Bring Back the Bustle

Top 5 Reasons Some Rural Investments Fail

Pitfalls to Avoid When Investing in Rural America Investments in rural America are sparse. Few investors are quick to jump in. Those that do aren’t bringing services to residents. Instead, they are treating rural America like an ugly stepdaughter there to serve the rest of the family and deserving nothing for herself.  There are valid […]

Combatting Rural Blight

Ways to Combat Rural Blight In rural America, one of the consequences of globalization is blight. Many buildings sit idle or in disrepair. There is no code enforcement to speak of. As long as the property owners pay taxes, sometimes as little as a couple hundred dollars per year, they are permitted to hold their […]

Rehab Versus New Build

An Analysis of Rehab vs. New Build in Rural Development To rehabilitate an existing building or to build from the ground up, that is the question. It’s a dilemma that plays out with rural investments in particular because rural towns usually have many vacant lots and dilapidated buildings from which to choose. Hi, welcome to […]

Power Play: How to Invest in Energy

How to Make Money Investing in Energy Aside from the data centers themselves, the biggest money maker in real estate today is in power plants built to serve AI data centers. Hi. Welcome to Bring Back the Bustle, a podcast about revitalizing rural America. I’m Shavon Jones, your host.  A bit of housekeeping before we […]

Get Off My Grid

Get off my grid. One of the knocks against data centers is the increase in utility bills and pollution caused by data center energy consumption. The issue of who should pay utility rate increases caused by data center consumption is so clear that it wouldn’t warrant discussion—if everyday Americans weren’t being saddled with the bill. […]