And we’re concerned about our housing market!: Two
Posted August 15, 2008
on:Ok, so the low priced houses that we saw in Detroit were concerning – however, it turns out there is a hell of a lot more of them.
How about $1 houses and 182 properties that are listed below $1000 – holy hell (search result here).
Lets just say that there must be some investors that are being absolutely burned – especially in Detroit!
What is going on in Detroit (other than the continuing collapse in the car industry)? Have they found toxic waste under the city? Is the population leaving? Have rates increased markedly?
13 Responses to "And we’re concerned about our housing market!: Two"
No one wants to live by Eminem.
No, seriously, I read someone else that a lot of it is the synthesis of emigration from the town as a result of unemployment and the decline of industry combined with the sub-prime crisis and crime problems
-bank forecloses on house, occupants leave town (ie don’t rent in the same area)
-bank can’t sell house (no imigration)
-vandals start looting & homeless start squatting, turning it into a liability
-bank practically gives the house away to escape the maintenance and also to get rid of it before it becomes nothing (burned down by homeless – or Eminem)
Many of the homes are being completely stripped by scavangers to the point of becoming unwanted shells, where they’re only good for burning/demolition. Then the vacant land is practically worthless because no one wants to build in the neighbourhood. In the article I read, they said the bank had tried boarding up the home with plywood – only to find the next day vandals had not only broken in to continue looting, but they also stole the plywood boarding. The property manager found the same boards on another house down the street. When I read stories like this, it reminds of some tales of the Great Depression.
If I remember rightly Detroit is a hotbed of American Islam. Nobody wants to live amongst a bunch of extremists who hate the country in which they live.
Still, we should look on the bright side. Houses in Taneatua are more valuable than houses in Detroit. Eh, boy?
Have you been following the Christchurch City Council +Dave Henderson property purchases issue Matt? The comment was made that the market doesn’t deliver the desired outcomes. How could we encourage developers to do the best thing for the city versus narrow financial goals (or is that too big a topic)?
This is what Owen McShane says:
“Surely, chaos must prevail? Well, chaos does prevail, because
urban economies are what mathematicians call dynamic chaotic
systems and their behaviour, while unpredictable, is also best described as deterministic chaos.
Such systems, which we find throughout the universe, and in life
itself, generate spontaneous order.
Hence the universe has no need for a “universe-design committee” and life itself has had no need of central
planners to manage its development.
Houston is a splendid example of such spontaneous order”
What’s happening in Detroit is that these are pretty much the same houses that Michael Moore toured in “Roger and Me”, with an extra 20 years of neglect and decay. Read the fine print: “Buyer is responsible for any municipal requirements”, which probably includes the requirement to burn the damn thing to the ground.
1 | CPW
August 15, 2008 at 9:40 am
Even the dead people are leaving.