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When I say bad community, it has
1. cars parked all over (on the grass, sidewalk)
2. more than 60% non homestead (I am assuming they are rentals/vacant)
3. Grounds are not well maintained
4. Lot of foreclosures in the past
BUT, it is surrounded by nice communities, A+ schools, less than 10 year old property, prices 20-30% less than the surrounding much older communities.
Would you recommend to buy in such a community?
Generally, communities like this bounce back?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,570 posts, read 81,147,605 times
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Maybe. It could also go the other way. If the area has a lot of good paying employers, and people are priced out of the older, nicer homes, the workers could start to buy in this less pristine community and renovate. On the other hand, if there are no good jobs nearby, it could get worse and start to reduce the values in the better area surrounding them. Chances are that the schools are pulling people from the edges of the nicer area and that is keeping the ratings up. If the ratings drop, those people may move or go private.
When you say bouncing back...it was once a good community?
Have you seen movement in a positive direction there?
Is it going downhill or at the bottom. How long has it been at the bottom?
Some communities are 'discovered' and revitilized. But I'm more familiar with those neighborhoods with once grand homes that suffered from flight to the suburbs and are then discovered by those in nearby cities where such homes are incredibly costly and these people finally spot the community, buy there and work on the homes there and spread the word to friends that it's a great place.
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
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No, I would not move into a location like that and hope for the best.
You also have to worry about re-districting.
There was one neighborhood in my area that was transient, poor condition, and increasing crime. It was also a feeder into our local high school. As the neighborhood went further and further down, it brought down the local high school. The local high school had previously been A and when it started slipping, everyone knew why.
It took a few years, but the neighborhood was re-districted to another lower-rated high school.
60% rentals and it sounds like the landlords are slack about enforcing maintenance on the rental properties. Neighborhood sounds junky. Once the neighborhood gets junky, then the good tenants refuse to live there and the area fills up with more bad junky tenants.
I don't buy in areas where there are a lot of tenants (yes, I am a landlord) because the area gets run down.
If that neighborhood is fairly small and in an area that is generally expensive and where there is a pronounced shortage of houses for sale and lots of people moving into the area, maybe that area will gentrify. Or maybe it never will.
It depends when you say surrounded by good communities. If that means just the block or two is rather run down but is quite literally surrounded by all sides by better neighborhoods, and tat geographically would not be easy to cut out of existing good school district, then maybe it is worth the risk after you do a lot of homework. If those are section 8 rentals then I would not buy there no matter the discount.
Agree with another poster that I would pay close attention to the possibility of the school zones being redrawn.
When I say bad community, it has
1. cars parked all over (on the grass, sidewalk)
2. more than 60% non homestead (I am assuming they are rentals/vacant)
3. Grounds are not well maintained
4. Lot of foreclosures in the past
BUT, it is surrounded by nice communities, A+ schools, less than 10 year old property, prices 20-30% less than the surrounding much older communities.
Would you recommend to buy in such a community?
Generally, communities like this bounce back?
Generally if the schools are good, the community is upscale as in they have the money to make the schools good. What you are describing is a "low rent/tacky" neighborhood in an upscale community. Every place has them.
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