Housing market to get much worse before it gets better
From the May 15th edition of the Las Vegas Penny Press
I had an interesting conversation with one of my co-workers who used to live in Las Vegas but moved back to upstate New York at the end of 2003. She saw a story on TV about a neighborhood in Las Vegas that only had two people living in it. The rest of the houses had been repossessed and were vacant. The two remaining residents were keeping up appearances on the unoccupied homes, picking up trash and keeping lawns cut and weeds at bay. They figured if they didn't do it, the other homes would never sell and their homes would be worthless.
The New Yorker asked if things were really that bad. I told her that every block in our neighborhood had anywhere from two to five houses with For Sale signs, and probably half of them with those two horrible words, Bank Owned. I doubt most of those houses were for sale by choice. She's not seeing that phenomenon in upstate New York and was shocked that the Vegas housing bubble burst so horribly. I knew it was pretty bad.
I just found out how really bad this weekend.
I sat down with a friend of my wife showing them the houses we were considering in our move to the north. I then looked up houses in our neighborhood, floored by the fact that there was a huge divide. Some houses were asking over $200K, but there were a handful of houses listed at between $75k and $125k. In most every case, the friend knew the houses and said they had been on the market for quite some time, anywhere from one to three years!
...and they're still building new houses? Why???
Make no mistake about this, conditions will improve, but those people wanting to liquidate will need to either be patient or be ready to take a bath!
By the way, I also heard from a friend that many of these big project construction workers don't plan to stay here. As soon as they're done, they're heading back home. No word on where exactly home is, but....
Kudos to KVBCand their piece on slum lords. I can tell you that the former manager of one of the properties involved did, in fact, intentionally seek out undocumented immigrants as tenants, get them into the property, jack up their rent, not provide any services or maintenance, and then tell them if they didn't shut up and stop complaining they'd find Immigration agents on their doorstep.
He wasn't a nice guy.
Oh, you KNOW there were some more absolutely awful places out there. Unfortunately this will probably be as close to a major expose as you'll see. Sad.
Looks like Bob Barr has made it official: he's seeking the nomination for the Libertarian Party Presidential candidacy. Right now he's moved to the top of my list of candidates, passing current number one None of the Above. In a total field of “buy your vote” candidates, Barr should stand head and shoulders above the rest.
Instead, the mainstream marginalizes him for – get this – getting into the race too late.
I kid you not.
Ignore the entire political platform of a candidate simply because he didn't make an 18-month game of seeking the nomination? But, then, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. After all, this is the same mainstream media that doesn't get there will be floor fights at both conventions as well as likely rioting in Denver.
Both mainstream political parties have managed to make themselves as relevant as last night's monologue.
Monologues don't fix nations. Actions do. None of the mainstream party candidates have a prayer of doing anything to move us forward. Bob Barr at least stands for something.
Our esteemed publisher got to sit down with the family this last week to chat and learned that our Bubba Brown is quite the conversationalist. He seems to think he could be a political candidate when he gets older and wants to run his campaign. We'll see if Bubba can manage to keep his nose clean long enough to become a contender...
Quick plug for something that the family really enjoyed this weekend – the Pinball Hall of Fame.
It's not glitzy, not fancy, but it's lots of fun, and it's all for a good cause. It's an honest-to-goodness 501(c)3 Non-profit organization, where everything above the hard expenses (electricity, rent, insurance, parts) and endowment contributions, are donated to the Salvation Army. Copies of five-figure checks hang proudly on the wall as a symbol of the good these so-called “instruments of the devil” are.
They're located on the Northwest corner of Pecos and Tropicana, next to the movie theaters. Admission is free, and a roll of quarters will keep you occupied for hours. Certainly longer than your local casino, and a whole lot more fun!
Wyatt Cox is all about the fun. Except when he's serious. Check out the pinball museum at pinballmuseum.org and Wyatt at rant.wyattcox.net
I had an interesting conversation with one of my co-workers who used to live in Las Vegas but moved back to upstate New York at the end of 2003. She saw a story on TV about a neighborhood in Las Vegas that only had two people living in it. The rest of the houses had been repossessed and were vacant. The two remaining residents were keeping up appearances on the unoccupied homes, picking up trash and keeping lawns cut and weeds at bay. They figured if they didn't do it, the other homes would never sell and their homes would be worthless.
The New Yorker asked if things were really that bad. I told her that every block in our neighborhood had anywhere from two to five houses with For Sale signs, and probably half of them with those two horrible words, Bank Owned. I doubt most of those houses were for sale by choice. She's not seeing that phenomenon in upstate New York and was shocked that the Vegas housing bubble burst so horribly. I knew it was pretty bad.
I just found out how really bad this weekend.
I sat down with a friend of my wife showing them the houses we were considering in our move to the north. I then looked up houses in our neighborhood, floored by the fact that there was a huge divide. Some houses were asking over $200K, but there were a handful of houses listed at between $75k and $125k. In most every case, the friend knew the houses and said they had been on the market for quite some time, anywhere from one to three years!
...and they're still building new houses? Why???
Make no mistake about this, conditions will improve, but those people wanting to liquidate will need to either be patient or be ready to take a bath!
By the way, I also heard from a friend that many of these big project construction workers don't plan to stay here. As soon as they're done, they're heading back home. No word on where exactly home is, but....
Kudos to KVBCand their piece on slum lords. I can tell you that the former manager of one of the properties involved did, in fact, intentionally seek out undocumented immigrants as tenants, get them into the property, jack up their rent, not provide any services or maintenance, and then tell them if they didn't shut up and stop complaining they'd find Immigration agents on their doorstep.
He wasn't a nice guy.
Oh, you KNOW there were some more absolutely awful places out there. Unfortunately this will probably be as close to a major expose as you'll see. Sad.
Looks like Bob Barr has made it official: he's seeking the nomination for the Libertarian Party Presidential candidacy. Right now he's moved to the top of my list of candidates, passing current number one None of the Above. In a total field of “buy your vote” candidates, Barr should stand head and shoulders above the rest.
Instead, the mainstream marginalizes him for – get this – getting into the race too late.
I kid you not.
Ignore the entire political platform of a candidate simply because he didn't make an 18-month game of seeking the nomination? But, then, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. After all, this is the same mainstream media that doesn't get there will be floor fights at both conventions as well as likely rioting in Denver.
Both mainstream political parties have managed to make themselves as relevant as last night's monologue.
Monologues don't fix nations. Actions do. None of the mainstream party candidates have a prayer of doing anything to move us forward. Bob Barr at least stands for something.
Our esteemed publisher got to sit down with the family this last week to chat and learned that our Bubba Brown is quite the conversationalist. He seems to think he could be a political candidate when he gets older and wants to run his campaign. We'll see if Bubba can manage to keep his nose clean long enough to become a contender...
Quick plug for something that the family really enjoyed this weekend – the Pinball Hall of Fame.
It's not glitzy, not fancy, but it's lots of fun, and it's all for a good cause. It's an honest-to-goodness 501(c)3 Non-profit organization, where everything above the hard expenses (electricity, rent, insurance, parts) and endowment contributions, are donated to the Salvation Army. Copies of five-figure checks hang proudly on the wall as a symbol of the good these so-called “instruments of the devil” are.
They're located on the Northwest corner of Pecos and Tropicana, next to the movie theaters. Admission is free, and a roll of quarters will keep you occupied for hours. Certainly longer than your local casino, and a whole lot more fun!
Wyatt Cox is all about the fun. Except when he's serious. Check out the pinball museum at pinballmuseum.org and Wyatt at rant.wyattcox.net
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