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Poor Neighborhoods Make the Best Investments

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Re: Poor Neighborhoods Make the Best Investments

#101

Post by ghaff »

sundvor wrote: post #54
ryandrake wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly why national US voting is held mid-day on a Tuesday. Sure you have mail-in ballots now, but the default in-person voting time/date is surely deliberately designed to favor a particular demographic.

That's pretty sickening, but can't help but consider true. Upvoted and added this comment for emphasis. In Australia voting day is always a Saturday, from 8 am to 6 pm, also with ample opportunity to mail in beforehand. Oh and you'll be fined if you don't cast your vote... It may not be perfect, but appears way more democratic to me than the US elections. http://www.aec.gov.au/Voting/polling.htm (When I left Norway n…

I often vote absentee (or "early" this year) in the US because of travel or just because. But if I had to vote in person I'd guess I'd miss at least as many votes on weekends because I'm off somewhere as weekdays.

I'm also unconvinced that forced voting is a positive. If you don't care enough to develop an opinion and vote, why should your random "because you have to" vote count?

Re: Poor Neighborhoods Make the Best Investments

#102

Post by emodendroket »

dragonwriter wrote: post #86
lawpoop wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, since that time, we've moved away from slavery to labor saving machines. Since we're at a point where many people are under-employed, and we expect many more to become so, we can probably re-institute something like this. After all, the United States was a crazy experiment to revive 2,000-year-old Greek idea called 'Democracy'. While we did have slaves at the beginning, we have managed to enfranchise all adults…

> After all, the United States was a crazy experiment to revive 2,000-year-old Greek idea called 'Democracy'. Not really. Representative democracy as the substantive form of government was an established tradition in Britain and it's North American colonies long before the US (a prime motivation for the revolution was perceived increasing deviation from that norm by the central government in respect to the administra…

> Insofar as the US (under the Constitution, at least) was an experiment in government, it wasn't in revive a dormant concept of "democracy", but in vigorously and fairly explicitly adopting the novel tripartite separation of powers model of Montesquieu.

But that model is basically based on the English government with Parliament and a king in place of Congress and a president, isn't it? There was definitely a lot of neoclassical thinking among the Founding Fathers, although I'd say more inspired by the Roman Republic than by Greek democracy (to which the American system bears very little resemblance).

Anyway, curiously, a lot of early discourse uses "democrat" or "democracy" as a pejorative akin to "anarchist" or something.

Re: Poor Neighborhoods Make the Best Investments

#103

Post by pentae »

yabatopia wrote: post #100
supernumerary wrote: post #64

Detroit is implementing a program along these lines. They are selling properties in so called 'bad neighborhoods' and mandating that they be rehabbed and renovated within 6 months to code. The average cost of rehabbing a home bought for $1000~$2000 say is $50,000. Have a look at the website: http://www.buildingdetroit.org/ The 'Rehabbed and Ready' ( http://auctions.buildingdetroit.org/RehabbedAndReady ) homes demonst…

These conditions are crazy. Requiring in investment of ten thousands of dollars in a home in a high risk neighbourhood within six months after purchase is borderline preying on the gullible. A street in Detroit can go in a downward spiral within months. All it takes is one bad apple (home) that gets boarded up or goes down in flames near your investment and your purchase becomes a super high risk gamble, most probabl…

Or maybe.. these investors know exactly what they are getting themselves into?

Re: Poor Neighborhoods Make the Best Investments

#104

Post by erikpukinskis »

yabatopia wrote: post #100
supernumerary wrote: post #64

Detroit is implementing a program along these lines. They are selling properties in so called 'bad neighborhoods' and mandating that they be rehabbed and renovated within 6 months to code. The average cost of rehabbing a home bought for $1000~$2000 say is $50,000. Have a look at the website: http://www.buildingdetroit.org/ The 'Rehabbed and Ready' ( http://auctions.buildingdetroit.org/RehabbedAndReady ) homes demonst…

These conditions are crazy. Requiring in investment of ten thousands of dollars in a home in a high risk neighbourhood within six months after purchase is borderline preying on the gullible. A street in Detroit can go in a downward spiral within months. All it takes is one bad apple (home) that gets boarded up or goes down in flames near your investment and your purchase becomes a super high risk gamble, most probabl…

Not every street is on this program though, right? So you're free to buy regular property on other streets with no strings attached.

The program is basically just a mechanism for a bunch of buyers to signal intent.

Re: Poor Neighborhoods Make the Best Investments

#105

Post by treehau5 »

dragonwriter wrote: post #86
lawpoop wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, since that time, we've moved away from slavery to labor saving machines. Since we're at a point where many people are under-employed, and we expect many more to become so, we can probably re-institute something like this. After all, the United States was a crazy experiment to revive 2,000-year-old Greek idea called 'Democracy'. While we did have slaves at the beginning, we have managed to enfranchise all adults…

> After all, the United States was a crazy experiment to revive 2,000-year-old Greek idea called 'Democracy'. Not really. Representative democracy as the substantive form of government was an established tradition in Britain and it's North American colonies long before the US (a prime motivation for the revolution was perceived increasing deviation from that norm by the central government in respect to the administra…

The Church hierarchy was an example of a representative democracy as well. The primates would come together at ecumenical councils to decide on matters of faith and pastoral care. All bishops received one and only one vote, and the ecumenical patriarch, who often was tasked with organizing and presiding over the council, was simply referred to the "first among equals", and also only had one vote.

Re: Poor Neighborhoods Make the Best Investments

#106

Post by mtanski »

GFischer wrote: post #72
twoquestions wrote: post #5

It turns my stomach to say this, but I think the reason why these ideas aren't implemented is the people in the "poor" neighborhoods are of a lower social class than the people running the cities in question. I very much doubt a legislator or city council could muster money from Us to spend on places where Those People live, even if it makes financial sense. I would love to be wrong about this.

To be fair, in my city (Montevideo, Uruguay), government has made a strong effort to spend on poorer areas. The problem is, most of the money (a staggering 80%) goes to pay salaries !!! They aren't helping the poor or the rich, they're helping themselves.

That's not just a problem in your location but a lot of other places. Many municipalities and some states in the US made unsustainable promises to their employees in forms future salaries (pensions). Except instead of doing 80% today, they are doing 80% in the future.

Re: Poor Neighborhoods Make the Best Investments

#107

Post by GreenPlastic »

yabatopia wrote: post #100
supernumerary wrote: post #64

Detroit is implementing a program along these lines. They are selling properties in so called 'bad neighborhoods' and mandating that they be rehabbed and renovated within 6 months to code. The average cost of rehabbing a home bought for $1000~$2000 say is $50,000. Have a look at the website: http://www.buildingdetroit.org/ The 'Rehabbed and Ready' ( http://auctions.buildingdetroit.org/RehabbedAndReady ) homes demonst…

These conditions are crazy. Requiring in investment of ten thousands of dollars in a home in a high risk neighbourhood within six months after purchase is borderline preying on the gullible. A street in Detroit can go in a downward spiral within months. All it takes is one bad apple (home) that gets boarded up or goes down in flames near your investment and your purchase becomes a super high risk gamble, most probabl…

I knew a real estate investor who was really successful who's motto was the best investments are those in the worst areas that most people wouldn't touch. Large trailer parks with high vacancy rates, run down neighborhoods, etc.

We don't live in Detroit but bought 3 properties for 40k each with about 18-20% yields. The renters aren't the best (they're paying 800 in rent because they can't afford an 8k downpayment), but they're great investments.

Re: Poor Neighborhoods Make the Best Investments

#108

Post by yabatopia »

GreenPlastic wrote: post #107
yabatopia wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These conditions are crazy. Requiring in investment of ten thousands of dollars in a home in a high risk neighbourhood within six months after purchase is borderline preying on the gullible. A street in Detroit can go in a downward spiral within months. All it takes is one bad apple (home) that gets boarded up or goes down in flames near your investment and your purchase becomes a super high risk gamble, most probabl…

I knew a real estate investor who was really successful who's motto was the best investments are those in the worst areas that most people wouldn't touch. Large trailer parks with high vacancy rates, run down neighborhoods, etc. We don't live in Detroit but bought 3 properties for 40k each with about 18-20% yields. The renters aren't the best (they're paying 800 in rent because they can't afford an 8k downpayment), b…

Agree. However, I wasn't talking about 40k homes here, but about $1,000 homes in risky neighborhoods, with the obligation to renovate to code, potentially costing ten thousands of dollars in the process.

There's a reason why the value op the property, including home and land, cratered to $500 or a few thousand dollars. It's the state of the neighborhood that dictates the value and it can change rapidly, faster than in regular neighborhoods.

It's not an investment I would recommended for inexperienced investors or people with limited savings who put all eggs in one basket. And sadly, the low prices attract quite a few of them.

Re: Poor Neighborhoods Make the Best Investments

#109

Post by brianwawok »

exhilaration wrote: post #52
ryandrake wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly why national US voting is held mid-day on a Tuesday. Sure you have mail-in ballots now, but the default in-person voting time/date is surely deliberately designed to favor a particular demographic.

Midday? I agree the that midweek choice is a problem but the voting hours are quite flexing on voting day in the region I live in: New York: 6am-9pm New Jersey: 6am-8pm Connecticut: 6am-8pm Pennsylvania: 7am-8pm

You can also mail in for weeks ahead of time... but then I guess you lose the events of the last days to judge...

Re: Poor Neighborhoods Make the Best Investments

#110

Post by ajmurmann »

aaronm14 wrote: post #79
Kluny wrote: post #3

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Yea this site is fantastic. I just discovered the site because of two threads that made it to the front of HN today. I've already spent a couple hours reading all the other articles, I think I'll likely become a member

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