The housing crash will play out in ways that will surprise and shock even us. McMansion ghettos. Bullets flying. Scum living in gated communities. Unkempt lawns and foreclosed houses everywhere. And NOTHING like the wine and cheese brochures the realtors showed you.
Coming to an overbuilt unwanted suburb near you. And all powered by no-down, no-doc, no-responsibility toxic loans.
Thanks Bill @ maryland for the link
The Next Slum?
The subprime crisis is just the tip of the iceberg. Fundamental changes in American life may turn today’s McMansions into tomorrow’s tenements.
Strange days are upon the residents of many a suburban cul-de-sac. Once-tidy yards have become overgrown, as the houses they front have gone vacant. Signs of physical and social disorder are spreading.
In December, after a stray bullet blasted through her son’s bedroom and into her own, Laurie Talbot, who’d moved to Windy Ridge from New York in 2005, told The Charlotte Observer, “I thought I’d bought a home in Pleasantville. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that stuff like this would happen.”
February 25, 2008
McMansions as the Next Slums: "I never imagined in my wildest dreams that stuff like this would happen."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
54 comments:
Bring in the bulldozers.
This has already been going on for a while.
Numerous current and former residents of DC Ranch - one of the most expensive communities in Scottsdale - have written in that tons of trash moved in on bogus loans and now loud all-night parties complete with dirtbags in lowriders and calls to the police have become the norm every weekend.
A good friend who lives in Summerlin in Las Vegas - formerly a high-end community - tells me that it too has been taken over by trash that moved in on no-doc, no-down loans.
Wasn't this predicted in Back to the Future 2? Remember the scene where they're in a subdivision in the future and it's turned into the 'hood.
it's only just begun.
it has hit the exurbs.
wait until it hits the city cores.
reverse gentrification is a bitch.
time to put the bars back on the windows.
How is it the scumbags have managed to stay in these places and all the normal,quiet,maxxed out desperados have hit the trail via boot in ass from forclosure @b.k?
Frank,
RE: Summerlin...Summerlin was a "high end community" only in the minds of those that lived there. They bought into the marketing and media hype. Sure there were some nice houses, but most of Summerlin was a middle class area next to some really shitty areas.
I remember when I moved to LV in 2001 I asked around work where a nice place to live in town was. Everyone was all Summerlin this Summerlin that. So one weekend I go to see houses in the vaunted Summerlin. Very first house I see - which at the time was selling for the what I thought ridiculous price of $199K - had Mexicans next door working on a teal blue 1950s Chevy. That was my first and last flirtation with Summerlin.
Hey buddy watch those copper pipes too - stolen at gun point while your home.
THE AUTHOR WORKS FOR THE 'BROOKINGS INSTITUTE' A RADICAL LEFT WING ORGANIZATION that advocates socialism, and amnesty for illegal aliens and basically the rest of Obama's platform.
But...but....the HOA is supposed to keep this from happening!! Right?
this is one of the things that concerns me.
my wife and i have been looking for a house for awhile. even when prices DO come down we will remain heisitant to buy.
i want to see how this whole thing plays out. i think alot of neighborhoods will be completely destroyed.
would hate to buy a place even if it is 40% off if the neighborhood is gonna crash and burn a few short years later.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
it's only just begun.
it has hit the exurbs.
wait until it hits the city cores.
reverse gentrification is a bitch.
time to put the bars back on the windows.
February 25, 2008 10:09 AM<<<<
its the new reality and we better get used to it. no more free lunches. along with this new economic reality comes the new improved police state reality. this will happen , you see, to protect you from yourselves. while we slept the enemy within has been busy. so now some symptoms are starting to become obvious. stay tuned. this show has just begun. can anyone say revolution? isn't it time????????
Having read numerous accounts of how these houses have been build by illegal immigrants and using the cheapest materials possible, there was never much doubt these places would end us as slum. It's just happening faster than I first thought it would.
I have zero sympaty for these people. Consider it just punishment for their greed.
"Scum living in gated communities".
Now that's what I call a crib!
How does that travertine, granite and stainless steel look now?
Who going to want these materials in their homes when it's in the getto communities?
Uh Oh, my friend told me the other day he's noticed several of his neighbors that have not been able to sell took down the For Sale signs and put up for rent signs. This is in a newer subdivision of $350,000 to $450,000 homes in Ohio.
Think about this--- in the town you live in, how many older 2 to 4 family houses are there that look like big old homes? I'm not talking about the square brick box type but the type house that was once a big single family and was cut up into apartments. Most of that started back during the depression. Once a few houses were cut up, one-by-one others followed through the years. My parents owned a 4 family rental property that used to be a grand Victorian residence complete with servant's quarters and a carriage house. Is this what's in store for all these McMansions? Thing is, zoning boards will outlaw converting single families into multis. So in the end, a lot of those houses will just rot.
Bull Market on tinfoil coming.
Better stock up now!
That's what happens when you give Section 8 vouchers to trailer trash, ghetto scum, barrio putos. These people did not buy these homes. Those homes are probably HUD owned and rented out to the Section 8 crowd. They are there to stay.
"sac'to watcher said...
Wasn't this predicted in Back to the Future 2? Remember the scene where they're in a subdivision in the future and it's turned into the 'hood."
============================
Besides being a great trio of films, BTTF was a great social commentary on America, what we were, and what we are headed for.
High tech electronic innovation was everywhere, and our land was still a $h#thole.
I wonder if the movie writers consulted any socio-economists when putting together their script, or if they just lucked out when it came to nailing the future dead on?
Jim Kunstler has been saying exactly this since the mid-90s, when hating exurbia was most definitely uncool.
www.kunstler.com
Anyone who read any of his books would have had a great head start on avoiding housing losses over the last 15 years.
The good news is, his predictions have all come true. The bad news is, his predictions have all come true.
>> ..parties complete with dirtbags in lowriders..
Hey Keith,
Q: What's the difference between a Hoover and a Harley?
A: The size of the dirtbag.
:)
The "black hole of value" Acqua Vista in downtown San Diego has Section 8 renters, trash on balconies, and wild parties by renters. . .the MLS doesn't even list single bank owned properties anymore - just says, "more than 10 bank owned available.". . .it was once a hot building in a desireable downtown Little Italy neighborhood - it is pulling adjacent buildings down too!
you're the one that wants BHO as prez......
Over the past 10 years or so, many of my cousins and co-workers spent big money to get a brand-new house in the suburbs in a "top" school district. I always wondered if that was a good idea, thinking that if any kind of voucher plan ever went through and cut the linkage between housing and schooling, most people would chose to live closer in and send their kids to private schools rather than deal with a hellish commute.
But what is actually happening now, I never saw coming.
LauraVella said...
How does that travertine, granite and stainless steel look now?
Who going to want these materials in their homes when it's in the getto communities?
Actually, I believe that granite is the perfect surface for snorting coke and if you want to do crack, hell the granite doesn't even show the burn marks. Not to mention how well these materials hold up to gun fire.
The land of the Americano is slowly decaying away like a putrid carcass of a rotten whale washing up on a crowded beach for all the world eyes to see, view, commentate on the state of the once almighty nation, the land of the Snapper Turtle.
Who can we blame on this retro-deed except ourselves ? The mentality of the current Americano is just amazing. Empty of feeling, duty, obligation, morality, honor, sense of self-worthiness, the only way to go for the Americano is to be roasted slowly skewered from mouth to ass on a Chinese bamboo stick, all sizzling nicely, fat popping, juices dripping over a bed of white hot charcoal.
Such is the fate of the fat-ass Americano. What a lowdown shame !!!
Hey buddy watch those copper pipes too - stolen at gun point while your home
---------------
You come to my home and point a gun at me you better be willing to use it...cause i would hate to have to shoot you with your own gun.
When I was a single parent I could find houses I could afford ($~350 +/-) so I was glad not to have to rely on Section 8-too many hoops for me...but I know lots of women who used Section 8, and it saved their families. And I'd like to tell whoever made the comment about them, to ask themselves if you'd like to go back Dickensian England where children dropped like flies for lack of food, clothing and shelter...(watch out for Karma,it's does pop up)..Second, I'd like you to know it is not easy to have a Section 8 house....there are regular inspections and your house must be maintained in good repair. PERIOD. So whoever's yard was in disarray, it wasn't a Section 8 client..
I am amazed at the class snobbishness and outright venal attitudes expressed by some on this site...will you hate yourself like that when you are reduced to nothing? Do you honestly think it won't hit most of us, regardless..The collapse of an entire way of subsidizing life (credit in all it's forms) which is what is really underway is no respector of persons.
Grandma PKK
.
My favorite from a new develoment in San Diego.
A Very upper middle class neighborhood.
A family moves in and grandpa (from the old country) decided that all kitchen scraps (fish heads, greens..etc) should be dumped at the curb in the gutter to be washed away with all that water run-off.
The accumulation was so bad and the stench, that the city had to get involved.
Now how would you like to be the nextdoor neighbor, for that matter even down the street!
.
frank@scorrsdale-sucks.com,
And just wait as tax revenue plummets and calling the police about the loud all-night party results in a cop showing up sometime next month.
Only one solution:
Vacant homes that are not kept in top shape by the current owner (lender, builder, investor) are seized by the county under eminent domain, fast.
To be sold, rented or, if no takers, simply demolished.
In those formerly so-called "hot" neighborhoods, there are simply way too many homes. A lot of them are junk anyways.
If I were the county manager, I'd even ask companies such as Caterpillar to provide equipment at favorable rates. Good PR for them too.
The result: accelerated return to normal inventory levels, plenty of attractive open space, funded by the revenue from the homes the county is able to sell or rent.
Everyone wins, except the lenders and builders. But they made enough $$ when they "sold" them.
blacks and hillbillies
How does that travertine, granite and stainless steel look now?
Who going to want these materials in their homes when it's in the getto communities?
You mean my laminate counters and white appliances are gonna be upscale, now?
Sweeeeet! ;)
"But what is actually happening now, I never saw coming."
I don't think the middle class has even started to see what's going to happen! I read, on unionize IBM blog, that corporate america wants to start flying in chinese workers!
vouchers or good schools don't matter when you don't have a job. that's why I think home schooling is the way to go.
When I was a single parent I could find houses I could afford ($~350 +/-) so I was glad not to have to rely on Section 8-too many hoops for me...but I know lots of women who used Section 8, and it saved their families. And I'd like to tell whoever made the comment about them, to ask themselves if you'd like to go back Dickensian England where children dropped like flies for lack of food, clothing and shelter...(watch out for Karma,it's does pop up)..Second, I'd like you to know it is not easy to have a Section 8 house....there are regular inspections and your house must be maintained in good repair. PERIOD. So whoever's yard was in disarray, it wasn't a Section 8 client..
I am amazed at the class snobbishness and outright venal attitudes expressed by some on this site...will you hate yourself like that when you are reduced to nothing? Do you honestly think it won't hit most of us, regardless..The collapse of an entire way of subsidizing life (credit in all it's forms) which is what is really underway is no respector of persons.
Grandma PKK
----------------------------------
I will vouch for the truth in the above post. The bad rental communities that most of the people here describe are usually not eligible for HUD assistance. As a result, the landlords don't screen tenants as much because they want to keep their units occupied. When you let just anybody off the street who forks over the cash to move in, even if the income isn't verified, you're asking for problems. By the way: Dope dealers aren't eligible for the vouchers.
Never fear, the Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World will turn that minus into a plus! One man's trash is another man's treasure! Don't you people know how to spin things?
>> You come to my home and point a gun at me you better be willing to use it...cause i would hate to have to shoot you with your own gun.
You're gonna look real funny with that knife sticking out of your ass!
>> ...granite counter tops...Not to mention how well these materials hold up to gun fire.
EXCELLENT info, thanks!
"stuck in so pa said:
I wonder if the movie writers consulted any socio-economists when putting together their script, or if they just lucked out when it came to nailing the future dead on?"
Actually, the film 'Idiocracy' does a great job at showing the future too. And it's hilarious. It's premise is the 'dumbing down' of American society.
The planned communities being built now are also destined for the same fate as innercity. An example of an outer suburb planned community that can be used as a model can also be found in suburban Wash DC. Montgomery Village, MD began as one of the first planned communities in the late 1960s, with a mixture of housing types and the ability to walk to schools and shopping. Now 40 years later it is a community that is avoided by home buyers, driving prices below that of neigboring communities. A large proportion of its properties are now investor owned rented to section 8 residents, it has many foreclosures, crime is frequent, and as owners are not paying their HOA fees, maintenance is being differred. As the foreclosure boom is just beginning in Maryland, can expect many foreclosures and decaying properties which will accelerate decay. Recently, one of the last nice single family sections tried to isolate itself from the rest of the development by putting up an iron fence to keep out the rest of the development, just like the last communities in decaying big cities. Ironically this community has also had another feature of the big cities, political corruption, as a former official of the HOA stole money from the HOA, just like Detroit, Newark and Cleveland.
I read, on unionize IBM blog, that corporate america wants to start flying in chinese workers!
You're a little late to the game. It's already happened.
I was on a project at Indymac Bank HQ. The whole place had nothing but empty cubicles. Only 10% were occupied by American Citizens. The other 25% were occupied by H1s for back office positions "for which there weren't qualified American workers". The H1s were contracted by Indymac through Cognizant in India.
So this should actually be illegal since there's definately Americans to do back office work.
Apparently, it's cheaper for them to pay $500 per month for a H1 AND pay for his/her flight and boarding and food.
WAKE UP AMERICA.
The result: accelerated return to normal inventory levels, plenty of attractive open space, funded by the revenue from the homes the county is able to sell or rent.
//////////////////////////////////
county gov. in the home sales and rental business? that is a recipe for disaster
Section 8 is the worst!!!!!!!
It turns a nice community in to a neighor HOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I HATE SECTION 8 !!!!!!!!!!!!
Both parties of SECTION 8 are evil!
One parties is taking advantage of the of our system cause they feel entitled to a certain quality of life they don't deserve! They are playing the system and good chances are they are teaching their children to do the same! They are gaming the system so thier baby daddies can sell in the HOOD all cash so they can by 22"s on the impala!!
The other side is the greed of the owner who has this idealogy of this money is guarenteed by the gubberment so they don't give one flying fvck of the house or the HOOD! As long as the 100 dolla bills keep rollin in!
100 dalla bill yall!!!!!!!
I HATE SECTION 8
RICH IN FL
Happy Homeowner in the stix said:"You mean my laminate counters and white appliances are gonna be upscale, now?"
Sweeeeet! ;)
I dont know about upscale happy homeowner..but practical, and bright yes. A return to normalcy...finally.
Meanwhile, the granite and SS fashion slaves will be stuck with the new "avocado green and harvest gold" must have's of this decade.
n a Chinese bamboo stick, all sizzling nicely, fat popping, juices dripping over a bed of white hot charcoal.
These posts always make me feel both creeped out and hungry, which is a combination of emotions I've never experienced before.
Maybe they can demolish every 4th block of homes in the McMansion ghettos and build lofts for the idiot yuppies. The yuppies LOVE to live in the ghetto but be isolated from the bums and crack dealers. It either makes them think they are progressive/not racist OR it makes them feel they are hardcore SOBs not to be messed with....."dat $6 coffee betta have a cup dat fits into the cup holder of my BMW...yo"
IMO, based on observations of what is happening in the state of Ohio, united States of America.
The original article is nothing more than a glorified 'sales pitch' attempting to sell you on the idea of moving back to urban living.
Face it folks, we are in very deep dung. First, even if peak oil production has not yet been reached the governments of the world seem to be expecting it within the next 10 years.
The article seems to be a propaganda piece geared to preparing us for what must ultimatally happen. Most people are going to have to move from low-density housing to high-density housing.
No amount of spin is going to change the fact that the higher the density of housing (think number of residents per acre) the higher the crime rate and related social stresses and tensions.
An exception to the above statement would be an institutional enviroment such as a professionally managed and enclosed privately owned retirement community.
Otherwise, for the general population being forced by rising suburban costs to move back into higher density urban living-- will mark the great downfall of the American Middle Class.
Many of the folks who remain in upper middle classes, will flea the common suburbs to either the open country, small towns, or one of the surviving very upscale subburbs.
I agree with the anonymous poster above. The predicted future suburban decay will likely prove correct, but the article completely fails to grasp the severity of our situation. No city, no matter how revitalized and gentrified it has become, will be immune from America's fall.
The greatest generation abandoned high density living for good reason. Crime, noise, pollution, crowds, high taxes and lack of community take their toll. Cities are extremely expensive to maintain. The majority of the world's population are now packed into cities, most of them places you don't want to spend much time in. Without a steady stream of revenue from munis and taxes or private developers, an urban area will quickly become dilapidated.
What the author doesn't seem to understand is that we have an affordability problem in this country and the solution is not wildly overpriced downtown lofts and condo towers.
Tough luck Mitesh. Americans are fat, lazy and overpaid. Importing Indians makes a lot of sense. It costs less to fly in an Indian, pay for his hotel/food/car and hourly rate than it costs to pay a fat, lazy American to sit around all day surfing blogs.
The Indian doesn't get a 401k, PTO. He doesn't take time off to see his daughter's school play, doesn't leave at 3:00 to pick up his snot nosed kid from school. He doesn't complain about 5:00 meetings because he has a 2 hour commute. He also doesn't bitch when he has to work weekends. The Indian also doesn't sit around and complain all day long either, like you obviously enjoy doing.
.
From the mouth of a Racist ASSH*LE,
I'm not spending (whatever amount) to have some low-end trash as neighbors, or for that matter High-end trash, example rappers, white or black! Street thugs with lots o cash. One day their selling on the street corner in da hood, next day their living in my peaceful, manicured, respectful neighborhood!
NO! Not in my town
Tough luck Mitesh. Americans are fat, lazy and overpaid. Importing Indians makes a lot of sense. It costs less to fly in an Indian, pay for his hotel/food/car and hourly rate than it costs to pay a fat, lazy American to sit around all day surfing blogs.
It's ILLEGAL to hire an H1 is a qualified American is available. The company must also pay the same amount to an H1 that they would pay to an American.
You're one of those types that don't follow the constitution either. It's an anachronism to you.
Joe said...
n a Chinese bamboo stick, all sizzling nicely, fat popping, juices dripping over a bed of white hot charcoal.
These posts always make me feel both creeped out and hungry, which is a combination of emotions I've never experienced before.
Yea, like canabalism? I think that Andrew is really a New Guinea chief that hunts the streets of OC after dark with feathers on.
Americans are fat, lazy and overpaid. Importing Indians makes a lot of sense. It costs less to fly in an Indian, pay for his hotel/food/car and hourly rate than it costs to pay a fat, lazy American to sit around all day surfing blogs.
I am *so* looking forward to this day...
CEO sits in his office
His phone rings
CEO: Yes, Dana?
Dana: A Mr. Heung is here to see you, Mr. CEO.
CEO: Who? Well, send him in.
Mr. Heung: Hello, Jack.
CEO: Um, who are you?
Heung: I'm the new owner of this company of yours. We picked it up rather cheaply this afternoon -- our government had to spend some of those worthless dollars they have after all. The Boomers needed the cash for their pensions, and you're 401K owned. It's great.
CEO: What?!? But we're an American company!
Heung: Oh, please Jack. An American company? Let's review things, shall we?
Heung: In 1999, you closed your factories in Ohio, Michigan and North Carolina and subcontracted out production to a company owned by the Red Army in China.
CEO: It saved money and boosted profits in the short term!
Heung: Yes, and it also resulted in the layoff of most of your staff.
CEO: That's the free market!
Heung: Indeed. Then, you began to lay off all the Boomers working for your company in the IT, finance and marketing departments. They were getting too old and expensive, right?
CEO: Sure, and lazy and entitled!
Heung: Then, you stopped hiring young Americans to replace them.
CEO: They were demanding 10 hour days and weekends off, the lazy fuckers! And they didn't have the skills we were looking for -- PhD level educations willing to work 60 hour weeks for $40K a year.
Heung: Yes, so you outsourced everything but management to labor from Tata and a Red Army owned IT consultancy.
Heung: In fact, 98% of the people who do any useful work for this company are Chinese, Jack. I'm just here to finish the job. You see, I'm going to be charitable and say you're doing SOME useful work, but you won't be needed anymore.
CEO: WHAT?!?
Heung: You've been outsourced, Jack. You're too expensive. Look at your benefits -- your expensive health care. Your golf club membership. The country club membership too. And all those dinners and Gulfstream jets and corporate apartments and hookers.
CEO: BUT I AM VALUABLE! I CREATE VALUE!
Heung: Nowhere near enough value, Jack. Besides, you're obsolete -- as entitled and out-of-touch as all those workers you laid off. And Jack, just look at yourself. You're fat and lazy and entitled. You think you have an entitlement to your own house and your own car! CEOs in China still live in apartments and drive around on mopeds, Jack. They don't have country club memberships -- heck, a lot of times they don't even have hot water. And they're willing to work for under $100K a year. You're just too expensive, lazy and high cost.
CEO: YOU CANNOT DO THIS TO ME! I HAVE WORKED HERE FOR 10 YEARS!
Heung: Ah, yes, ten years. I remember when the union at the plant in Charlotte said the same thing. But the fact is, Jack, you're too expensive. And it's a Chinese world out there. The times have changed, and you haven't kept your skills up to date.
Heung: But don't feel bad. A few years in community college and I'm sure you'll be able to find a new job in the service economy! See you later.
CEO: (looking defeated) Fine. Fine. I'll show myself out.
Heung: Oh no, what are you doing? You cannot leave with your shirt on. That's company property.
CEO: What?
Heung: You put that suit on the company American Express. Take it off.
CEO: WHAT?!?! You want me to leave naked?
Heung: Well, you said you weren't the sort to give your employees the shirt off your back. So you will give it to me instead. Besides, you're awfully entitled, thinking you have a right to a free shirt. BTW, I called a cab, since we've already taken back the company car. Hopefully the cab takes VISA, since I know most of your cash goes towards those mortgage payments on that house out in the hills.
CEO: But I'm the backbone of America!
Heung: So you were, Jack, so you were.
*fade to black*
Andrew Hac hates America and wants the terrorists to win!
Oh my gosh...what a bunch of pathetic whiners. I always regret spending any of my time reading blog comments and this collection of disgruntled kooks is the worst yet. Hell is in your mind not the community. The community is what you build. I'm going back to trying to make my world a little better.
Post a Comment