Amy Kaufman: Tiffany Haddish just can't quit. Even when she knows she should
LOS ANGELES — "Come with me," Tiffany Haddish says, walking out her front door.
I've barely had the chance to say hello before she's heading down the sidewalk. I trail behind, fumbling around in my bag for a recording device as she explains that there's an open house she wants to check out before we sit in her Crenshaw home and discuss her new book of autobiographical essays — or anything else.
Haddish doesn't sleep on local real estate opportunities. She's deeply invested in South L.A., spiritually and financially. She already owns about a dozen properties in the area, many of which she rents out to organizations that house foster youth.
She has two houses on this boulevard alone — one she sleeps in, one she works in — but neither needed the kind of work that is obviously required to make livable the for-sale property she walks into on this Sunday afternoon.
There are dark stains permeating the carpets, missing ceiling tiles, an enormous window above the toilet that opens to the hallway for no discernible reason.
"How many developers came through here today?" Haddish asks the real estate agent, who confirms that about 90% of the visitors have been investors. Most have estimated the house needs around $300,000 worth of renovations. But the sellers want a regular buyer.
"I'm a regular buyer!" she says. "I got my first house here for around $600,000, but that was in 2015. And now this is what, $1 million?"
The agent shakes his head.
"More?" she asks, incredulous. The 1,548-square-foot abode is in fact listed for $1.1 million, he says. She is aghast but continues surveying the space. There are kumquats and lemons growing in the backyard, which she likes. She's big into eating healthy, and is in the midst of attempting to open a grocery store nearby that will give the community access to nutritious food choices.
"I'd need to do another movie," she says, mulling it over.
By the end of the week, she has a tentative plan: Get a few of her friends to help her buy the place, then put the property in a trust, fix it up and rent it out for a reasonable price.
"I mean, if you want
