SitemapIf you can't beat 'em, buy 'em.
A Youngstown, Ohio, nonprofit has been following that strategy by reaching out — sometimes in a threatening tone — to absentee landlords who own vacant neighborhood eyesores. The message the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. sends is simple: If you don't want to fix your property then sell it to us. Or, even better, donate it.
A frequent target of the letters: out-of-state and foreign landlords, said Ian Beniston, the development corporation's executive director.
"We do see a direct correlation between out-of-state owners and the condition of properties," Beniston said. "And it's not a good correlation."
In the past 10 years, Beniston said, his group has acquired 157 formerly-vacant properties — many that had been owned by out-of-state or foreign landlords.
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