24 Warning Signs A Place Is About To Get Expensive

Buzz Feed

7 hours ago

For years, people have opened up about gentrification and how it's affected their own lives and communities.
The Urban Displacement Project describes it as "a process of neighborhood change that includes an economic change in a historically disinvested neighborhood — by means of real estate investment and new higher-income residents moving in — as well as demographic change — not only in terms of income level but also in terms of changes in the education level or racial make-up of residents."
Gentrification is a complex issue, and it has been known to negatively impact low-income communities and people of color, as it typically leads to forced displacement. And people online have shared the unexpected and clear signs it's bound to happen in an area. Here's what they had to say:
"I live in the Nashville area, and this has been an issue for a few years now. We have a particularly bad case of 'tall/skinnies' here. Developers buy an old house, tear it down, and put up two tall/skinny houses on the single lot, and they look absolutely ridiculous. Some of them honestly look like they aren't much wider than a shipping container and are three to four floors tall."
"Painted utility boxes are a huge sign of gentrification in PG County. Expect matchbox fancy $2K studio apartments next, and then a series of strip malls with the weird ash wood look."
"When it happened in E. Austin. I noticed two things: the removal/replacement of anything frequented by poor people, and the lack of random roosters. It was already done by the time the vegan cat café showed up. But the developers will still tell you to move to the 'historical part' of Austin, even though all the history has been shoved out and painted over. And now, they call the cops on our 'historic' car club meetups."
"When you start seeing/hearing a lot of positive press about a known-to-be-sketchy area. Gentrification doesn't work if the place doesn't become desirable to new businesses and residents. Investors want those who avoided the area before to start thinking of how great it could be to get that gentrification momentum going."
NorCal resident here. I've been watching all these new (mostly gated and HOA) housing communities go up, charging upwards of $700K at minimum, but most are more than that, and all these people moving inland from the Bay Area willing to pay for it are driving up the cost for the locals. And you'd think that would bring more businesses, but no, just more houses and warehouses. Then there's competing with 'investors' buying the cheaper houses only to do the cheapest cosmetic changes and put them back on the market well above what they paid, or renting them out."
"The FIRST sign is the first quirky coffee shop that isn't a Starbucks. See one of those, and grab you some real estate, because the bougies are coming, and they're bringing wild housing prices with them."
"Old buildings get torn down. Before the beginnings of gentrification, the lots weren't worth removing the condemned buildings; renovation teams start showing up in neighborhoods that haven't been renovated in decades. Lawns start getting cut on a weekly basis. Once a neighborhood goes from condemned to livable, all the other stuff starts to happen pretty quickly."
"At some point, an organic grocery store opens up. The crime rate goes down over time. Home prices/rents go up quickly. More coffee shops and breweries."
"Recovering planner here. In the background, people look for parcels that are worth more than the improvements. If there are a lot of them in an area — especially an area with amenities and good transport bones, it is a good candidate."
"Rent going up 300% over the course of a decade."
"If an area is headed for gentrification, people who don't have children start moving in. Artists, musicians, writers. College students. Restaurants, especially trendy restaurants. Galleries and music venues. Bookstores. Coffee houses. All the kinds of places young hipsters like. Housing stock that is neglected but can be restored. Young people living in a cooperative."
"One thing that has stood out is a new trendy name that has come out of nowhere. We live in 'insert name,' and it's been called that forever. Uhhh, no it hasn't!"
"If you follow your local newspapers and you start reading about apartments being sold and the new owners wanting to renovate is a sign. This type of action by the new owner will usually come with mass eviction notices — especially, if they are rent-controlled and support certain demographics, like senior citizens or those who are lower income."
"The 'artisan' restaurants that make a classic food (burger, taco, etc.) and make them 25 dollars because of their premium 'aiolis' or other fancy ingredients. They're usually decorated with a graphic of the parts of a cow or pig."
"Mass buying of local properties by real estate investors, while pricing out local buyers."
"Gentrification isn't random. It's an ongoing process. I live in Charleston, South Carolina. We've experienced significant growth in my lifetime. We've gotten to the point where building new neighborhoods further out is an increasingly less viable option. Add to this, large employers moving into North Charleston, and you have a recipe for gentrification. This isn't because someone bought an old gas station and turned it into an art gallery. It's because people need a place to live, and industry is growing in our city. Those art galleries and taco shops are responding to the same economic conditions that the developers are. They see an economically depressed area in commuter distance to major employers."
"People running or jogging, especially during the weekday mornings."
"I've worked in Civic Center San Fransico since 2003, so I've seen its evolution for the past 19 years. This place went from a total wasteland to one of the busiest locations in the city. The first thing they did right when Twitter moved in? They started razing all the cheap hole-in-the-wall restaurants and parking lots for shiny new apartment buildings. Basically expect any old ma and pa businesses and parking lots to be the first to go."
"You know a place is being gentrified when a lot more artists move in. Artists first go somewhere for cheap prices and then make it 'interesting' to richer people. We then — usually accidentally — attract monied people who want to either be associated with us or exploit us, and then, the dive bars flourish. Then, you start seeing artisanal coffee spots. From there, you give it five years."
"Franchises start replacing local businesses."
"Big demographic shifts. Not just the people of the neighborhood, but the local businesses as well."
"I experienced this in Atlanta through the full process. I moved into a neighborhood that was mostly elderly residents who have probably lived there 20+ years. The house I bought needed repair, but this was in 2011, so the price was manageable. The first sign of things changing was an increase in racist judgemental posts on Nextdoor that were like, 'Sketchy AA male acting weird and walking in the street.' When I moved in, my neighbors were extremely friendly and let us know some of the characters in the area, like 'Watch out for the guy who tries to get you to drive him to Auto Zone then try to scam you for cash-type stuff. Then a new development went up down the street (my street was half in a nice city zone and half in the incorporated county). This is what really started the process. Another development went up a year or so later."
"For restaurants, at least like 8–10 years ago, it was: Edison Bulbs, those metal bar chairs (you know the ones), reclaimed pallet wood facades, roll-up doors, and $15 for a handful of tater-tots with 'aioli,' which is just hot sauce mixed with mayonnaise."
And finally...
"I think by the time you start seeing it, it's already happened. Displacement and rent increases are mostly invisible (comparatively). By the time the new condos and bougie shops sprout up, it's already past the tipping point."
What are some other signs that an area will be gentrified/is about to become really expensive? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, or if you prefer to remain anonymous, you can use the form below.