View Full Version : making a living from gentrification
So Colorado has been booming, we talk a lot about the impact on us. The rents are going up, the roads are packed with cars (of course we don't think they can drive) and from the east coast the different culture seems rude to us. But as my son pointed out that means there are a lot of more affluent hipster types that are looking for food that is healthy, locally sourced and small batch type of food. He is getting experience by working as an assistant meat and seafood manager and can cook very well. So he is going to experiment with making sausage, small batch with locally sourced meat. He did a lot of research on where he would buy meat the other day. I know there is a lot to this project but it is totally with working at his current job.
Meanwhile I have interest in my crochet toys (octopus specifically) being sold in a fancy kid store. I am going to visit next week with some of my work. It seems like I could make money from the affluent parents who want homemade toys. I would love to see some crochet dragon puppets sell!
Simplemind
4-22-17, 11:25pm
Hmmmm sounds like Portland...
IshbelRobertson
4-23-17, 5:53am
ZG
This article may be of interest re octopii!
http://www.prima.co.uk/family/kids/news/a37423/crocheted-octopuses-help-premature-babies/
Yes Portland would be a good comparison. We have already had Boulder but now Denver seems to be affected. Of course I raised my kids in this hippie/punk combo that has actually prepared them for the world!
I read the article, so cool. I am making mine out of acrylic yarn but I really love to work with cotton so I may do some of those. I did one complete one yesterday while not feeling as at the same time, the next one I am going to time to see how long it takes.
Chicken lady
4-23-17, 9:03am
Zoe Girl, your market is probably going to want natural fiber yarn.
I agree chicken lady, I am doing this orders I have from my current yarn stash but when I talk to this store I will get some natural fibers. I looked it up, it is easier to find batting than stuffing however. And I can raise the price in this case.
ZG
This article may be of interest re octopii!
http://www.prima.co.uk/family/kids/news/a37423/crocheted-octopuses-help-premature-babies/
Ha! I love cephalopods of all kinds, but those would give me nightmares. Clever, innovative idea though...
Hmm...sounds like Austin. I think there are tons of business opportunities to be made on wealthier people. I saw so many neat things come to fruition before we left and was always amazed at what wealthier people did not have the time or inclination for - grocery shopping, dog walking, home organization, errands. There were even people who were paid to stand in line to place an order at Franklin's BBQ.
Hmm...sounds like Austin. I think there are tons of business opportunities to be made on wealthier people. I saw so many neat things come to fruition before we left and was always amazed at what wealthier people did not have the time or inclination for - grocery shopping, dog walking, home organization, errands. There were even people who were paid to stand in line to place an order at Franklin's BBQ.
So many of the new apps that my friends (and SO) use are geared towards this type of thing. Things like Grubhub to order food to be delivered from nearby restaurants or Rinse to schedule laundry pickup/delivery. They aren't revolutionizing the world but they do make life easier for people with more money than time.
Teacher Terry
4-23-17, 12:35pm
WE are seeing that here as well with wealthy people from Cali moving in.
WE are seeing that here as well with wealthy people from Cali moving in.
Eventually someplace is going to see SO and I moving in from California. The cost of living is simply too high for us to ever retire in San Francisco.
A couple of years ago, I browsed condos in Walnut Creek, and they were still affordable. I could live there pretty happily. That's probably changed.
mschrisgo2
4-24-17, 8:00pm
Can't touch one for less than $500,000. now.
iris lilies
4-25-17, 10:22am
I keep hearing that in Seattle hot spots, houses are going for $100,000 more than list price PLUS it is customary to write a fawning letter to the sellers telling them why the buyer wants the house.
http://www.seattlepi.com/realestate/article/Dear-sellers-letters-work-for-home-buyers-4280034.php
Madness. Coastal values, cant grok them.
I keep hearing that in Seattle hot spots, houses are going for $100,000 more than list price PLUS it is customary to write a fawning letter to the sellers telling them why the buyer wants the house.
http://www.seattlepi.com/realestate/article/Dear-sellers-letters-work-for-home-buyers-4280034.php
Madness. Coastal values, cant grok them.
Yes, my sister and her wife just sold their house in Seattle this way for 50% more than they paid for it four years ago. They listed it, held an open house and had a one week deadline for offers. Four contenders sent inspectors over during that week, and ultimately they got seven offers. The accepted offer had no contingencies, was all cash, and was $120k over asking.
I keep hearing that in Seattle hot spots, houses are going for $100,000 more than list price PLUS it is customary to write a fawning letter to the sellers telling them why the buyer wants the house.
http://www.seattlepi.com/realestate/article/Dear-sellers-letters-work-for-home-buyers-4280034.php
Madness. Coastal values, cant grok them.
The people who bought my parents' house wrote one of those "fawning letters." It worked, obviously. :~) You're right--It's de rigueur now.
Zillow says my house is worth $620K. It isn't, but there are only two houses/condos for sale in my zip code--at least under $500K, so I suppose it's a matter of supply and demand. I amused myself last night by wistfully looking at condos in my old neighborhood. I loved the layout, if not the herd living. And, as I've said before, I love it here...
I HATE those fawning letters. We got one with one of my SC houses, but the sender sent it to my husband, and his name wasn't even on the title. It was my house only. She was all over him. It did not work in her favor. She was also kind of nutty, and wanted to sue our realtor, and blamed us for buying the house when she wanted to buy it the first time!
But I HATE those letters. I also hate the fawning seller letters about how great the house is. I have had two of those, and both times we rejected the houses, and were left with a feeling that the owners were trying to guilt us into buying the house. ONe was telling us about how somebody in the family had cancer, and they needed the money from the house to pay medical bills.
Yikes.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of them either. I'm all for vetting the buyers/sellers in person, ,though.
Teacher Terry
4-25-17, 1:17pm
I also hate those letters. I don't care why someone is selling and I don't care what someone does with the house once they own it. What I do care about are how much $ I get and the best, cleanest offer. I have redone old homes that I loved living in but the fact is once I decide to sell it is purely a financial transaction at that point.
Our fawning letter, if anything close to resembling honesty, would have to go something like this:
Dear home seller,
Please allow us to introduce ourselves. We are JP and JP's SO. We are a middle aged gay couple that eagerly looks forward to being part of the gentrification of your neighborhood for the next three to five years before we resell the house at twice the price we paid. Despite the obvious shortcomings of this house, and the hideous price that we will have to pay because the market is already so hot we are very much looking forward to living here. We don't have any children, and frankly neither of us ever wanted any, so one of our first projects will be painting over that awful mural that one of you supposedly spent months painting on the nursery wall. JP will probably be using that room for his den where he will likely be watching porn, at least occasionally, so having babies and unicorns on the walls would really creep him out.
The brown carpet throughout, on the other hand, is much more suited to our needs! We have two cats. One regularly eats his food too quickly and pukes it back up. We affectionately have nicknamed him Karen Carpenter. :-) The other doesn't like to waste food that way (which is why that fatty weighs 22 pounds...) but, like most cats, he does occasionally hack up a hair ball. We have found that having carpet that is similar in color to cat puke makes housekeeping much easier.
The other thing that we really appreciate about your house is the oversized wine fridge. Our friends are all a bunch of drunks and can easily drink a dozen bottles of our wine when we have them over for dinner parties. Oh the stories our current neighbors could tell you if you ever met them!!! That fridge will be perfect for our entertaining needs!
To conclude, we really hope to make some serious cash on your house in a few years so that we can afford to retire to Palm Springs, and need a place where the neighbors will be cool with our non-kid -friendly lifestyle. We hope you pick us!
Sincerely,
JP and JP's SO
iris lilies
4-25-17, 2:01pm
Hahaha jp!
but why does every gay couple I know aspire to Palm Springs? We just lost another couple to that desert.
they are going from this
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1526-Mississippi-Ave_Saint-Louis_MO_63104_M83161-87972#photo5
to, well, brown stuff. Neither of them are even from the West so I cant see the attraction.
Teacher Terry
4-25-17, 2:03pm
Awesome letter! I would pick you but we are sick that way:))
Perfect letter jp1! I particularly liked the part about the mural...:D
Hahaha jp!
but why does every gay couple I know aspire to Palm Springs? We just lost another couple to that desert.
they are going from this
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1526-Mississippi-Ave_Saint-Louis_MO_63104_M83161-87972#photo5
to, well, brown stuff. Neither of them are even from the West so I cant see the attraction.
1. The quantity of sunshine
2. The quantity of old gay men
3. The quantity of young gay men
4. The quantity of healthcare services in the area due to #2
All that said, the past couple of years have seen something of a straight invasion, so who knows what Palm Springs will be like by the time we are ready to leave the big city.
If I remember correctly, Palm Springs has lots of lovely, droolworthy mid-century homes. The general climate/distance from water makes it geographically undesirable for me.
I was only in Palm Springs once, and the quantity of sunshine became problematic for me as I got sun poisoning, something to do with the altitude or something? It was in January, too.
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