It's harder to buy a house. This city fought back by outbidding corporate landlords [npr.org]

Carey Sipp 11/15/2212:00 PM

By Jennifer Ludden, Photo: Jeff Dean/National Public Radio, National Public Radio, November 3, 2022

Demetrius Harper-Edwards and his girlfriend, Sarai Yisrael, spent the pandemic lockdown dreaming of owning a home. They saved for a down payment, and worked to repair their credit.

"I was literally on that couch just going crazy with the paperwork," says Yisrael, who was pregnant with their now 2-year-old son. Harper-Edwards also has twin 8-year-old daughters.

She's a seamstress and sells her own designs; he's a carpenter. Yisrael says buying a place would be especially meaningful for her, since as far as she knows no one in her family ever has.

[Please click here to read more.]

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Max TaylorMember

Fascinating read.

The lack of maintenance issue is one I directly relate with (though it's just one of many important issues in that article). Regulation only protects bare-minimum management standards, and even that is anywhere from a hassle/chore to effectively impossible to get enforced.

Toward the notion of community, one issue was that I offered to help maintain the property and do some work on it for fair or even below market rate. A fellow metaphorical village member would likely say "that's fair" but the corporate entity and faceless external investor doesn't me know and can't be bothered to care.

It's also not always evil, careless, soulless people on the other end (though sometimes it is!) Can highly recommend this Newsweek piece...

How I Became an Accidental Slumlord
https://www.newsweek.com/how-i...ental-slumlord-80447

11/15/223:45 PM

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