Why Low-Income Investments Deserve More Recognition
There is a lot of prestige and delight that comes with massive properties, flipped homes and sweet abodes as shown by multiple cable TV shows, but when it comes to low income homes, they are the victims of much undeserved stigma. Many real estate investors out there automatically think that tenants that stay in low income houses are bad tenants who will pay their rent late, cause destruction to the property and create all kinds of nasty issues. However, while all of those things aren’t untrue, it is important to know that they can be true with tenants of ANY income.
Lots of low-income tenants are receiving government benefits
This is a good sign for the landlord, because with government assistance you can rest assured that you will receive your monthly rent payments. Unless you are receiving your check directly from the government, even high income tenants cannot give you the guarantee of that monthly check.
Bear in mind that if these tenants get evicted, it is very likely they will lose their vouchers, which in turn means that their ability to afford housing will be lost. While it will be naïve of someone to say that low income tenants seeking government assistance are absolutely perfect, the majority of tenants seeking government assistance will be more motivated to follow the rules, in a way that some other tenants might not be.
There’s not much competition
If you just have a good look around at the quality of the low-income housing, you will be able to notice that in some areas, there just isn’t a lot of competition. Hence, this is your dream paradise – the landlord’s market.
This is because most low-income tenants don’t usually have a lot of choices to select from, which will be able to meet both their price range and their requirements. This in turn, causes them to be more lenient and settle for homes that meet their basic bedroom requirements, although it might not be in the ideal location or as spacious as they would wish.
This is amazing from the point of view of the landlord, because you will be assured that your property will rarely be vacant. In addition, you’ll likely only have to do minor repairs between tenants. Because people wait for years to obtain low-income assistance, and they don’t want to lose it, they have a huge incentive to keep your home in decent shape. You’ll only need a couple of touch ups here and there instead of having to break the bank and do some massive rehabilitation project.
Low income properties are more affordable
While middle-income properties are usually far more pocket-deep in comparison to the low-income ones, the difference in the rental income isn’t actually that different. You would most likely be able to buy multiple low-income homes for the same price as a middle-income home – and still end up making a lot more cash. In addition, if you have a few homes to your name for the price of one, the cost that comes with a vacant home will not impact you as greatly as if you had purchased just a single, but far pricier property.