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Section 8 rentals in your neighborhood
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Many home owners in Baltimore can not stand section 8 renters. Section 8 renters are notoriously horrible neighbors who trash their houses and cause all sorts of disturbances. I know this is not the politically correct thing to say but it is true. Spend a few hours in a neighborhood like Reservoir Hill and talk to some neighbors and try to say otherwise.
Not all section 8 renters are bad. The main problem I have with the program is its use by so-called investors and developers in Baltimore. Investors come into a neighborhood like Reservoir Hill and promise to develop empty houses into "luxury" houses or condos. Since they know very little about the market or economics they end up way over their heads and they end up needing a quick way to recoup losses now that they are stuck with a house or condo that can not sell. They silently resort to section 8 renters. The government pays the bulk of a section 8 renter's rent so the landlord generates a larger than average rental income from the unit. This subsidy unnaturally (alters market forces) inflates the average rental price in the neighborhood and gives owners incentive to go the way of section 8. In the long run this only hurts the long term viability of neighborhoods like Reservoir Hill and in turn convinces more investors to go the section 8 route.
Here is a web site that lists section 8 rentals available in the Baltimore area. Check out the prices and the locations. You may be shocked about what owners near you are planning to do with the properties they are stuck with.
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