Where others see a problem, entrepreneurs see solutions. We see the assets.
But this isn’t my natural bent. It’s been nurture, not nature, that’s shaped me to take these kinds of risks.
After college, I was a volunteer teacher in Vietnam for several years where I also did graduate studies. It was a wonderful season of life, but when I returned to the US in 2007, my skills were undervalued and I only had $500 to my name. Thanks to my parents’ basement and some local connections, I got a job and hustled. After several years, I put a down payment on my house. I moved into a low-income area of Chattanooga, Tennessee, where my church planted. Because of the economic crisis, my historic little bungalow only cost me $40,000. (Historic = kind way of saying outdated).
I had moved to the other America. After life in Asia, it was both a shock and a relief to be home, yet live in a community where neighbors know each other, people walk places, and I was a minority in terms of race and ethnicity. I was home from ‘nam – not like generations before me – yet home was new. It was a challenging season. Another kind of adventure.
But, some adventures had to be put to an end–i.e. whatever was going down in the rundown house next to mine. After working with the city inspector to get the property condemned, he told me the house was going up for tax auction that summer. These auctions happen yearly in most every county in the US.
Not only did I bid on this house, but I decided to make offers on 3 other ones, too. Probably not the best decision when starting out, but I was single and ambitious. Most financial advisors would you tell you it’s a bad idea to spend your life savings on slum houses – but all four of them combined were only $23,000.
Years later, I’ve renovated and rented out 2 of them – which now bring in about $1,200 per month. The other 2 were in such rough condition, I wasn’t sure what to do. Since I’m not skilled in remodeling, the cost of labor to restore them would have put me upsidedown. I looked into tearing them down, but that would’ve cost more than they were worth. I even tried to donate them to the fire department to see if they would do a practice burn and then demolish them on their dime. Even they rejected me. Agh, what had I done?
My friend Santos from an English as Second Language (ESL) program where I volunteered really wanted to buy one. He couldn’t qualify for a bank loan, and insisted that as soon as he got it livable, he could begin to pay me monthly. Though I was skeptical of all the risk and the large task, we finally drew up a contract. He paid me over the course of 5 years and now owns his home outright. Meanwhile, I earned a return greater than all my index funds. Santos’ skills and innovative mind, combined with my willingness to stand in the gap and become interdependent with him, birthed a replicable model.
I sold the other house using a similar model, and since then, have bought many blighted properties in my area and matched them with immigrant homebuyers who can prove they have the grit to stick it out. This kind of homeownership ain’t for the faint of heart; I’ve certainly made mistakes and learned lessons the hard way. But even greater, I’ve been formed and blessed by what I’ve learned from these friends and partners. In this model, so many essentials of the Profit & Pilgrimage journey come together–a family gains access to homeownership, blight is turned into beauty, stability returns to our community, the investor gains a decent ROI (I’m at about 65% for this project), and surprising new relationships form.
What might a grassroots social enterprise in your neighborhood look like? You might not have the same assets to work with or problems to solve that our community does – yet there are gaps to fill if you’re patient enough to look long and hard. If you’d like go further in creating a similar housing business, check out my video toolkit: Homegrow a Housing Business for the Greater Good. In it, I share detailed steps and resources on how you can build a thriving side hustle that creates cash flow and contributes to human flourishing.
