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Maintenance Effort and the Professional Landlord: An Empirical Critique of Theories of Neighborhood Decline *
Author(s) -
Quinn Michael A.,
Elliott Donald S.,
Mendelson Robert E.,
Thoman Jeffery A.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
real estate economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.064
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1540-6229
pISSN - 1080-8620
DOI - 10.1111/1540-6229.00221
Subject(s) - economic rent , landlord , economics , renting , rental housing , discounting , face (sociological concept) , public economics , property management , labour economics , microeconomics , sociology , real estate , finance , political science , law , social science
Most theories of neighborhood decline assume a reduction in expenditures for repair and maintenance of housing. Findings reported in this paper suggest that this view is overly simplistic. Based on analysis of 127 low‐income rental properties in the city of St. Louis, Missouri during the 1960s and early 1970s, the authors find that in most cases expenditures for repair and maintenance increased in the face of declining rents. While not totally discounting the standard theories, this paper sets forth an alternative description of low‐income property management in neighborhoods undergoing decline.