Comments on: What’s up with Gentrification?

By: One Year Later « Boom or Bust: Miami

One Year Later « Boom or Bust: Miami — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 18:31:34 +0000

[...] gentrification, [...]

By: Manuel Rodriquez

Manuel Rodriquez — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 22:01:24 +0000

You have to recognize that landlords will lose their properties if they fail to pay their mortgages, their real estate taxes, their insurance premiums and their maintenance. After all the expenses there is often little or no return. That is why you see abandoned buildings in the inner city. Why you have crack houses. Why you have vacant lots. Many landlords struggle.

Tenants need to show respect for property and they need to work hard so they can buy their own homes.

Many neighborhoods are full of renters who do not care… Drive through Liberty City, Overtown, west of N. Miami Avenue, see how those areas look…

By: BOB: Miami

BOB: Miami — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 15:44:28 +0000

Insurance premiums are a definite crisis for property owners, and there really aren’t too many rate mitigating alternatives one can employ. You combine the mortgage, rising insurance, and recurring maintenance expenses, and landlords are in between a rock a hard place. The landlord’s concern is the investment not the tenants. As unfortunate as that may be, it is the reality of the situation. Gentrification activists will claim that the government is allowing for landlords and developers to sweep existing tenants away, but the reality is that the real estate market is variable and at times volatile, and although the human element is vital, it tends to get overlooked by the rise in land acquisition and maintenance costs, which leads to the displacement of low income tenants when landlords shift their plans.

By: Manuel Rodriguez

Manuel Rodriguez — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 07:32:47 +0000

Real Estate taxes and Insurance premiums are so high that many landlords cannot make a return. They sell to new investors who are forced to raise rents or they raise rents themselves. If they cannot pay their bills they risk losing their properties. People have to stay in scholl longer or just learn skills. Plumbers and electricians get $50 to $90 per hour. That is more than attorneys make in 125 countries.

By: BOB: Miami

BOB: Miami — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 16:16:40 +0000

The problem is that many can’t afford to pay the higher rents. Some of them are in Section 8 housing. Others, who are not, are caught in situations where new landlords acquired the property they live in with the intention of capitalizing off of a nearby development wave. However, a development wave implies a higher cost per square foot during the acquisition for the new landlord. Section 8 housing will likely not cover the landlord’s recurring expenses so they have to start coming out of pocket. This leads to an urgent situation for the landlords where either they increase the rents and hope that existing tenants can pay or find new tenants that can. Often times the state of the building will not lure in new tenants at higher rates. That means that the landlord has to invest in improving the property just to justify the rent increase–more money out of pocket. So, the remaining options are continue losing money until the timing is right for a strategic move, or sell off the property, or proceed with plans to develop. In the third scenario is where the tenants get pushed out and gentrification occurs. In formerly derelict communities, when development runs rampant and land values soar, gentrification is the ensuing effect on the inhabitants. the question is: how do you make the transition easier for those those inhabitants.

By: FrenchyMiami

FrenchyMiami — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 11:14:16 +0000

low income families make a big chunk of people renting houses in neighborhood that are developing. They are the heart of cities where working people live. They will not leave since they need to be where work is. They will just have to pay higher rents to continue to do so until the market quiets down and assets stop being accumulated by investors. Nonetheless they do so gaining a much higher quality of life in cities that are at a very different stage than they were 25 years ago…