orange sitecel buys 76 properties in pine bluff, arkansas because they were cheap: shocked at crime, life degrades

meet pontifier (hackernews, twitter)

My method sure hasn't worked very well... or has it? I was looking for cheap warehouse space to start a business in, and did a nation-wide search for the largest, cheapest building in the entire continental US.

I found one that seemed too good to be true. a 220,000 sqft metal warehouse and office complex on 17 acres. I thought the price was a typo at $375k.The agent assured me that the price was correct, and I flew out to see the place.

It was in a little town called Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

I offered about 3/4 what they were asking, and they accepted the offer.

Fast forward 2 1/2 years, and I've had nothing but problems. Break in after break in. Can't work through the red tape with the city so my warehouse sits empty. It feels like they are actively working against myself and other entrepreneurs I talk to. At least 2 others who bought buildings and tried to open businesses left after getting nowhere.

Maybe I'm daft, but I ended up buying about 75 more properties here... all surprisingly cheap.

The town is killing me though. I haven't seen my kids very much lately - I don't think it's safe enough for them. I'm probably going to be moving back to Utah in the next couple of months because it's just too much out here.

holds robber at gunpoint, twitter account is full of videos of getting robbed

starts an actual vigilante justice bounty website

devotes most of the rest of his time to pooping on pine bluff

tldr: @911roofer origin story

160
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

That bounty system is terrible. If they even get convicted it'll be forever until they get sentenced. Nobody's doing the hard work of catching a criminal for maybe 100 dollars in a few years. It needs to be something more like $1000 up front for catching them plus 100 for each month they spend in jail.

Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

The guy doesn't understand poverty. Putting aside any delusions that these people will be properly prosecuted, brokecels fail the marshmallow experiment and will always take a little payout now over a potential larger payout later. But he's probably just so assblasted at being victimized by crime for the first time in his life that he wants to make sure the book gets thrown at them.

Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Link copied to clipboard
Action successful!
Error, please refresh the page and try again.