Bed Stuy Native Laments Dramatic Change in Neighborhood in the Daily News
Did anyone catch this essay in The New York Daily News, called “Goodbye, My Bed Stuy”? The writer, a black man who grew up in Bed Stuy and is a journalism professor at Brooklyn College, laments the growing number of whites moving into Bed Stuy and the rising rents, which are pricing out longtime black…
Did anyone catch this essay in The New York Daily News, called “Goodbye, My Bed Stuy”? The writer, a black man who grew up in Bed Stuy and is a journalism professor at Brooklyn College, laments the growing number of whites moving into Bed Stuy and the rising rents, which are pricing out longtime black renters in the neighborhood.
He mentions that Bed Stuy is mostly townhouses, which means most units aren’t rent regulated. He also says part of the problem is investors who are purchasing homes “as bundles.” We haven’t heard of that, but we think he is referring to investors buying townhouses in the area to rent out. (Incidentally, a building he mentions as an example of landlord harassment is in Crown Heights, not Bed Stuy.)
What do you think of the essay?
I hate to say it kids but with the flow of information and capital accelerating globally, if you think the “rapid” change in Brooklyn is a pickle, wait another few years as things pick up even more.
I agree with that Major Hints.
From what I have been reading, NYC is considered cheap among the international Cities.
What about Albanians with green eyes or Asian that are double jointed? Does anyone have any generalizations about them?
I have a good friend that lives in Stuyvesant Heights his family has been in the same house since 1892. They are Portuguese family that married Cape Verde, Black Americans and Angolans etc in the 20’s and 30’s and now this generation have been mixing back with white Brazilians and Portuguese. This is probably the oldest family in Bedford Stuyvesant and this family seems to change complexion along with the neighborhood. I asked my friends father who is in his 70’s what he thinks about the change in the neighborhood and he seems not to really care really. He says you have to look at people as people. Not us vs them. He told me that “Bedford Stuyvesant was known as a neighborhood that was tolerant of all people after 1925”.
Yes it is bad that good hard working people are leaving this neighborhood but a lot of people that need to leave are going as well. I am all for things getting better as long as good people get to stay put. I don’t want Bedford Stuyvesant to become this boring un-friendly place like so many of the other name brand neighborhoods in the city. Bedford Stuyvesant should stay a community. I hope to continue to get the “God bless you baby” from my beautiful older ladies on there way to church as I walk to my open houses on Sundays.
The weird thing I find now that I own a brownstone in Bedstuy is that my neighbors seem not to want to talk to me, at least the long term neighbors.
The building that I own had an illegal hair salon. We had to evict that person and her business. I was trying to get affidavits from the owners stating that the noxious gases were a problem or anything that would help with the eviction.
Only one neighbor was willing to even talk to me in a friendly manor. Most were telling me that they wanted to be left alone. I’m not sure if it’s just this block or is that some sort of thing that happens now.
So the only person I had social contact with, at least at the moment, is one of the owners of the building adjacent to me. She has a lung problem and the gases were really bad for her and was very willing to sign an Affidavit.
Even though I have been living on the block now for 3 months, I am finding that most of the “friendly” neighbors are the ones that recently moved in and are happy to talk to new people who are sharing their excitement of being in a new place.
It’s odd, but I don’t think it’s unusual. I’ve experienced this when I first moved to Clinton Hill in 2003.
I’m not sure long term locals are really that friendly.
Hi MM… I totally understand what you are saying.
BUT, again, I have to say that my background is from teaching Real Estate Investing for 8 years to working class people.
The common element that prevents them from investing is not how much money they have. It’s actually finding good partners, especially among their family and friends.
The major problem is that they don’t trust each other and with good reason. The first thing you learn in my program is how to know someone is financially responsible. So you do a check in exactly the same way a Landlord does a check on his prospective tenants. You pull the FICO credit scores, look at income, see what their savings are, understand their Debt to Income, etc. Over 3 years in this program, you meet once a week with your partners. Together, you build up your knowledge, skills, etc.
Unfortunately, I find that many people, I would say 95% of people would not want to build up skills beyond what is required for their 9 to 5 jobs. They then tend to consider talking about money with their family to be Taboo.
All of this things and more are the things that keep people down.
If you don’t have trust worth friends and family, and you know it, then time for you to start looking for the right people to build up your future. That takes time and effort.
I tend to believe that if people don’t want to put in the time and effort beyond their 9 to 5, then they never really wanted to move up beyond their jobs or their economic deteriorating situation.
I can bring a Horse to the Water, but I can’t force them to Drink. That’s what I have been experiencing for 8 years of teaching non-wealthy, generally working class minorities.
I wish it was merely that they don’t have money. But the fact is they just are not motivated based on their actions.
I had a property near Prospect Park in Windsor Terrace. I had a renter who were very professional, the Wife is a Lawyer and is a Partner in her firm. The Husband a Business Analyst. In March 2013, I offered to sell them the building (a 2 Family) for $500k knowing that with a 20% down, they would be able to pay for the Mortgage exactly what they are paying in Rent. They turned me down. They seemed to spew out the stuff that “Bid Half Off” (remember him?) was saying that the Real Estate Market was going to crash again and that I should in fact, lower my price. That was ridiculous, of course. I was selling the 2 Family in Windsor Terrace to them at a huge discount. Eventually, I sold it to a friend 6 months later for $675k. Today, that property is worth close to $900k via a comp next door.
Anyway, they turned me down and before I sold that property, I then offered them to become a partner in the purchase of another property. This one on Hancock Street near Tompkins. The Lawyer came with me, looked at the neighborhood, said basically that she didn’t want to invest (basically, she didn’t want her Toddler growing up there), and failed to invest a 2nd time.
At what point do we say that the predicament of the renters was self-fulfilling? I’m not suggesting that all renters fit into this category, but it is obvious that renters are not investors of their own homes by definition.
Yep, but it’s only a Sob Story if you were on the wrong end of the movement, in this case, Sob story for renters, Happy Story for Owners.
I feel that the Owners took the ultimate Risk of buying the home/investment while the renter took the Risk of being out priced in both rent and Home Value.
When you stay out of the Market by Renting, you take on the risk of being pushed out. Only one way to stop that…. buy your home the right way (20% down, income can support the mortgage or have enough partners to accomplish this) and take the Renter’s risk out of your equation.
Note, my parents were one of those renters who could have bought our home in Bed Stuy and didn’t; we had an extraordinary rent deal ($800 for top two floors of brownstone) and it didn’t make much sense, financially, to buy at the time. Now, while he never wanted to buy in Bed Stuy (though I doubt he’d be kicking himself if he had done so) and while we have since made a very smart investment in Prospect Heights today, this is just another lesson to those who don’t buy in good conditions and then turn around and complain when they are asked to leave by a new landlord.