Property investors are important to community revitalization, and it’s one of the reasons why I got into this business. My work lets people put money and work into damaged or disused buildings so that we can rehabilitate the properties and get them back on market, but it does so much more than make a tidy profit for the investor.
Flipping distressed properties is one way to inject cash back into the community and raise property values. These are key parts of every good plan for community renewal!
What Does It Mean To Revitalize A Community?
Revitalizing a neighbourhood or community means making it a safer, healthier place for everyone living in and around it. Achieving this is different in every area, but there are some proven tactics for success: better affordable homes, connecting residents to high-quality public health, education, and transit services, and advancing the job situation. While many people talk about revitalization as a lofty achievement, it takes a lot of work on the ground!
Across London, many neighbourhoods, local community leaders, and residents are looking to existing institutions and private capital to improve residential areas. This is why property investment is so important: people who make their livings funding home building in the community are always putting money back into it!
Community revitalization relies on real estate projects that bring in resources, attract home buyers, renew the property tax base, and increase opportunities for both existing and potential residents.
Community Revitalization Often Starts With Better Housing
One major issue in our city is a lack of bylaw enforcement related to property standards. Distressed or abandoned homes affect the greater community, driving down the value of the surrounding properties and hurting the economic prospects of the community. The people living around these properties have their own mortgages to worry about; they don’t have the resources to remedy the situation, even as derelict properties pose health hazards for families.
This is one of the biggest benefits of property flipping: updating properties send up the value of homes around them! When contractors do the work, they improve the curb appeal of the entire neighbourhood, remaking a property that would otherwise be unattractive to the average homeowner who won’t consider buying a “fixer-upper.”
House flippers can help neighbourhoods by renovating their investment property in line with the other homes around them. By using quality materials similar to those on other homes in the community, a flipper won’t make a property “stick out,” making it a wise investment and helping the surrounding homes!
Neighbourhood Revitalization Means More High-Quality Living Space
One of London’s biggest problems is high rent. This forces a lot of people out into satellite communities that, while nice, are away from the person’s families or social groups. When they try to stay in the city but get priced out of a neighbourhood like the Old East Village, for example, prospective tenants find that they have to make due in homes or units that need new plumbing, flooring, and window or wall repairs.
Bringing more units into the local housing market, whether they’re for sale or rent, is how we can revitalize communities. People who own and control the property are more likely to keep up the appearance of the home. Revitalization is always a neighbourhood effort: it rests on the property owners, the people living in the home, and the municipal government.
Together, we can be community revitalizers and keep London a destination for all!
