142-144 Cutler Street SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49507Duplex Currently Occupied and Not Being Restored 

Mission Statement

The story of Bornemann Realty LLC.
In 2005, my wife and I embarked on our first real estate venture, a condominium in Boston. Little did anyone know the Great Financial Crisis was on its way and homeowners like ourselves would bear the brunt. The root of this problem were the good intentions of politicians like Bill Clinton who wanted to see every American ascend the housing ladder. It seems the sub prime crisis taught us that the percentage of Americans who own homes may never in our lifetime exceed 64-70%. This leaves 30-36% of the population as perpetual renters in need of good landlords.

Actual Grand Rapids statistics show a renting population of 46.4% in a population of approximately 195,000. Comparing this with Michigan's renting population of 26.6% means lots of Grand Rapids residents rent and will likely continue to do so.

In the period after the Great Financial Crisis great companies like Innovation Homes and American Homes for Rent purchased many distressed single family homes. This affected the tendency for smaller 'mom and pop' landlords to buy single family homes. Yet I call these companies great because they managed to recycle and repurpose already existing homes instead of tearing them down, selling the land underneath, and not being as resource efficient as possible.

Our belief at Bornemann Realty is to rebuild before you build. This is not only proposed with thrift in mind, but with economic and environmental considerations. As writer Barnabas Calder illustrates in Architecture from Per-History to Climate Catastrophe, constructing homes is one of the most carbon-intensive of all human activities, and building accounts for nearly 40 per cent of human greenhouse-gas emissions. The City of Grand Rapids recently approved the CAAP initiative in 2025 which aims to reduce per capita greenhouse gas emissions by 68% by the year 2030. This vote is coming up and our companies' goals are definitely in line with the program. 

My wife and I rented our Boston condo for 5 years before selling and moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan near where Melanee grew up. We started with purchasing our suburban home before purchasing for purpose of renting 4 units in metro Grand Rapids. Each home we purchased, on average is about one hundred years old and in need of repairs which have costs beyond our means. As there are tenants currently occupying these units, tenants who may never own real estate 
but deserve to live in modernized and safe homes, we are seeking charitable help and grants to restore them. This will assure generations of future renters living in these well-built though older homes, and hopefully no future episodes of the great financial crisis as a result of sub prime mortgages.

Philosopher John Locke in his Lockean Proviso of 1689 posited property is only natural to own as long as there is sufficient common land for others to enjoy. He believed it was no good owning so much land if it made others worse off. More recently, economist Thomas Piketty saw the first and second World Wars as economic collapse due to a critical mass of wealth inequality being manifested. As the number of individuals excluded from property ownerships grows today, why not head off another collapse and collectively improve the lot of everyone before things come to a head again.

You may be thinking how audacious it is for a landlord to want donations for their own property. The conformity principle of real estate posits continued improvements of single-family homes is not identical to value add in commercial property, per laws of real estate contribution. That is, given the general similar conditions of homes in the neighborhood, per diminishing returns theory and regression improvement costs do not necessarily correlate with an increased sale value.  In other words, improvements made on a home with grants to improve the comfort and living standard of tenants would not be pocketed by Bornemann Realty should the homes be sold immediately after renovation. 
(Copy and paste Zeffy page below into your own browser to donate)
https://www.zeffy.com/donation-form/donate-to-make-a-difference-13490

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R​e​a​l​ ​E​s​t​a​t​e​ ​S​a​l​e​s​p​e​r​s​o​n (Inactive)

License Number:  

6​5​0​1​4​6​6​6​3​6

Broker Name:  

A​ ​V​e​r​y​ ​G​o​o​d​ ​H​o​l​d​i​n​g​ ​C​o​m​p​a​n​y​,​ ​L​L​C

City:  

G​r​a​n​d​ ​R​a​p​i​d​s