Last week my son sent me the following text:
I read this from time to time and thank you for it
The Public Policy Forum a few months back said Milwaukee’s really short of low-cost rentals. If more people went into the business, researchers said, it could help. Yet Ballering, who’s owned for 32 years, told his son to find another occupation: “It’s such a difficult business,” said Ballering.
“There’s better things to do with your life.”
Not what a city in need of rental housing wants to hear from entrepreneurs who provide it.
Source: http://archive.jsonline.com/news/opinion/59534347.html/
The back story:
My son was nearing high school graduation. I asked him what his plans were. He said that he was going to follow me into the rental business. He was initially upset with me when I told him no. Today he is happy as a partner at a major marketing firm.
Although being in rental housing has done well for me, it is a harsh business. There is little to no appreciation for the amount of work and risk involved. Many who enter the industry leave broke and broken. Your properties get damaged, your tenants do not pay and, to quote the late Rodney Dangerfield, we get no respect.
The government, who would benefit from successful rental housing, seldom support us or gives us the tools we need to succeed. As an urban housing provider, you become responsible for the misdeeds of your tenants, while those who commit crimes are often not prosecuted.
There is an eviction crisis. Yet instead of putting resources towards the causes, poverty and social issues, those claiming to want to solve the problem are providing more resources to free legal helps so that the nonpaying or disruptive tenant can stay a month or two longer due to an undotted i or uncrossed t.
So, yes, being a marketing professional seems like a much better life.
You are absolutely right. Getting out of Milwaukee by selling all of my rental property there was one of the best things I ever did. The city hated low-income housing providers and proved it with inspectors who went to court and brazenly lied about work orders being completed.