At the city work session of February 18, one of the options discussed was offering $10K to local corporate employees as an incentive to buy properties in "problem" areas.
I looked at one of the streets identified by the city as a "problem" area (25% or more rentals).
This particular street has 17 rentals out of 65 houses (rental ratio: 28%). One family (who used to live on the street) owns 8 rentals there. We happened to talk to this owner a couple of months ago. The owner said his rentals passed rental inspections and got high scores. So if getting rid of lower-end rentals is the city's goal, the Rental Registration/Inspection Program isn't working.
We don't think professionals will move onto this street. The biggest problem is the size of the houses. Most are 1200-1400 sf. (We don't buy these small houses even for rentals because they're hard to rent!)
And the interiors need lots of upgrades and updating. The location isn't attractive to these professionals, either.
The value of these houses is constrained by the size and will go up only so much. These streets were destined to be "rental streets" and will continue down that road. However, these houses will attract working-class buyers who want to put their kids into good schools, with some incentives.
There are other areas in the city that have these small houses, some with 1-car garages. As the housing stock ages further, the city needs to come up with a comprehensive scheme figuring what to do with these outdated small houses. Rental inspections won't solve this problem.
I looked at one of the streets identified by the city as a "problem" area (25% or more rentals).
This particular street has 17 rentals out of 65 houses (rental ratio: 28%). One family (who used to live on the street) owns 8 rentals there. We happened to talk to this owner a couple of months ago. The owner said his rentals passed rental inspections and got high scores. So if getting rid of lower-end rentals is the city's goal, the Rental Registration/Inspection Program isn't working.
We don't think professionals will move onto this street. The biggest problem is the size of the houses. Most are 1200-1400 sf. (We don't buy these small houses even for rentals because they're hard to rent!)
And the interiors need lots of upgrades and updating. The location isn't attractive to these professionals, either.
The value of these houses is constrained by the size and will go up only so much. These streets were destined to be "rental streets" and will continue down that road. However, these houses will attract working-class buyers who want to put their kids into good schools, with some incentives.
There are other areas in the city that have these small houses, some with 1-car garages. As the housing stock ages further, the city needs to come up with a comprehensive scheme figuring what to do with these outdated small houses. Rental inspections won't solve this problem.
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