Renters Economy: How Did This Happen?

The latest headline: Renters Rule in Metro Atlanta

How on earth did THIS happen? The economy? Folks are STILL eating out, and still driving as though gas was only $1 a gallon and still buying Gucci and Calvin Klein.

In Stone Mountain, I started to notice that developers were clearing land, stubbing in pipes, and laying some foundations, then they'd abandon the lots and the neighbors get to look at an overgrown, unfinished eyesore. How did that happen? Builders weren’t required to furnish bonds to ensure they would complete the project, that's how. They received the permits and started the work, then ran out of money. Then the builder finds another area to consider development and leaves us with the trash and eyesore, and the property stays there, incomplete, until eternity. 

Also, in the late 80s, Stone Mountain experienced a “flight syndrome” which involved majority white populations leaving the area and moving north. Many in my neighborhood were unable to sell their homes, so they rented them out, or got into strange contracts with people, and ended up losing the homes. For example, I sold my home for twice what I paid. Nine years later, the home was being sold as a foreclosure for half the original price I paid for the house.  So the house ended up being abandoned, the yard was a monstrosity, all the siding I replaced was rotting out, and the fence (yes, a nice picket fence) had boards missing and needed to be torn down due to rotting. I seriously considered re-purchasing the home for my adult children, but when I saw the interior, best-case scenario for that home was a bulldozer and rebuilding from the ground up.

I also noticed that neighborhood is now allowing big trucks to park there, cars up on blocks, non-maintained homes that appear to be falling apart, overgrown yards, etc.  In a nutshell, most of the original owners are gone, and the new tenants could not care less about anything in the neighborhood. So Code Enforcement got involved, and they rounded up all their officers, and all their ticket books, and had a field day.

And here is where the economy is leaving all of us: you cannot run and hide, there is nowhere to go. You cannot “get away” from the decline in the economy. The only thing to do is to make the most of what you have, and go above and beyond to bring it back to what it once was. That is what our little neighborhood is doing, and when you drive through our streets, no one parks in the street, there are no cars up on blocks, no groups of people hanging out on the street corner, and we even have a “Yard of the Month” sign. Our little “HOA” has taken root through the email system (honestly, how did we ever live without it - thank you, Bill Gates) and we have a true family in our neighborhood. We all look out for one another, know when a strange or suspicious person or vehicle is amongst us, and we act accordingly. We have community events, such as community-wide yard sales and community picnics that further bring us closer.

And yes, we have renters, but they get the same treatment unless and until something goes awry, then we deal with it directly. We do not, cannot, wait for the homeowners to pick up the pieces. They moved out for a reason, but we’re still here, so we deal with it directly. This is our subdivision, our reality and our sanctity, and we protect it accordingly.