I have developed a methodology for beautifying distressed neighborhoods and making money at the same time, for myself, employees, passive investors, local suppliers of home improvement materials (including Home Depot, Lowe's, Ikea, Ace Hardware, and also small locally owned shops...) the city government, and the residents in general of an overlooked and underserved place.
My company has been written up in the Los Angeles Times, on CNN, in Fortune Small Business, and most recently, in a 30 minute documentary on HD.net world news report.
Our motto is to create wealth in a cooperative and sustainable way, by inspiring others to create wealth. Reducing our impact on the environment is a core value, so we focus exclusively on renovating existing housing stock in inner cities. We do not build anything new or tear down anything existing. The result is that the neighborhood improves and the quality of life goes up without any major upheaval in the fabric of the community. The local economy just gets better, the streets get safer, and the properties get more beautiful. Everyone wins.
What I want is for people to buy properties in the places my company recommends. My commitment to you is that if you do this you will prosper. Looking back, the places I would have you invest were in Oakland CA in 1995 (I told hundreds of people to buy there with me, 26 did), large houses for under $150,000; then in Long Beach CA in 2002 (this time I got about 40 people to follow) small apartment buildings for under $200,000; then in Compton CA and South Central Los Angeles in 2003 (I had 20 investors purchase 37 homes) for under $200,000; in early 2005 I picked Phoenix AZ. All of those cities went up in value sharply after I picked them and were in the top 10 zip codes for real estate appreciation in the 12 months following. This is no accident. I do tons of research on the entire national real estate situation before selecting what I consider the best market. And part of it is a self-fulfiling prophesy, when people buy into a community and have a stake in making it better, it gets better. Duh.
There are 4 hot markets I recommend right now. Buy there, or simply watch from the sidelines to see if what I say pans out. Personally I have ALL my money invested in this. And about a million dollars from friends and family.
(1) Phoenix, from Thunderbird south to Van Buren, and east of I-17. Buy everything under $200,000 (it's getting to be slim pickins). When that is gone, we go block by block west of I-17.
(2) Baltimore, the Patterson Park area, south of North Ave down to Eastern, start at Broadway going east. Buy everything under $40,000 in any condition (even vacant land) and anything habitable or able to be made habitable with $15K or less in rehab for up to $100,000. Once that is gone we go up to the area around Druid Lake and east of there.
(3) Atlanta, the area around Clark University and the Georgia Dome. North of I-20, anything under $100/sqft.
(4) Philadelphia, a mile or two south of Rittenhouse Square (19146) and University City (19104). Anything under $50,000 (even vacant lots) and anything in easily renovateable condition under $100/sqft. These are absolute steals.
When you make offers let me know so I don't bid against you. There are plenty of amazing deals to go around, so let's coordinate our efforts!
