The housing market is so hot in the Jamestown area right now that some houses have been bought and sold multiple times over the past couple of years.

The quick-moving housing market is a change for Jamestown, which for years could see some houses languish on the market for months before finally selling.

But that interest is a double-edged sword. The homes changing hands are either well-kept homes or homes being purchased by those with the ability to fix problems or update a home with a few issues and then sell it for a substantial profit. Other homes — the ones that need substantial work before they are ready for the next 20 or 30 mortgage-paying years of a buyer’s life — aren’t selling. Not only that, they are being deemed not to be occupied.

There is no appetite for redeveloping these houses. Unfortunately, those same houses are the ones that need investment the most. They are the neighborhood eyesores that tend to drag down home values or be the types of houses that no one should ever have to be evicted from in the first place.

So it’s good to hear Crystal Surdyk, city development director, say the Development Department is working on a plan to deal with the condemned properties.

“We’ve been talking about some different ordinances, and vacant property ordinances are one of those,” she said. “Along with this and getting a really good handle on the number of condemnations and the reasons for condemnations, (we’re) just trying to develop some more tools to address it. Our goal is not to condemn — it’s to take those signs down.”

It’s a good goal. We wish Surdyk luck achieving it.