Dispatch

Oh man, I am all riled up now about Columbus real estate. There was an article in the Dispatch about how all of these big, old mega apartment complexes are completely unwanted and undesirable and are sitting half vacant on the market, and nobody wants to buy them. Maybe it was that 3 month stint at WKM, but I see those and would love if everyone could see these 2 truths about them:
1. They were (and still are, in the right neighborhood) considered to be the epitome of class during the real estate boom. People love new construction. They love complexes. They love culs-de-sac and windy streets that go nowhere. They love parking lots and complex pools they can drive to. They love rental centers that you visit and signing leases the day they go. They love not having to search for an apartment, just searching for the best complex and having available housing right there.
2. They will always become out of vogue when they get to be over 10 years old. Because it isn't new anymore. Because they were built so shoddily in the first place that they are completely falling apart by then. Because the landlords were out to make a quick buck, and now that the renters are drying up and heading further away from the center of the city, they are practically robbing their own properties instead of using the rent money to maintain and update the properties. Because they didn't get in the game to run a successful long-term complex, they got in it to make a quick buck and maybe even to steal money from the federal housing subsidies at some point.

This is why having a culture of renters really gets us into trouble. Because they aren't invested in keeping up the places that they live, and the land lords aren't invested in keeping it up when they have tenants. People are always pointing fingers and blaming whomever is not them for the bain that the rental properties are on the neighborhood, and even the bigger city. But it starts with the renters. If they would just keep the place from looking trashy when they are there, and wrecking everything because they don't have to pay for it, then maybe the landlords would care to make updates because they aren't constantly fixing the more cosmetic stuff that gets the tenants to sign a lease, like new carpet/paint to cover big marks on the wall. Maybe if everyone took a little more responsibility for our surroundings, the city could be a little nicer of a place than it is, and we wouldn't mind shelling out money to become property owners. And then we would all have a vested interest in maintaining the city.

I know people that aspire to rent their whole lives. They want to be able to move after six months if something happens that changes their mind. This is a very dangerous mentality, as far as I'm concerned. You don't have citizens in that case. You have people with one foot out the door from the moment the lease is signed. That is no way to build community. That is no path to a good, livable city. That is the equivalent to people that will not get married. They can't handle having a reason to stick with something when things aren't smooth sailing. Life isn't smooth sailing - we all have to put up with things that aren't pleasant sometimes. But things don't get better if you avoid adversity, you are just shoving your adversity to the surrounding community. It's toxic. People like that are absolutely toxic to the world.

I rent now, because I haven't settled my finances enough to buy a house. Up until recently, I hadn't settled my personal life and career enough to know where I would need to settle down. Everyone needs to shake out those details in life. But i think the absolute most toxic people are the ones that don't even try - they just think they will drift through life going wherever they want to and not making any real commitments to their surroundings. Not even being open to any commitments. Great societies are not built by those people. Big, old, mega apartment complexes are.