Op-Ed: My South L.A. home is for sale on Zillow. But I'm not sure I'm ready to leave

Abstract

Housing prices are at an all-time high, but experts are predicting another housing crash is just around the corner - I agreed to let him list our house to "Test the market." "We're not even going to consider it if we get offers less than $950,000 to a million," Marcus said. Did we really want to continue raising our then-12-year-old son here, where quality food options are still anemic, schools continue to languish and old gang wars might reawaken? But I wanted then, and want now, to stay and be part of the new progress here. "It's like the neighborhood hasn't caught up to their million-dollar investments yet," Megan, my neighborhood Zumba buddy, said the other day. In this time of COVID-19, inflation and rising homelessness, it's hard to imagine a future where the whole neighborhood can "Catch up." "Girl, do not sell your house," my neighbor Jasmin said after I told her Marcus had listed it. As interest cools, he's talking again about some plans for the house - and the community. This little house off Slauson is where these and other dreams found a voice. I believe a house hears our dreams, even in the midst of plague and civil unrest and recession, cocooning them until we can bring them to fruition - if we can withstand transient temptation.