Time Will Tell

Learning how things work can be a lifetime achievement.  Not that it is necessary to understand every single thing, but sometimes an eye opener comes along that makes one take stock of their surroundings.

The apartment complex that we call "home" recently changed hands, ownership.  This isn't the first time, since we have been here, it's the second.

Let me back up a bit.  When I first arrived here I was astounded at the number of apartment complexes.  Coming from a small mid-western town explains a lot of that.  What I did not take into account is that these complexes are a necessary evil, people need places to live.  Raleigh attracts a huge number of people each year and it would be ridiculous to think that all these people are going to live in individual houses.  If that were to be the case, Raleigh, NC would encompass most of the eastern side of the state, as would any other large metropolis.  So, the relentless pursuit of a small chunk of land continues and the apartment complexes are sprouting up all over the city.  

A lot of the people who come here are just starting out, on their own and need affordable housing.  Some people really like apartment style living.  They have no other responsibilities to worry about such as property taxes, lawn care, HOA's, repairs and maintenance.   Regardless of the situation, apartment complexes provide a place to call home.  

Most complexes are owned by real estate investors and investors are always on the look out on how to increase their profits.  When our complex sold the first time, since we have been here, the new investors did something remarkable.  They took a look at the numbers this place generated.  The numbers were good and they had gotten steadily better because of the work force that was in place and had been in place for several months.  When the new investors bought the property, they kept the same work force and had the original investors handle the employees just as they always had.  Now, things are different, much different.

The new investors have plans to spend a lot of money to make a lot of changes on the property.  They saw no need to continue, as the last owners had done, as far as the work force was concerned.  What that ended up equating to was everyone that my husband has worked with over the last three years are gone.  There are over 360 apartments here and now his face is the only familiar face for all these people.  Only then did we realize that this may be just one apartment complex in thousands, but it is home to many people and some of them have been here for years.  Kind of like a small town in the mid west.  

Some of these people feel like they have been abandoned.  Left for the wolves, so to speak.  Time will tell if that is correct.