People's Republic of Brookings Enters Rental Business

Occasionally a commenter will respond to my advocacy for universal single-payer not-for-profit health care by telling me that if I like socialism so much, I should move to Canada.

Evidently, I don't have to go that far north. A 45-minute drive up the Norwegian Boulevard takes me to Brookings, one of my favorite towns, where the city government runs all sorts of businesses. Utilities, booze, Edgebrook Golf Course, and now, rental property! KELO reports that the City of Brookings has bought two houses, for $149,900 and $172,500. The houses will be torn down to make way for an overpass if the DM&E starts running its coal trains through the city, but in the meantime, City Manager Jeff Weldon says Brookings might as well make some money, so the city will rent out those houses until bulldozers have to roll.

Side note: one rental property for sale here in Madison goes for $68,000. Even in bigger and swankier Brookings, $150–$170K must buy a pretty nice rental property.

Update 09:35: Brookings comrade Pat Powers comments that $172,500 seems a bit high to him, too. There is an interesting eminent domain angle to consider here. If government caused the house's value to sink by proposing an overpass int he nieghborhood, how much compensation does government owe that homeowner?