Abstract:
Americans perceive renters as less interested and less vested in their
residences than owner-occupants. These perceptions stem in part from historical
and current day promotion of the homeownership tenure norm. Although this has
achieved its main goal, that of reinforcing owner occupancy as the societal tenure
norm, it has also encouraged bias against renters and non-owner occupied
dwellings.
Maintenance of rental units is ultimately the responsibility of the owner. One
might expect landlords to exert approximately the same amount of upkeep effort
towards their rental property investments as they would towards their own
residence. Maintaining the homes in good condition would protect their investment
from devaluation.
The first objective was to determine what pre-established perception, if any,
Corvallis residents have of non-owner occupied residences. The second was to
identify relationships between the selected characteristics and the exterior condition
of single-family residences. The characteristics analyzed were: 1) Tenure (of the
residents), 2) Age of the structure, 3) Condition of neighboring residences
(Neighborhood Condition), 4) A Maintenance Management Factor and, 5)
Proximity of Owner (to the residence). The final objective was to ascertain if renter
occupied homes were more likely than owner occupied to possess those
predisposing characteristics that make a dwelling more susceptible to decline.
Three residential dwelling characteristics were identified as having an
influence on the exterior condition of single-family homes in Corvallis. These were
Tenure, Age of Structure and Neighborhood Condition. Non-owner occupied
residences, older dwellings, and units in poor condition neighborhoods tended to
have poor quality exterior conditions themselves. Of the three the only
characteristic predisposed to decline linked to rental residences was Tenure.
Although the chi-square and ANOVA test results relate neighborhood condition
and age to exterior conditions of dwellings, the results also suggest that a rental
home is not more likely than an owner occupied home to be older or to be located
in a poor condition neighborhood
Identification of residential characteristics that predispose a dwelling to
decline could benefit renters and owners of rental properties. The outcomes could
assist in the development of policies that provide financial support and/or education
to owners of homes that possess those characteristics. Renters would benefit if the
policies would encourage improved quality of rental dwellings.
