Community can be a difficult thing to define. Your neighbors, local businesses, parks, programming, and even government make a place worth living in. All of them contribute to the idea of community and people who learn about it are often rewarded with a deeper connection to where they live and the people who share that place with them.
People sometimes take to social media to share what they love about their home town, from the food to the parks to the events, because they think it deserves some love. Lesser-known cities like Hayward often feel ignored, especially with a limited news landscape, even though they have wonderful things to offer their residents and visitors.
But over the last several months, I’ve noticed Instagram reels that feel fishy. They talk about community amenities and news, like the upcoming La Vista Park and future development around Downtown Hayward BART. But when I watch to the end, it’s all tied to property value and why you should invest in Hayward real estate; realtors are influencing.
Realtors, for better or worse, have an incentive to sell homes and drive up property values. Higher value homes mean more money for them. They want to make property values go up so people sell to wealthier buyers. They see community benefits as a way to lure buyers, even if that drives out the people who already live there.
But sometimes putting a dollar value on things can feel dirty, reducing our community to dollars and cents. We’re told that the only important things are those that generate money, but our communities are so much more than that. It feels gross to have realtors reduce La Vista Park—an enormous boon to our community—to improved property value for the $1.5M homes nearby.
I want to live in a world where we can enjoy things without thinking of investment potential. We can let a park be a place where people gather and walk, a coffee shop be a place to relax and sip, and a community center as a place to connect with our neighbors and learn. They’re what make a place worth staying and growing in, regardless of whether it grows an investment portfolio.
