Denver City Councilmember Shontel Lewis wants to stop cash-wielding investors from gobbling up once-affordable homes in gentrifying neighborhoods, often with slogans like “We Buy Houses.”
These investors post signs, call residents and send faux-personalized notes offering cash for older properties. After buying, the investors immediately sell the property, often earning tens of thousands of dollars without making improvements.
In a presentation about the idea, Lewis decried such tactics as “high pressure” and exploitative, designed to take advantage of vulnerable people who weren’t planning to move and may not know the value of their property…