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Don’t Call It Socially Responsible When It’s Not
By Tom Dunn | September 8, 2008
Some real estate investors are all about talking. They talk about the good their investments do for the neighborhoods they invest in, for the tenants, for the larger community, and so on. They say that they participate in responsible investing because they keep their properties nice, pay their bills on time, provide housing for people, and the cash flow stimulates the local economy, albeit on a small scale… yada, yada, yada.
I don’t disagree with any of it, but it sounds an awful lot like justification to my ears.
Don’t get me wrong- there’s absolutley nothing wrong with the profit motive, and individual investors do contribute a great deal to the “common good.” It’s just that most everyday investing shouldn’t be confused in anybody’s mind with true, socially responsible investing. To be involved in socially responsible, or socially conscious investing, you really need to go further than just being a good landlord, or a good businessperson.
Social responsibility is about improving the lives of those less fortunate than yourself – on purpose and by design. It’s not an accident that happens during the normal course of business. You decide to be socially responsible, you don’t fall into it.
By all means, invest your money wherever you like, at whatever rate of return helps you achieve your goals. Just don’t call it Socially Responsible Real Estate Investing when it’s not.
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