Like in the old country, Bangladeshis in the United States are eager to buy real estate any chance they get. It is a tradition. And in the United States, it is not difficult to buy a house. Banks are willing to help as long as you have good credit, a good job or a mid-level income. You can become the proud owner of a house by paying as little as five percent down, and sometimes even with a zero percent down payment.

Rental income is very useful to help pay off mortgages, and landlords often set the rent based on their indebtedness to the bank. But being a landlord is not trouble free. Although the house owner can choose his tenants, he can’t control whether or not a tenant decides to leave for cheaper quarters, if the rent comes in late or not at all, or if the tenant claims that there are problems with the house. Landlords consider that the law is biased in favor of the tenant, so an owner generally does not take a difficult tenant to court. A Bangladeshi homeowner observed that he was happy if he could get a Bangladeshi tenant; however, “when the most minor of problems arises, they threaten to take me to court, rather than attempting to solve the situation mutually.”

Besides, the process of resolving a tenant conflict through the courts is time consuming and getting a verdict can take a long time. A bank is not interested in a landlord’s tenant problems. Furthermore, with delayed mortgage payments, a bank can move in to take the property from the landlord. It’s a dilemma for the landlord.

One Bangladeshi house owner decided to sell his house after failing to resolve some problems with a tenant. Now he too lives as a tenant, happy not to have to face the pressure of meeting mortgage payments and not getting his rents on time. A growing trend within the Bangladeshi community of favoring apartment living has caused many rental homes owned by Bangladeshis in Astoria, Jamaica, Ozone Park and Brooklyn to remain empty. As well, community members are now starting to move out of state and homeowners are hesitant to rent to blacks and Hispanics fearing they could be problematic tenants. Now they are facing a tenant crisis. Today, it is not uncommon to see potential Bangladeshi renters contacting building supers directly and offering them substantial amounts of money to help them secure an apartment. Meanwhile, private houses sit empty with “for rent” signs up front.

A tenant who recently moved from a private house to an apartment building said, “Private house owners, specially Bangladeshis, break the law and do not provide heat even in the dead of winter when it’s freezing cold. They also take their time to fix the problems in the house. In an apartment building, you inform the management through a notice board in the morning, and the problem gets fixed that evening. The management also is not stingy when it comes to providing heat for the apartment.” He added, “The city frequently makes inquiries in an apartment building about the situation of the tenants.”