The Best and Worst of Richmond, and Restoring Local Homeownership
Cheers RVA!
Today will be cloudy with a high of 78, and a small chance of rain. Showers are likely in the evening, with a low of 65.
the pulp:
A brawl broke out at Kings Dominion on Saturday evening, involving more than 300 teenagers, via channel 6. There were no arrests nor brandishing of weapons according to the police.
Richmond magazine readers vote on the best and worst of Richmond for 2024. Categories include most useful local social media account (winner: miss_elaine_neous), and local website most infested with trolls.
With early voting underway, check out this site for information on candidates for Congress in Virginia. Most Richmonders in the city will vote in District 4, but the metro area includes District 1 and District 5 as well.
Richmond’s Congressional districting
the dive:
Strongtowns recently published an article by Alex Alsup on restoring local homeownership in Detroit.
In 2023 the city had it’s first increase in population in over 60 years.
Alsup asks if sweat equity is playing a role in the return of local homeownership.
I assumed that many of the same actors who defined the negative trends in Detroit neighborhoods’ housing market in the last decade — suburban speculators and landlords, and a smaller number of out-of-state investors — had simply changed their business model and would make money from a new kind of market activity. But the more I explore the ownership behind this phenomenon, the more it defies my expectations.
He goes on to address the issue of milking as a business model, where a property owner tries to get the most revenue in rent over a few years while paying the least possible amount in terms of maintenance and repairs.
Is part of the explanation for increasing ownership of reoccupied homes in Detroit by Detroiters, and declining out-of-city ownership, due to reduced attractiveness of milking as a business model?
Read the full article here.
the vibe:
Have a restorative day RVA!
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