Thanks for asking me to comment, Boisey Bristo. Facebook still won’t let me cut and paste in comments. So I’ve had to go to my WP program and try to make a patch. I’m putting these responses to the various points your friend (and my invited to be friend) David George. He has really, begun a potent discourse with his points. Here is my rejoinder. “Gentrification is capitalism,” is an incomplete meme. Gentrification is only one form of exploitation of the value inherent in Real Property. I provides an opportunity for massive ROI, but this can only be accomplised over a period of decades. It’s return, cannot be forced into immanence. Gentrification, ONLY returns on investment by first DEVALUING the property to be exploited. The same neighborhoods in NYC which we see being exploited in this manner had to first be REDLINED. This practice of Banks and Financial institutions; working in cahoots to refuse to grant mortgages in an agreed upon area is devastating. Keep it up for 10 years and you turn an area of private homes into boarding houses and apartments. Almost every 3 family house in NYC, built before WW2 was originally a 1 family private home. Redlining, locked up the equity of the owners and FORCED them to rent out and simultaneously leave the area. The only sales which took place were private sales with no mortgages. And who buys like that? Speculators!Gentrification/regentrification are only outcomes of selections of strategies made in the exploitation of real estate. You nailed it on the head when you said, “I dont care if it is a shack or a condo, the best protection from gentrification is ownership. Though that also puts you at risk to value loss.” It’s what is sometimes called a ‘Catch 22.’ It means; damned if you do or don’t. It’s actually a function of the size of the real estate market you operate in and the ‘product mix’ of types and values of properties. When you convert the 1 fam. private neighborhood into a higher density rental neighborhood you also change the commercial/service corridor attached to it. You see it in reverse in the recently Gentrified areas suddenly opening coffee shops, real estate offices, boutiques, restaurants, and professional offices. When the redlining took place it was the opposite with these sorts of businesses closing up. That’s when you see Store Front Churches opening up to keep the properties from becoming vacant and get looted. You won’t ever get more accurate than saying, “..... you cant be too attached to a given area. It means you have to make an assessment about where you decide to live before you live there. And leave before you have to. It means that you have to make sacrifices of materialism so that you dont stay at the mercy of capitalism.” What can I say, “live with your eyes open, or die in the dark.” It may be harsh, but knowing it will save your life and the lives of those you love. Real Estate isn’t Differential Calculus, Neo Boolean Math, or Hyperspatial Geometry. ANYBODY can learn it. But, NOBODY gets a pass on the principles and processes. Which gets us to that stuff which controls Real Estate, Finance, Commerce, and Government; BANKING; of the Regulation of Money. As long as we depend upon someone else controlling what our money does behind our backs; our money will often work against us. Or the controller will CERTAINLY take it away from us if they can. We have the equivalent of a middle sized nation’s economy between us and we DON’T HAVE A BANKING SYSTEM. It’s like being a British Colony whose economy operates using American dollars. It don’t work out too well for the colonists. But that’s where you lost me David. “Except for a project complex, no rent level is safe long term. Even if there is rent control...” Sorry, that is NOT TRUE. There is no such thing as a safe rental; PERIOD. You may not be aware that if you are in any housing and it is used as collateral in a debt, if the debtor defaults the property is seized. Your residence doesn’t have a legal standing. You DON’T HAVE A LEASE, with the new owner. EVEN IF YOUR OLD LEASE WAS WITH THE CITY!Whacked ain’t it? But, it has already happened all over this country. There are almost a million people who were formerly municipal tenants in housing projects around the country who became homeless. Despite having paid their rent on time. When the new landlord/owner gets title; you are classified as a holdover. You have 30 days to get some form of agreement, or face eviction. If you’ve been scraping the money for every month’s rent together, where are you going to get 2 extra months for a NEW SECURITY DEPOSIT AND 1ST MONTH’S RENT? And if you can’t get that together, then where are you going to get 2 months HIGHER rent, for somewhere else and the COST OF MOVING? The only safe course is OWNERSHIP. PERIOD!! Although, that can be in a CoOp, or Condo, or Share. As the adage goes, “there are more things in Heaven and Earth Horatius than are wrapped up in your philosophy!” We’ve got to UPGRADE our minds, knowledge, and game.Or as you put it, “our own ignorance will be why we remain losers. THIS IS THE AGE OF INFORMATION!!!! The internet takes away the excuse of ignorance. May our people hear, understand and act.”
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 23:34:08 +0000
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