All Forum Posts by: Barbara McArthur

I spoke to the landlord last year because the house was empty and I was considering buying it.  He wanted about twice what the house was worth.  Since the house was empty and there was no "for rent" sign on it I decided to wait.  I think the guy's game is that he gets tenants who are poor and ignorant and want to fix up the house for a lower rent.  When they get behind on rent because they're spending their money on drywall he evicts them.  Thanks to DeeperPockets.com I now know more about the rental business and am more confident in my ability to turn the house around and protect my investment in my house.  When the young guy renting the house had a minor difference with his girlfriend he threatened to slit her throat.  He was probably just running his mouth, but I'm concerned that if I speak to the landlord or report the situation to the authorities there might be trouble.  I haven't seen any evidence that he is really working on the house.  

I am house hacking in a medium sized town in the Northeast.  My house was rented for about 15 years and was pretty close to wrecked.  I have fixed it up and will be ready to rent or sell it this year.  I talked to a Realtor to get an idea of what my house is worth.  She told me that the rental house next door is in such bad shape that it's hurting the value of my house.  The house next door would legally be considered uninhabitable because it has no heat.  The young man that is renting there is heating his room with a space heater.  This is fire waiting to happen.  If it burned it would probably damage my house since they're close together.  Normally I don't care what other people do with their rental properties, but I think this landlord is a dirtbag taking advantage of people AND the house is hurting my property value AND is a fire hazard to my house.  I'm considering reporting the situation to the local housing authority.  Is it really none of my business or is this a situation that should be reported?  

I live in a neighborhood in Jamestown that has a lot of rentals.  I've asked around about rents because I intend to rent my current house and move into another single family home.  I was told that a single family home in decent condition rents for around $750 per month.  There are a lot of large older homes on the north side of town that have been split into two rentals.  They are non-conforming with the current zoning but are grandfathered.  Foundations and roofs are an issue in Jamestown since a lot of the houses are around 100 years old.