Roseland is “someplace you really don’t want to be,” says flippinmikegriffin, a self-described “small time real estate investor.” Here’s his summary take:
roseland southside of chicago. not the best neighborhood for investors unless you do section 8. i dont do section 8 so when i see properties pop up in roseland i usually pass but if theyre on the outskirts of roseland i might make an offer. too much crime and people hangin out and prostitution for me to make any money there and i wouldnt even want to manage in that area. i wouldnt even wanna go there to collect the rent and if something needs fixing i wouldnt even wanna go there to wait around for a repairman to fix it.
At about 5:00 in the above video I talked about Roseland with Cory Jones, a real estate developer who was also a police officer in the Roseland area. “It is tough and it’s bad but you have a lot of hard working people down there, mostly hard working people.” Off camera Jones told me that his squad car was often fired on during his night shift patrols.
In the above video you’ll see a steady stream of prospective buyers, most of them current residents of Roseland, looking at a new home for sale in the neighborhood. You can see more of Roseland at our YouTube playlist.
Roseland saw its almost entirely-Black population decline by only 5.5% from 2000 to 2010, a much lower rate of decline than most of Chicago’s south side Black communities.