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Builder Rodney Swift aims for quality in single-family rentals
LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO
How does a landlord get and keep good tenants? According to builder Rodney Swift, it’s easy, just provide them with good housing.
Rodney K. Swift Construction has built “government-subsidized housing, market-rate rentals, lease-option, homes for sale, you name it,” he tells the MEMO. He has built single-family homes for rent on Southeast 125th Avenue south of Division Street, and on Southeast Division at 89th Avenue. They range in size from 1170 to 2300 square feet, and offer from two to five bedrooms.
His preferred market, he says, are families. “We give them things they really need and that they like to have, not just things that are frilly and that we think they ought to have,” he says. This includes “useable space,” with large bedrooms, concrete porches that will last, “as much backyard space as possible,” with “a minimum of bark dust” and landscaping already in place so that “they know what they’re getting.”
Swift recently attended a meeting for the Portland Planning Bureau’s Infill Design workshop; an attempt to codify the sort of design for new housing that will fit well in older neighborhoods. Unlike many of his fellow builders, he doesn’t have major problems with city regulations. “We have set plans so we know what a project will cost before we start,” he says. “We’ve done our homework on the mathematics. Too many people try to build to their own egos. We emphasize the usability of the property rather than ornate details. You can have a good street presence without spending an arm and a leg. We’re not so displeased with city regulations any more. We design our game plan based on what they want. Sometimes they require things we don’t think are necessary.” An example is a requirement that when a walkway crosses a driveway, the builder use a different paving treatment. “It adds to the cost, and the people who live there don’t give a damn,” he says. “On the other hand, we do some things that aren’t required. We like to put in extruded curbs that have paving on top of the asphalt. It looks a hell of a lot nicer.”
And all this keeps problem tenants away? “There’s no guarantee, but it helps,” Swift says. “If you do the right thing, it all comes back to you.”
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