[aliante]

Check out the area where he wants the bank to “invest.”

608 19th street Ensley. Look on Google Streetview and Google Earth.

Roofs have collapsed. Half the windows around there are smashed. A few large holes in walls.

What would you value buildings in that area at?

[etchalon]

Set that aside.

Imagine instead that he has found undervalued property in an area with low-labor costs and high potential demand.

It’s exactly the type of investment opportunity banks and financiers should be looking for. It’s literally how our housing system gentrifies.

He didn’t ask the banks to buy the properties. He was seeking an LOC with a personal guarantee and the buildings as collateral.

[aliante]

> high potential demand.

That would require growth. Birmingham is not growing.

> the buildings as collateral.

Except the buildings are not worth much of anything. I may as well offer my shoe as collateral.

[etchalon]

Why would that require growth?

An underserved market exists on its own. If I find 100 customers willing to pay X for a service that no one is offering, I do not need that 100 number to grow. I just need to make that existing base profitable.

Second, garbage buildings as collateral combined with a personal guarantee is the least uncommon thing in real estate investment you’ll find.

[ethagknight]

Researching deeper, I found Ensley was originally built as an industrial town for a massive US Steel plant. that plant is now gone. If the jobs are gone, its a tough proposition to invest in the neighborhood.

[etchalon]

There are plenty of boom/bust towns in the US where investment has netted benefits. This entrepreneur isn't trying to turn everything in the town around, nor would that be a requirement of any investment.

[greenie_beans]

You can’t know Birmingham just from Google Maps. That’s a so-called opportunity zone...I thought this sort of development is exactly what is encouraged in those areas?

[raziel2p]

Where did you get the exact addresses of the buildings he wanted to invest in?

[treis]

The pictures and then you can verify he owns it through county records:

https://eringcapture.jccal.org/caportal/CA_PropertyTaxParcel...

[MattGaiser]

Not sure where others found them, but there is an investor prospectus on his website.

https://853a1197-2eb8-42a1-88fd-f004b8256f56.filesusr.com/ug...