I've got a feeling if you actually asked those involved, you would see they did a lot more than just slap on a coat of paint, however it sounds like what they do is gentrification; which the poor often hate, but those who are actually invested in the community love.Their core business model is to buy properties that are "not so great" (often times inhabited by poor people), make modest upgrades, then jack up the prices.
If you look at how another company from the list I sent before worded it (I believe it was the number 2 or 3 company on the list), these are their target properties for acquisition.
An example of that would be...
Let's say you an area where there are 5 apartment complexes.
2 are "luxury apartments" that poor people could never afford ($1700+/month)
1 is moderately priced at $1200/month
1 is reasonable $900/month, but filled up and with a waiting list
1 doesn't look the greatest, but is $750/month.
The last one on the list (inhabited by the people who are tighter on cashflow) would be the kind they target. (based on their own statements)
They'd make some modest upgrades to the units and slap a new coat of paint on the outside, and use that as justification for bumping the prices up $850/month.
Now, if you're a poor person living there, they've increased the price as such, where you don't really have any other option but to suck it up and stay there. There's no way you could afford 3 of them, and the one that's even remotely in the same price range is filled up.
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