well someone finally gets it…

From the Post: A Crash Course in Dealmaking

“I used to wonder, ‘Why is everyone so up in arms about repairing torn-up neighborhoods and making them new?'” Hall said. “Then I realized that . . . the issue was not that I didn’t want this place to be nicer, but that I couldn’t afford it once it was.”

I was talking with Jenifer about how in DC, sad as it is and all of Madison Avenue’s advertising efforts to the contrary, the renters are really the bigger winners until they get forced out. Sure I’d love to own, but I haven’t lived in a single place yet in DC that I’d want to own. The freedom of maintenance and property taxes being someone else’s problem is wonderful.

But when I talk to so many people who “own” and so proudly proclaim, “I got lucky, I couldn’t even afford to live here now!” – I always think “Now imagine how the renters in the area feel.”

When I rode over to Jenifer’s place in SE, the first thing that I thought was “Wow, nearly no white people, how cool is that?” – the next thought was, “Just wait until it becomes hip.” Sure I want to own, but I’ll gladly surf the rental waves until housing is affordable or I decide to scrap it all and move to a real city where people aren’t quite so insane.