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Building value in the development of any community is a delicate balance between the personal comforts wanted by individuals and the real economics needed to sustain the local population. This challenge is often predicated on the influence of local leaders toward growth of jobs, resources and personal welfare. Mistakenly, the term welfare is negatively affixed to government assistance, which does not provide an individual or community with a sustainable future for development. Personal welfare, in this case, is growth of our individual prosperity and affluence.
As a developer in the local community, one of my growing challenges as the leader of Safflyn Corporation is determining valuable projects and opportunities that benefit our private interests as well as those of the local community. This is our unique approach for two reasons – (1) engaging in negative projects opposes our long term interests in the local community development (2) our long term value is exponentially connected to supporting economic growth in the local community. By our measure, the more jobs and economic opportunities that we can provide to local people, the more we can grow in the local community.
In real estate development, sustainable building means designing better projects, planning better results, and using better methods for conserving energy, the environment and resources for the long term growth of the local community and its relative environment. Often, it is associated with the saying “Less is more.” Most importantly, this means that the value of the development will appreciate more over its lifetime. This is an intrinsic quality of sustainability, which is reflected in the growing affluence of the local community and its individual residents. Examples of sustainable building are the historic preservation of the Brownstones in Brooklyn, the planned community of Levittown , and recent developments of solar technology for energy and heat conservation.
This idea of sustainability is not new, although it may not be common in a local market that is so highly competitive. Slow and stable growth does not appeal to the modern world of immediate gratification and get rich quick schemes. Local community and business development appears focused on racing for the immediate returns provided by commoditizing the Real Estate market through overvalued homes and overdeveloped neighborhoods. This is a classic rendition of the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. We all know how that race turned out and I am confident this race will end with very much the same result.
The glaring problem facing local community development is the backlash that follows a sprint for greed. Spending insufficiently on development and inflating property values usually does not last long. As money becomes scarce, local businesses and jobs will evaporate with the transient population. This will depress the value of the local community and its real estate. Often associated with a recession, this period of high volatility and instability is followed by community flight and property abandonment.
Preventing such adverse affects in our local community development is a matter of conscious choice and long-term outlook. For those residents who have or plan for this local economy to provide their long term sustainability in the years to come, a greater concern for sustainable building and development must be shown. More aptly, spend your dollars on creating better value that will appreciate where you live.
This kind of spending is the choice between adding a dormer to your house versus installing a solar roof on your home. Both increase your property value and both can provide you with an effective return on investment. One provides you with more space, while the other pays for your lights, appliances and hot water. The question becomes, which is more valuable over the long term? Do you think the next owner will want a multi-family house or an energy efficient single family? What would you prefer to buy if you were looking? Do you want your kids to grow up in a house all their own, or one they have to share with a transient population?
For each of us, the choices in spending our dollars are more numerous than the selection of cars now on the road. Choosing to keep our homes sustainable rather than developing a bigger house simply for the next person to buy is not a simple decision, but it is a wise one. In the end, it may mean the difference between a happy home and unhappy neighbors. In the immortal words of Luther Vandross, “But a room is not a house and a house is not a home, When the two of us are far apart, And one of us has a broken heart.”