The other side of ‘flip it’

I read The Commercial Appeal’s Tom Bailey’s article (“Real estate – City No. 1 in house flipping – 11.7% of Memphis area’s homes sold within 12 months, survey says; Clarksville ranks No. 2,” March 19) and thought: “Wow we have gone from striving to be bring back the “city beautiful image” we had to “let’s just finish off the neighborhoods.”

The thing that was foremost on my mind was how do we stabilize and sustain neighborhoods with rental property and a constant turnover of occupants?

As chairwoman of the Southeast Memphis Neighborhood Partnership, I represent 31 Neighborhood Associations. Most of these fall under the “swing” category, which means they could fall either way.

The housing crisis was not the only issue that neighborhoods have faced over the past 15 or so years. We have had to adjust and absorbed an array of issues — relocation of tenants from Hope VI projects, Katrina victims, shadow inventory property, absentee investors and owners simply cutting their losses and moving on.

But the biggest challenge we face is how to maintain the core concept of what a neighborhood is in the first

place. As defined by Wikipedia it is “the personal settings and situations where residents seek to realize common values, socialize youth and maintain effective social control.”

Our failure to uphold community standards falls in many areas. The lack of accountability cannot just fall to code enforcement. It belongs to the owner as well

Investment in neighborhoods must be done on all fronts.

Investors see enormous profit are possible because our city does not require them to have a stake in the community. Investors should be held to the same standards as any other commercial business.

For years we have tried to encourage investors and/or property management companies to include the top 10 code violations in their leases, as well as lawn care. Most tenants do not arrive with lawn care equipment and are not likely to purchase it. Thus, the street appeal of rental property is lacking, bringing down the neighborhood.

Bailey’s story was full or statistics. Here are some of ours:

Take a drive down Perkins from Quince to Park and see the yards that are now paved with concrete. That will stop the parking on the grass issue, but the street looks like a parking lot. This is in Colonial Acres.

Travel down White Station between Quince and Park in Sea Isle and it is house after house of unkempt yards, cars in the yard, carport stacked with junk and so on.

Head toward the Cherry/Kimball area and go down Boyce, Oakridge, Fizer. You will see boarded houses, tires, cars in the yard, trash, dogs tied to front doors.

Cruise down Germantown Road to Isherwood and stop at one of the many auto repair shops or parking area for 18-wheelers.

And we should embrace investmentowned property?

Some would say we should be grateful that abandoned and boarded houses have been bought and are now on the tax roll. That is true to a point, but when that property has constant evictions, or they are running an auto repair shop or unlicensed day care, or 15 people are living in a three-bedroom house, that is not our version of home improvement.

I wonder if that investor wants to live next to one of his/her rentals?

We do have some savvy investors. Most do not like being approached by neighborhood associations and have their own set of rules. They hide behind their LLC status and say catch me if you can.

One of the saddest parts of the mindset of some investors is that they prey on those that are already down on their luck because of poor credit or running from an abusive relationship. So, they do not do a background check and raise the rent.

If they could not pay rent before why would you think they would pay it now and pay more? This is setting people up to fail.

And the best excuse that was given for lack of home ownership in the article was lack of discipline to save money. That may be true to a point, but we believe it is in part to the destabilization of our neighborhoods.

Back in the day, the family was the original Department of Health, Education and Welfare. There was structure and strength in the communities in which they were raising their families — a sense of pride in wanting to be a part of something.

The members of the Southeast Memphis Neighborhood Partnership know all too well we cannot stop the wheels on the investor band wagon, but we would like to see a change in how they operate and maintain their property.

A mentoring approach to their tenants could maybe turn some into tomorrow’s homeowners. That would be a great investment.

Lynda Whalen is chairwoman of the Southeast Memphis Neighborhood Partnership.