ll gladly write their stories for a FRACTION of whatever moron is putting this garbage together.
Anyway, well done getting justice for a starving pooch. Some people shouldn’t be allowed to have pets.
Yeah, KIDK, what do you expect. In this market, it’s hard to get much better that what you just saw…and when you get them trained, their two years is up and they move on.
I live in a nice older community. A lot of the people on my road and the roads clossest have lived here since the communitiy was started. We are renters. We have always rented due to constant moves. We have always maintained and improved the homes that we have lived in. Two blocks away from us are three houses right next to each other where the people own the houses. The yards are in horrible condition, toys are left on the road which is a culdesac, paint is peeling, broken windows with plywood up in them.
I personally believe that there shouldn’t be HOA’s. They are just one more group of people that are telling us what we can and cannot do.
When you deal with renters, you need to remember that they are human beings with as many rights as homeowners have. They essentially pay the mortgage and property taxes for the home that they are residing in. It’s just not in their name.
If a landlord allows the tennant the freedom to love the home that they are in, then the renters will take care of it. A home is not just the walls you live in. It is what you make of it.
Landlords need to be aware of who they are renting to. Not all renters are good, and not all renters are bad. And the same goes with homeowners.
Jeremy, that’s actually a type of text transcript of a video article. It’s not alwasy easy to convert video to print form, so you can’t really compare it to a print article. To see it in context, here’s the video of the article:
http://www.kidk.com/news/30822239.html?video=YHI&t=a
Ok, still not that great.
Great job, Marcus, on taking action to get problems resolved. We need more like you here in Idaho Falls. And fun that they were plugging http://www.idahofallstoday.com in the process!
As often as not renting means you’ve got an Idaho Housing tenant. Which means the rent is paid by the state. Which means its guaranteed rent to the landlord. And any damage after the renter leaves will be paid by the state. So there is no incentive for these slumlords to boot bad tenants. It doesn’t mean that all renters are bad, not even all Idaho Housing renters, but the odds of getting a bad neighbor is much higher when its a renter.
ITs the investors buying up cheeper homes and renting them out that ruin entire areas. They rent to anyone and dont beautify. You cant expect a home renter to make upgrades to someone elses property. The worst is these big old homes that are destroyed by turning them into full blown ghetto apartment complexes.
Jeremy Plothow:
__________________________________________
became a homeowner to escape the kind of garbage that renting brings – ignorant neighbors, crime, etc.
__________________________________________
You became a homeowner to ESCASE the kind of GARBAGE that are renters?
Holy hell, I’ve heard a lot of reasons, romantic reasons, financial reasons, family reasons, for the good of the community and the future reasons to buy a home, but your reason to purchase a house I’d never ever, not even once before perceived – listened to as a reason to sign up for 10, 20 or more years of payments to own some one’s personal space of bed and breakfast.
Now I’ve rented before, when in college and for a few years after graduating. After that smart finances always moved me to own my home, and that’s what I did. Not once in my life was I attempting to get away from, or judge those that couldn’t own their own homes.
Oh, and for two years -while a student at I.S.U., and majoring in business- I assisted to manage Rem West Incorporated. Under my management was the Wooley Apartments, L&L apartments, and 3rd apartment building I don’t recall the name of and several single family homes. I rented them out to families.
Many of those families made their intimate circumstances known to me when they were unable to make the rent on time, or when they were having trouble with a spouse, needed me to babysit because their sitter was sick and they had to get to work, et al. I never judged any of them. Life is what happens when you’re attempting to… live.
became a homeowner to escape the kind of garbage that renting brings – ignorant neighbors, crime, etc.
I’ve lived in a number of both large and small cities across this great country and there’s one thing that always rings true when looking for a nice place to rent or even purchase a home. The first thing I look at in said neighborhood is the type of vehicles sitting in the drive-ways. You can tell alot about a neighborhood this way and although their are exceptions to this rule, it’s always worked well for me. If most of the people are driving late model well kept vehicles, most of the time their homes are well kept also. But if every other driveway there sits a beater with an unpainted quarter panel, tiny spare on one wheel, vehicle hasn’t been washed in years, you’re going to find tenants that don’t take care of their homes, apartments, etc. Like I said, there is an exception to this rule but overall it rings true all over the country.
The apt complex I’m currently in requires tenants to have good credit which also helps to keep out the riff raff. Again, exceptions to this rule but overall it’s a good thing. Everyone falls on hard times at some point in their life, but it’s how you handle those hard times that truly make the person and/or family.
When we first moved into our old neighborhood all of the neighbors were owners. It was nice because they all worked hard to impove their property. After about nine months one of the neighbors decided they needed a new job and moved out of state. They couldn’t sell their house on as short of notice as they wanted (about 2 months, which is far to short of a time in my opinion). So they decided to rent it out.
The house is a larger house with 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and a partial unfinished basement.
In most cases I don’t have problems with renters. In smaller more affordable homes they seem to do an ok job of caring for their things as far as I can tell. But in this case the house was so big and the rent high (because of the size of the house) that the only renters they could get in there were a) renters that were good, but VERY temporary due to them actually looking for a house to own, or because they were building a house. or b) renters that were ROYALY bad due to trying to live outside of their means and having horrid credit (and therefore being unable to buy) and no care for others or their things.
Because the landloard no longer lived in the state they couldn’t keep a good eye on their property and therefore I was always the one to inform either them or their property management company when they were screaming and yelling at each other outside at 2 am (curse words included) or that I heard load banging (causeing holes in the walls etc. as found after their eviction) during such fights. Having th epolice constantly around the house was not a nice indication either.
I think that the matter of if renters effect property value depends on the size of the property. If it’s a smaller property I don’t see the likelihood of people trying to live glamorously and outside their budget as as much of a likelyhood. These kind of reaters are more likely to ruin the property too.
I have rented from landlords that were near impossible to locate to ask if I could do any improvements. They have a way to get the rent from you to them, and that’s it. It didn’t take long to get tired of those rentals, landlords, and the surrounding renters, and move on to a rental where the landlord actually cares about his property.
I’ve found that if you rent from someone locally that is easy to find, it’s easier to have a nice place.
I’ve also had pretty good luck with places that were managed by Rentmaster, but I’ve heard a lot of people say the opposite.
“You became a homeowner to ESCASE the kind of GARBAGE that are renters?”
I certainly NEVER said that renters are garbage. How is it that you can quote me and put words in my mouth in the same breath?
I certainly do not think that all renters are deadbeats or scoundrels. I don’t think I ever implied that, nor did I ever speak in the abstract. I was talking about my personal experience, which has been overwhelmingly negative, with renting, and why I made the decision to purchase a home.
In my renting experience, I have shared living space with wards of the state, meth cookers/dealers, men who beat their husbands, women who beat their kids, alcoholics, deadbeats, people who throw parties at 4am on a Wednesday, etc. In my experience, the concept of renting is not beneficial in any way. I was in no way making a class statement about renters, and I don’t think my entry implied that in any way.
I’ve also lived/rented houses & apartments in quite a few cities across the country and have had more good experiences than bad. I don’t know where you’ve rented before Jeremy but you’ve obviously had some bad luck. It’s been my experience (like most anything else) you get what you pay for. And this is certainly true when it comes to housing.
Personally I like and prefer the freedom of renting. There’s no point in a single man purchasing a home (imo) just to purchase a home. I’ve moved from one side of the country to the other and I enjoy the freedom of not having to be tied down in any one place for any length of time. I like not having to worry about wasting my wknds mowing the lawn, painting the basement, replacing a hot water heater and the list goes on and on. I’d much rather be out enjoying myself camping, skiing, or whatever activity arises. At the same time, I’m well aware that many people enjoy spending their weekends working around the house, making improvements, working in their gardens, etc. And that’s fine….there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. It’s just not for me. Not having that commitment has enabled me to travel extensively and enjoy my life the way I want and I wouldn’t have been able to do that had I needed to spend that money replacing a hot water heater or tending a garden. I’m sure once I decide to settle in one place and raise a family I’ll purchase a home, but until that time comes I’m quite content renting.
As for Homeowners Associations, their a joke. And personally, I don’t see why anyone would spend the money to move into a home or condo where a HOA controls almost every aspect of how you live, what color you can or can’t paint your house, what type of trees you can or can’t plant in your yard, whether or not you can park your work vehicle in your driveway, etc. etc. You should be able to do what you want on the property you purchased.
Checkout this website about bad landlords.
http://www.badlandlords.biz
Wow! Do a search of “squatters living in foreclosed homes” and you’ll get hundreds of stories of people doing this all over the country.
Just one example http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-02-17-foreclosure-homeless_N.htm
I say if you have foreclosed homes in your neighborhood keep an eye out on them to make sure they aren’t being used by the homeless or crack heads!
Good “heads up”.
If there are foreclosed homes in the area, do we always know? If it posted? I wonder how many times people just think that the house has been rented or sold?
As i renter, i can tell you i have lived in multiple neighborhoods where i moved because of my “established neighbors” You have the lil old lady next door that was paranoid because my dog was “lookin under her fence at her” never mind he is tied up, and a great dane…good luck seeing him go under…then the other neighbor complained that “our grass was growing under his fence”
Of all the discrimination i never thought this would be an issue. I got rid of my dog, and my kids dont go outside to play anymore, but the complaints from neighbors keep coming in….we park OUR CARS on OUR lawn,. we dont plant flowers, we dont have trees…and keeps going and going….from our trampoline, to our garage. We recently bought this house..but now i regret it because of this cookie cutter all houses should look the same rule. maybe people should quit worrying about others…and worry about themselves a little more