Did anyone really want to live 50 miles out of Phoenix? Or 30 miles out of DC? Because they sure built a lot of damn homes and Wal-Marts out there, and I do remember lines and lotteries for these horrific monuments to urban planning run amok (and a disgusting waste of resources).
It was truly sad to see the houses in Maricopa Arizona go up. Families driving so, so far away, forced out of Phoenix by the stupid investor-caused ponzi scheme, only to get suckered into buying a home far, far away that now is getting more and more worthless by the day.
This happened in many cities around the country, and now that housing has crashed, the value of these exurb homes is plummeting, and they're going to quickly become new foreclosure ghost towns and a collection of financial ruin and misery.
Here's a MSM story on the trend. How sad. And how obvious.
Far-flung exurbs hard hit by housing downturn
While the housing downturn has depressed once-thriving real estate markets around the nation, far-flung suburbs of major cities have suffered the most abrupt market correction.
While the housing downturn has depressed once-thriving real estate markets around the nation, far-flung suburbs of major cities have suffered the most abrupt market correction.
Home construction in these distant exurbs has slowed and prices and sales have fallen more than those of close-in suburban neighbors since a five-year housing boom ended in the summer of 2005.
Average home prices in Loudon County, Virginia, 35 miles outside of Washington, D.C., fell roughly 11 percent in 2006, according to the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors. By contrast, Virginia's Arlington County, which hugs the nation's capital, saw a price decline of only about 2 percent.
"It's been hard for sellers to comprehend, and I'm usually the bearer of bad news," said Mike Wagner, a real estate broker who works in Loudon. "The news is: Your home is worth $100,000 less than it was a year and a half ago."
The same holds true for California, where exurban housing markets have softened more than those close to urban centers.
Now, real estate agents in the exurbs trying to sell a glut of new homes, along with the inventory of previously owned houses.
"I think it was easy for builders to think that there were real users in these fringe areas far from jobs and entertainment," he said. "In fact, we found that purchases in those areas over the last three years or so ... were speculators and not users."
