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Often reporting in south and west Atlanta, I heard stories about a neighbor or friend selling their house for some small amount of cash. I asked @geoffhing if we could take a deeper look at this issue, to show it wasn’t just a one-off scam. We did... https://www.wabe.org/equity-theft-the-exploitation-of-atlantas-low-income-homeowners/
In some gentrifying neighborhoods, we found one in four properties, sold by people living in them, sold for prices so low they were less than half the estimated fair market value, according to Zillow and Fulton’s appraisal. Think a home worth $100,000 selling for $50,000.
Why does this happen? Sarah Mae Rogers was worried about her spiking property taxes. So she took out a title loan on her car. When the loan ballooned, she panicked. She met a woman she thought would help. That woman had Rogers sign a contract to sell her home.
Emmanuel Hall was trying to help his stepdad, who had dementia, sell his home. Not knowing a realtor, he took one of the fliers they’d received. The investor offered him $17,000. The guy resold the place as-is for $100,000. Then another investor renovated it (below) for $300,000.
If you ask Annie Kate Walls why she sold her home, she won’t mention investors. She’d been in Pittsburgh 45 years. Then the home next door was renovated. Suddenly she got code enforcement and animal control complaints. Eventually, Walls gave up. She called a number on a flier.
Housing advocates call all of this equity theft and it means homeowners in longtime Black neighborhoods are not only leaving. but missing a key opportunity to build wealth for their families. And if Atlanta cares, it turns out there are things it can do: https://www.wabe.org/what-atlanta-could-do-to-protect-vulnerable-homeowners-from-aggressive-investors/
