Chit Chat

Dodged bullets

DH and I almost bought a house in an "up and coming" part of town. Great location- close to the mountains and downtown- but super shady with pockets of nice. It's the old bad part of town, and the city has been using eminent domain to take out some of the bad sections for redevelopment. So basically you have nice, gated communities across the street from check cashing places and mobile home parks. No good restaurants, lack of grocery stores, etc. But, the location is great and you can get a house for really cheap. If you trust the neighborhood will continue to improve, who knows, in 10 years or so, you may have a pretty good investment.

Well, they found the body of a 17 year girl who was beaten to death not that far away from where we were looking. And a friend of mine lives down there and just has horror stories of the neighbors, even though her house is super nice. I can't help but feel that we so dodged a bullet by not moving there!
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Re: Dodged bullets

  • Mobile home parks shouldn't mean "bad" neighborhoods. I know you didn't mean it like that, but it makes me sad when that stereotype gets perpetuated. 

    Glad you didn't move there, though! I'm sorry about that young woman, and I know that would make me feel unsafe and worried about the safety of my kids growing up there.
    QFT - I live in the land of $500K+ mobile home parks.

    But sadly there are other parks around that are not as nice and run down.  It really depends on the location, but manufactured homes do not always equal bad neighborhoods.






    What differentiates an average host and a great host is anticipating unexpressed needs and wants of their guests.  Just because the want/need is not expressed, doesn't mean it wouldn't be appreciated. 
  • lyndausvi said:
    Mobile home parks shouldn't mean "bad" neighborhoods. I know you didn't mean it like that, but it makes me sad when that stereotype gets perpetuated. 

    Glad you didn't move there, though! I'm sorry about that young woman, and I know that would make me feel unsafe and worried about the safety of my kids growing up there.
    QFT - I live in the land of $500K+ mobile home parks.

    But sadly there are other parks around that are not as nice and run down.  It really depends on the location, but manufactured homes do not always equal bad neighborhoods.
    Agreed. This is a bullshit steotype.
  • No, mobile home park does not equal a bad place to live, and I did not mean that all mobile home parks are bad. But they have a reputation as such for a reason because a lot of them are not nice, and there is definitely no ta single good mobile home park in this area.

    And people tend to get beaten to death/shot/stabbed heck of a lot more often in this neighborhood than anywhere else in town. This case is just especially gruesome since she was so young and she was killed in such a brutal way. It is really, really tragic. 
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  • CMGragainCMGragain member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited December 2014
    I lived in an upscale neighborhood in Maryland, outside of Washington, DC.  We had two murders in the 14 years we lived there, neither solved.
    Crime can happen anywhere.  It happens here in the small city of Grand Junction, CO, too.  Neighborhood is no guarantee of safety.
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  • CMGragain said:
    I lived in an upscale neighborhood in Maryland, outside of Washington, DC.  We had two murders in the 14 years we lived there, neither solved.
    Crime can happen anywhere.  It happens here in the small city of Grand Junction, CO, too.  Neighborhood is no guarantee of safety.

    Look, I'm not naive, I don't think that just because you live in a good neighborhood nothing bad can happen to you. The last murder our town had happened literally a mile away from where we live where this psychotic radical killed his girlfriend and three of her family members (including a two year old) before killing himself. So you certainly do not need to tell me that bad things can happen in good places, I have born witness to that a number of times. However, I am certainly happy that we didn't take a risk on this neighborhood on the hope and a prayer that it would one day improve. 

    To compare, the violent crime rate in this neighborhood is 30% higher than Arizona's average. The area we moved to has a violent crime rate 59% lower than Arizona's average. It is the second safest city in the nation.
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  • Sigh.
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    "I'm not a rude bitch.  I'm ten rude bitches in a large coat."

  • I am trying to not be rubbed the wrong way by this post, but I really am.

     

    My father lives in a mobile home and when I visit him, his neighbors are some of the nicest people I know. Actually, he has lived in mobile homes in various "parks" my entire life, all of the neighbors I have met in mobile home communities have been amazing. This stereotyple is insulting.

     

    So I guess the only thing I can say is congratulations (?) for not moving into what you deem to be a bad neighborhood. Good luck in your new home.

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  • We were deciding between 2 neighborhoods when we purchased our house, and went for a slightly more expensive but further away one due to the increase in land values. Turns out that there used to be (like 10 years ago when the city had not expanded this far) a cattle processing (slaughterhouse) plant that was 'temporarily' shut down. Since they still owned the land and it is still designated as a slaughterhouse they are planning to re-open it. This is now very close to where we would have bought and would a) be disgusting to live near and b) cripple land values because no one would want to. I feel like that was a pretty big bullet.
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  • I was trying to be kind to you.  Your original post had some unfortunate stereotypes, as others have pointed out.
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  • It is always a chance buying in an up and coming neighborhood. I live in a large city and some friends have had luck and some have been unhappy when the area they bought did not turn around. It is true that crime happens all over but there are areas with a much higher percentage. It sounds like you thought long and hard and did what was right for you.
  • I had no idea living near a check cashing place upped your chances of being brutally murdered.

    I also lived in Arizona, I heard about this on the news last night, my first thought was "Oh how sad!" when I heard the report they didn't know who the girl was, just that she was late teens early 20s and had no identification. So I just hoped they figured out who she was.

    I do notice on the news that in the "nicer" (rich) hoods it's a much bigger tragedy if a crime is committed. How could this happen in such a nice place!!?? The horror! The horror! If it's in a "bad" (poor) part of town, eh, another day, another crime in the ghetto. Whatever. 
  • When FI first moved into the apartment we now shared, he assured me it was very safe. Nothing ever happens, only nice old retirees and families live here, cops always patrolling around, making sure no one's getting into mischief. It seemed to be so. Then one morning a representative from local law enforcement came by looking for a former tenant of our apartment. It turns out this former tenant, just a couple years ago, witnessed a grisly attempted kidnapping and murder right from our front yard and they were trying to subpoena her.

    You can look at statistics, but you can't deny that crime can happen anywhere, whether it be in a gated community or a neighborhood where people never lock their doors. Don't take one news story as an accurate depiction of the world.
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  • larrygagalarrygaga member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited December 2014
    I grew up in a trailer park. I now live in a really nice, successful area. Guess which area I feel safer walking around in? The trailer park. Crime happens in every neighborhood, whether you hear about it or not. Sometimes poor people are too busy to commit crimes. Cause they have real life things to do. 

    The problem isn't the neighborhood. 
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  • So have they caught person who beat this child to death? Or was that not reported in the real estate blotter?

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  • I had no idea living near a check cashing place upped your chances of being brutally murdered.

    I also lived in Arizona, I heard about this on the news last night, my first thought was "Oh how sad!" when I heard the report they didn't know who the girl was, just that she was late teens early 20s and had no identification. So I just hoped they figured out who she was.

    I do notice on the news that in the "nicer" (rich) hoods it's a much bigger tragedy if a crime is committed. How could this happen in such a nice place!!?? The horror! The horror! If it's in a "bad" (poor) part of town, eh, another day, another crime in the ghetto. Whatever. 
    Me either! In this case, i'm bound to be killed in some horrific manner any day now. Goodbye, internet friends!
  • So, now that i'm home and have time to actually share my thoughts on this: Are you fucking serious? Someone gets brutally murdered, and all you can think is "Well, that's a shocker! It is near a trailer park, sooo.... Whew! Sure dodged a bullet there?"

    There is all sorts of ignorant going on in this post. I'll ust leave this here.
    "Using official crime reports and other data from Omaha, Nebraska, the study finds no significant difference in population-weighted crime rates between blocks with mobile home communities and other types of residential blocks. Multivariate models show that the presence of mobile home communities did not significantly affect crime rates."

    Mobile homes do not equal "bad area". The fuck?


    Poor people live in mobile homes. Everyone knows poor people are criminals and druggies and refuse to help themselves!!!!!!!!!!

    I'm being sarcastic for everyone who probably thinks I'm serious. 
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  • larrygaga said:
    So, now that i'm home and have time to actually share my thoughts on this: Are you fucking serious? Someone gets brutally murdered, and all you can think is "Well, that's a shocker! It is near a trailer park, sooo.... Whew! Sure dodged a bullet there?"

    There is all sorts of ignorant going on in this post. I'll ust leave this here.
    "Using official crime reports and other data from Omaha, Nebraska, the study finds no significant difference in population-weighted crime rates between blocks with mobile home communities and other types of residential blocks. Multivariate models show that the presence of mobile home communities did not significantly affect crime rates."

    Mobile homes do not equal "bad area". The fuck?


    Poor people live in mobile homes. Everyone knows poor people are criminals and druggies and refuse to help themselves!!!!!!!!!!

    I'm being sarcastic for everyone who probably thinks I'm serious. 
    Those damn poor people!

    WAIT. I am a poor people. Better start drugging and... criming immediately.
  • doeydodoeydo member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited December 2014
    ashley8918 said: lyndausvi said: levieenrose said: Mobile home parks shouldn't mean "bad" neighborhoods. I know you didn't mean it like that, but it makes me sad when that stereotype gets perpetuated. 

    Glad you didn't move there, though! I'm sorry about that young woman, and I know that would make me feel unsafe and worried about the safety of my kids growing up there. QFT - I live in the land of $500K+ mobile home parks.
    But sadly there are other parks around that are not as nice and run down.  It really depends on the location, but manufactured homes do not always equal bad neighborhoods. Agreed. This is a bullshit steotype.
     

    >>>>>Box?????????////
    Don't know where anyone got that idea
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    ***
    This was my attempt at humour and also because Trailer Park Boys came to mind immediately.  Funny as hell, IMO, but does not depict all trailer parks.  My grandparents had a trailer they would go down to in Florida every year and it was decent.
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  • SBmini said:
    CMGragain said:
    I lived in an upscale neighborhood in Maryland, outside of Washington, DC.  We had two murders in the 14 years we lived there, neither solved.
    Crime can happen anywhere.  It happens here in the small city of Grand Junction, CO, too.  Neighborhood is no guarantee of safety.

    Look, I'm not naive, I don't think that just because you live in a good neighborhood nothing bad can happen to you. The last murder our town had happened literally a mile away from where we live where this psychotic radical killed his girlfriend and three of her family members (including a two year old) before killing himself. So you certainly do not need to tell me that bad things can happen in good places, I have born witness to that a number of times. However, I am certainly happy that we didn't take a risk on this neighborhood on the hope and a prayer that it would one day improve. 

    To compare, the violent crime rate in this neighborhood is 30% higher than Arizona's average. The area we moved to has a violent crime rate 59% lower than Arizona's average. It is the second safest city in the nation.
    Things don't improve if everyone says "Oh, well, it's a shithole, so don't move there." 

    I took a chance a few years ago on an incredible apartment in a neighborhood everyone said not to move to. Single girl living alone in the ghetto, in a "secure" building with a busted front door that doesn't close all the way when it's cold out, so it's not really all that secure. The worst that happened in two and a half years there was having to call the cops on the assholes behind my building who insisted on having raucous bonfires until 3am on fucking Tuesday nights. 

    Was there crime? Oh, sure. I heard gunshots periodically, about 6-10 blocks away. I read about other things in the paper, or heard about it through the grapevine. Mostly drugs and prostitution, and since I'm neither a drug addict or a prostitute, I wasn't really worried about my personal safety beyond the usual precautionary measures of living in a city. My neighborhood had a bad reputation mostly because lots of people lost their homes and they sat vacant, vulnerable to people stripping the copper to sell for spare change, and the remaining residents were poor and concerned about the state of their surroundings, but unable to do anything meaningful about it. But they kept watch on our block and helped to keep it safe, because even poor people care about having a decent place to live. 

    As others have stated, crime happens everywhere. Unless you go live in the middle of the woods, you're still potentially at risk. 
  • @lolo883 there were actually 2. One in phoenix and one in buckeye. Not sure which one @SBmini‌ and @princessofgenovia‌ are talking about. Phoenix teen currently the police have no leads. Buckeye teen they've picked up her 17 year old boyfriend as a suspect. Both girls were 17.

    I live in the city. Like in downtown. We've got really nice places and really shitty places. I can buy a Gucci purse and crystal meth a block apart. But I usually feel pretty safe. Sure I've heard some gunfire, police sirens, and homeless people exist. Not to mention the check cashing places...no nervy trailer parks though. So maybe I've got a 50% chance of making it through the night.

    @JCbride2015‌ girl yes! The woods is fucking scary. Give me the city lights and police sirens.
  • I live in an area that is in the process of gentrification- which is what the up and coming neighborhood you described is going through.  Our neighborhood and the surrounding area went from the shi-shi community in my city to a rundown ghetto over the course of like 3 decades, and now it's back up on the upswing. 

    Sure, it's a risk to live in an area going through gentrification, but it's pretty much a risk to live in any major metropolitan area.  You just have to be smart and aware of your surroundings, get a security system, renters insurance, etc.

    Also, just based on what you wrote in your OP, there was no info to indicate that the poor girl was actually killed in that part of town.  You said they found her body, but it could have been dumped. . . it happens all of the time.

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  • Life is a risk.

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  • larrygaga said:



    So, now that i'm home and have time to actually share my thoughts on this: Are you fucking serious? Someone gets brutally murdered, and all you can think is "Well, that's a shocker! It is near a trailer park, sooo.... Whew! Sure dodged a bullet there?"

    There is all sorts of ignorant going on in this post. I'll ust leave this here.
    "Using official crime reports and other data from Omaha, Nebraska, the study finds no significant difference in population-weighted crime rates between blocks with mobile home communities and other types of residential blocks. Multivariate models show that the presence of mobile home communities did not significantly affect crime rates."

    Mobile homes do not equal "bad area". The fuck?



    Poor people live in mobile homes. Everyone knows poor people are criminals and druggies and refuse to help themselves!!!!!!!!!!

    I'm being sarcastic for everyone who probably thinks I'm serious. 

    Those damn poor people!

    WAIT. I am a poor people. Better start drugging and... criming immediately.


    EW get away from me poor person!
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  • larrygaga said:
    larrygaga said:
    So, now that i'm home and have time to actually share my thoughts on this: Are you fucking serious? Someone gets brutally murdered, and all you can think is "Well, that's a shocker! It is near a trailer park, sooo.... Whew! Sure dodged a bullet there?"

    There is all sorts of ignorant going on in this post. I'll ust leave this here.
    "Using official crime reports and other data from Omaha, Nebraska, the study finds no significant difference in population-weighted crime rates between blocks with mobile home communities and other types of residential blocks. Multivariate models show that the presence of mobile home communities did not significantly affect crime rates."

    Mobile homes do not equal "bad area". The fuck?


    Poor people live in mobile homes. Everyone knows poor people are criminals and druggies and refuse to help themselves!!!!!!!!!!

    I'm being sarcastic for everyone who probably thinks I'm serious. 
    Those damn poor people!

    WAIT. I am a poor people. Better start drugging and... criming immediately.
    EW get away from me poor person!
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