Anti Gentrification Protests in Highland Park

[ryanms3030]

round up all the left overs and drop them off in Lancaster where they belong now

[harhar]

Originally Posted by jm1982

I'm not sure what you mean about investors snatching up properties and not letting the families/lower middle class fix up the properties themselves? Who is stopping people from fixing up their own properties?

Why is slower growth better? Also I think if you look at L.A versus other cities, growth/gentrification is very very slow. A lot of this has to do with rent control and the anti-gentrification mentality in the city.
What do you mean about the higher middle class leaving when something better comes along? If someone is buying in a house in the area they usually plan on staying for a while.

I could see renters moving around a bit, but people that buy homes to live in don't jump around so much typically..

I'm not a huge fan of hipsters either...and I feel that a lot of them have a snobiness to them. I'd rather be around Beverly Hills snob versus hipster snob.

The new businesses help the community as they bring jobs to the area and the sales bring in revenue too.
I don't really know the mentality of most that buy in Highland Park or Echo Park...I would think they would appreciate the neighborhood if they are moving there these days...especially since prices are so high.
I could see how back in the day people might just move to those areas because it was cheap..but so anymore though.

I'm not sure what the interactions are between the hipsters and the longtime residents of the community.

I walked through Echo Park last week a bit, and I did feel like there were some shops that just cater only to the hipster types. You have more nonhipsters that actually live in Echo Park still..but I guess it's just the hipsters are more visible.

I predict Lincoln Heights will be the next hipster area. I was there a couple weeks ago and didn't really spot hipsters .. Even though it's not gentrified though homes are expensive there too.

It mainly has to do with the glut of Auctions and the fact that they are cash only. There is a lot of red tape that prevents/or rather hinders regular people from obtaining a fixer/foreclosure/shortsale. Investors inherently have a financial and procedural headstart...and have had this for a while now.

All of the properties I've looked at over the past 7-8 years that were at auction or foreclosure (below market value) in disrepair were flipped. Every. single. time.

This is to me the catch 22. I realize that it is probably "better" and a faster way to raise property values. Flips (at least in this current environment) make the neighborhood nicer. But personally if we, say limited these auctions and foreclosures to first-time home buyers interested in fixers, instead of investors, we may have a more desired outcome? I honestly don't know.

Personally I hope I can get a fixer next year, for below market value and fix it to live in it. I don't want to have to pay a "flip tax" on a house that looks like every other house.

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On the point about moving, these houses in Highland Park, etc, are TINY. Most of these are 2bed/3bed 1bath. And if people can afford the price per sq. ft. here, then in 5-10 years I can see them taking off to another area just because they're out of space.