‘This Movie Has Replayed For 40 Years’ In California
A pair of reports from San Diego. “July was ice-cold in the North County housing market. Continuing a slowdown that has persisted throughout the year, sales of single-family houses last month plunged 31 percent from July 2005 and sales of condominiums fell 28 percent, according to a report released Wednesday by the North San Diego County Association of Realtors.”
“Real estate analysts said the drop isn’t cause for alarm. ‘Last year we had an overheated market,’ said Pat Hunter, an Escondido real estate agent. ‘It was going so fast and furious, and appreciating at such a high rate, that it simply could not sustain itself. And we don’t have people flipping houses anymore.’”
“However, a San Diego economist who tracks trends in real estate, said the decline is a clear indication that the housing market is entering a downturn. ‘Prices have reached a point where they simply can’t go any higher,’ said Robert Campbell. ‘We are on the down side of the cycle. This movie has replayed for the last 40 years. This shouldn’t surprise anybody.’”
“When it came to the key market indicator of inventory, the number of single-family homes on the market swelled to 6,482 last month. Coupled with the 727 homes that sold, that meant North County had a nine-month supply of houses in July.”
“There is an even bigger glut of condos. With 2,645 condos listed in North County in July and only 257 of them selling, the area had a 10-month supply of town houses and other owned shared-wall housing. The median condo price fell 10 percent year over year to $359,000 in July, the report stated.”
“But Kevin Burke, a Del Mar real estate agent, suggested the condo numbers were misleading. ‘That just means we flooded the market with condo conversions. That doesn’t mean the market has come down,’ Burke said.”
“Campbell maintained that some real estate analysts are refusing to acknowledge that, for most people, the market is out of reach and no level of negotiation or creative financing will help them buy a home. ‘Basically, what has happened is, the consumer has gotten squeezed and something has got to give,’ Campbell said.”
“‘People are saying, ‘I don’t want to go naked for the rest of my life. I still have to eat.’ And, he said, they are canceling plans to buy until the market becomes a whole lot more affordable.”
The Voice of San Diego. “The 12-story BayView Suites hotel in National City won’t be a residence for temporary passersby much longer. The 172-unit BayView Suites hotel will soon be called the BayView Tower, becoming the latest brand of condominiums to hit a housing market that has seen a bounty of apartment units converted to condos in recent years.”
“The units are being prepped just as the condo market is getting shaky. As of the end of June, there were more than 3,000 unsold condos in San Diego County. The price of the average condo has dropped about $20,000 in the last year, and recently converted condos have flooded the market. Some condo conversion projects are now being reverted back into apartments.”
“Peter Dennehy, VP for Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors, said timing of the release of the BayView Tower units will be critical for Pacifica. ‘Is the market in general glutting? Sure,’ he said. ‘But it’s not that there aren’t still condos selling.’”
“The units will be fully furnished, that means new beds, new sofas and flatscreen TVs, Dan Fissori, director for Pacifica said. That’s the only way someone like Patrick Torres would consider buying one of these units. Torres has been living on the 11th floor of the hotel for about a month. He said there’s quite a bit of fixing-up to do.”
“Indeed, a recent trip to the hotel revealed a unit without a door handle, several elevator call buttons missing, a lingering Kahlua bottle and a seventh-floor guard rail wrapped in yellow caution tape and a sign that reads: PLEASE DO NOT LEAN. ‘They’d need to fix up the interior real good,’ he said. ‘And maybe clean up the area, too. Get some good people living here.’”
“the decline is a clear indication that the housing market is entering a downturn…..This shouldn’t surprise anybody.”
If it didn’t surprise most then it would not have ever happened.
wanna see an example of $200,000 price drop in 8 months in North County San Diego? Check out my Fear and Loathing in Escondido post on my blog.
But what does ‘Gary’ say ? Up 10-15% this year still ?
More AWESOME news out of California. Humboldt county year over year median home price $15,000 less than June 2005.
story at http://www.realestatedecline.com
My gain is an annual 5%…but wait…that’s T-Bills and Treasury notes, not real estate. LOL.
Having lived (left 8 years ago for CO then AZ) in Escondido and San Marcos for 30 years, it is infathomable to me to see these prices. Unless the illegals are living 15 families to a house, who can afford them? Can grove workers afford $500k houses now?
i get e mails from zip realty on san diego condoz mostly la jolla carlsbad area.many price reductions and not much selling.the zip guy e mailed me and said now is the time to buy.i replied why buy now record inventory,falling prices i think in a year or two.never replied to me.
I get emails all the time (mass mailing) from askTatyana, a realtor in the Temecula area. One time she sent a note about not to believe the negative news in the media about the current real estate market and to not let the media influence your decision to buy now. I wrote a lenghty email to her (nothing nasty) just stating that I look at financial fundamentals, not the media in making my decisions, etc. She also never responded.
Excellent point! Thanks to all the Realtors (TM) and their industry boosters, the market downturn appears to be a total surprise to all except for a few clear-eyed economists and bloggers who saw through the mendacity.
‘They’d need to fix up the interior real good,’ he said. ‘And maybe clean up the area, too. Get some good people living here.’”
Anyone else get a good chuckle out of this one?
Think that guy has a full set of teeth?
Bet the cousin that he married doesn’t.
That’s a negative?
Wow, now they are offering luxury slum living. They used to rent the rooms by the hour and now they offer the city lifestyle of urban hip. Out with the riff raff and in with the financially foolish.
If you are familiar with National City, there is no urban hip, etc. Just gangs and shoppers from T.J. However, this may provide much needed low priced units for the workers at the shipyards nearby.
Out with the riff raff and in with the financially foolish.
but that’s also how riff raff’s come to being, by being financially foolish.
or the next generation of riff raff when they are penniless too.
doh, great minds think alike
“But Kevin Burke, a Del Mar real estate agent, suggested the condo numbers were misleading. ‘That just means we flooded the market with condo conversions. That doesn’t mean the market has come down,’ Burke said.”
Could someone PLEASE send me some of whatever he is smoking! It’s definitly more potent than what we have up in Canada.
That could be it……it never dawned on me…….realtors have the best weed.
Realtors have good weed? So does anyone who buys a home anywhere in the nation during the rest of 06 and 07, in my opinion. I make a living studying trends, and something very strange is going on here. I think I will rent till at least December of 2007.
‘That just means we flooded the market with condo conversions. That doesn’t mean the market has come down,’ Burke said.”
This quote wins my lamest-attempt-at-spin award. At least LAY et al have more style.
Yeabut in the long run, LAY died…
Or does jp mean Leslie Appleton-Young?
Saw an interesting ad in the Sacramento News and Review. It stated “WE NEED CONDO BUYERS” and then gave a number.
was that this week? I keep Housing Bear quotes up on my bulletin board at my office - the grad students love them >; )
It was in the back not sure if it was this week. I will try to check tomorrow.
how is higher learning institutions handling the real estate bubble. Can anyone from academia comment on whats being talked about these days.
When I was in school the Big 5 Accounting Scandals and Tech Bubble was news and what we examined the trends in our Business classes.
bc skunk
“But Kevin Burke, a Del Mar real estate agent, suggested the condo numbers were misleading. ‘That just means we flooded the market with condo conversions. That doesn’t mean the market has come down,’ Burke said.”
Really, is someone keeping track of comments like this? Cause I’m all out of Gary Larson cartoons.
“The units will be fully furnished, that means new beds, new sofas and flatscreen TVs, Dan Fissori, director for Pacifica said.”
Just wondinering, having owned a flat screen for several years I have not gone to look at TVs lately. Do they even sell “normal” old style TV’s anymore? I mean flat screens are not all that elite any longer…yet they seem to push it like they are…….
Eventually at some point someone/somewhere was the last to use the sales pitch “”Includes Indoor plumbing!!!”"
In Texas I saw a billboard for a developement featuring “California Stucco”.
Ok, I’ll bite. bought a Sanyo 35″ CRT last year for $299. Wanted a flat, but a price like that is donuts to cops - couldn’t resist. Great picture to boot.
With the limited amount of HD programming right now, unless you’re a big sports fan, like I am, it’s not worth getting any HD Tv, let alone any of the “flat” technologies which supposedly are less reliable and don’t have as good of pictures as HD CRTs, not to mention they wear out quicker than CRTs. I went out and bought a Sony CRT HD (30 inch widescreen) for much much less than any of the new technology TVs. Paid much less and got a better picture.
But the thing is a behemoth though- but how often do you move a TV? The size is great for my main room right now and the picture is fantastic and the HD sports programming is enough to make the purchase worth it. The only reason to get one of the new flat TVs is if you want to get a screen larger than 34 inches (widescreen) which is as large as CRTs get.
Exactly. Just today, my son told me he has a serious flatscreen desire - and found a great buy at $1500. When I told him my price for a CRT ($299) he got coldly quiet, then admitted his relief at not making the buy. Called back two hours later, Sanyo in hand. Got him reading Ben’s blog, now a tv save. oohh! Saving the world, one green kid at a time.
I got a 34 inch Sony XBR Hi-def, CRT, a few months ago. It weighs 200 lb., but the technology is mature, and the picture quality is superior to anything out there. It’s also got the “letterbox” (wide-screen, 16:9) screen, so I can watch DVDs in full-screen, the way you’re supposed to watch them. Bought it based off “Consumer Reports” giving it their top marks, and though it wasn’t cheap ($1800) it’s a better value, IMHO, than the plasma or DLP alternatives.
Although the picture quality on CRTs is usually better, and the prices are fantastic, the lbs are a problem for me. I want something under 30 lbs. to carry up and down stairs when I move. Samsung 32″, LCD HDTV with ATSC tuner built in, 4000:1 contrast ratio looks pretty good, but I still can’t bring myself to part with $1,200 for it. Always check out http://www.epinions.com before buying anything.
CRTs wouldn’t be a problem if you would just buy a house and settle down already! If you’re moving every year when your rental lease is up, maybe you should stick to LCDs, lol.
a) I rent.
b) I work for a cable company.
c) I don’t own a TV.
I think that, by faithfully having followed Ben’s blog and taken the aggregated advice of the terrific posters therein, I will be able to buy a house sufficiently large enough that flat-screen versus big-ass CRT will not matter. Thanks, Ben.
After the crash, plan on buying or building a house with a long throw for a projector in the living room. It’s the only way to get a decent picture greater than 34 inches diagonal, and the only way to get a 16×9 (theatrical-ish) aspect ratio without major compromise in the picture quality.
All of the LCDs, and more so all of the plasma screens being sold today are junk. Absolute garbage from a picture quality POV. The DLP rear-projection sets are mediocre, and will be junk in a few years as the three-chip projectors come down in price.
Buying HDTV equipment right now is like buying condos in 2005 - dead money. Don’t touch it. If you can buy a Trinitron CRT right now, that’s your best bet: but I think Sony closed down the last picture tube plant last year.
The last decent (large) rear-projection set I saw was a three-tube unit from Mitsubishi. It’s probably not made anymore either.
I alos have a 30″ Widescreen sony, and comparing it even to the 34, it beats the hell out of it as far as image quality goes. Of course that it is ovekill right now, as DVD’s have about 50% of the resolution for HD, and I do not like sports… But it was a great buy at the Sony Outlet, and they let me have it cheaper than any other comparable tv.
just bought a 20 inch samsung computer flat.i can actually see what you guys post here.
I’m not sure about if they sell old style TVs anymore. I bought my 26″ Mitsubishi in 1989 and it works like a charm. I’ll probably get a flat screen only when my 1989 model goes kaput. Simple living means more net worth!
OK any idiot knows that real estate is toast and you’d have to be a fool to buy a home today even the NY Times says that now. So I have these rare Dutch tulips for sale- get in on the bottom floor before all your neighbors. I think nnvmtgbrkr can come up with a payment plan where you pay nothing down and just make interest payments- trust me these are going to be worth $$$$$ in a few short years! Your tulip bulbs will be as good as an ATM machine!!!!
WIll I be able to liberate my equity with an interest-only TELOC? A Tulip Equity Line of Credit! Sing me up now! In fact, I’ll take a dozen!
TELOC — LOL. Good quickie.
I’m starting to develop a tic - flinching every time I think about the home sales number this fall. Starting to remind me of the well scene in Silence of the Lambs - FB’s seeing the bloody nails of those who came before, realizing there’s no way out. Cue the screaming.
What an image. Yes, it could be a horror show for many FBs.
“It rubs the lotion on its skin. It does this whenever it’s told.”
Wierd to think that the gut who plays Stoddlemeier in “Monk” is the same guy….;-)
Fruedian slip - “gut” read “guy”. LOL
Really? Huh. Never saw that one. But I’m bad at faces.
Yep - Ted Levine.
Whooda thunkit.
I think that yellow tape is actually police tape and that’s where Kristian “At this age I can’t lose and I talked these suckers down about 15k off a 550k condo, what a perfect time to buy ” Cabuago plunged to his death after realizing he’d been had for about 300k-400k and had just added about the equivalent of two dental school size additional student loan debts to his already considerable debt load.
Oh wait, that was the gaslamp district.
Some day we’re all going to laugh at this madness and wonder what the crap got into people’s head when they were signing the dotted line for a 750k crap box tract home from Nixon administration in SoCal
try eisenhower
“However, a San Diego economist who tracks trends in real estate, said the decline is a clear indication that the housing market is entering a downturn. ‘Prices have reached a point where they simply can’t go any higher,’ said Robert Campbell.
Doesn’t a Robert Campbell post here?
Why yes, he does.
all the best minds are here
‘Prices have reached a point where they simply can’t go any higher,’ said Robert Campbell.
That’s a rather bold statement. Hasn’t everyone realized the danger of making absolute statements? It might not make sense, but prices absolutely can go higher. Isn’t that what the bubble is all about?
I’ll go out on a short limb here,. . . I know Robert Campbell, I’ve worked with Robert Campbell, and people, the real estate weasels are not Robert Campbell. Curtis G., this thing is DONE! I’ve had NUMEROUS relatively high profile property developers/business owners/mortgage brokers in my office to file for Bankruptcy recently. The number of proerties that will soon be REOs will be staggering!!! I have very intelligent associates that STILL believe that the GLOBAL real estate market is not only viable but is THE place to put your money (Oh sure, a brown paper bag full of $100s to a Cuban sounds like a good investment. . .). Keep your powder dry. . .
Probably too late to catch you, BK lawyer, but wondering what kind of changes you are seeing in your office. Do you see the BK numbers increasing? How much? Is it accelerating or remaining steady & over what time?
Sorry to bombard you, but you are definitely “boots on the street.” Thank you for all your posts here!
Best Regards!
BKs are back up nationwide. My office is running at about 80% of pre-BKlaw-change. There is a perception that people cannot file. It’s wrong and when people figure out that it’s still available my office will be 150% capacity over the last 10 years. 90% of those who qualified under the old law can still file and wipe out their debts.
Almost EVERY case that walks in the door now has at least 1 house and usually more. I did a radio show with a mtg. broker recently week who was adamant that people still HAVE to buy homes so he will be OK. He couldn’t really answer why they would want to in this climate other than being forced to by a job move, etc. Even then they could rent b/c renting is, according to the recent Time/Newsweek, up to 60% cheaper.
The fish is still squirming in the net. It’s gonna take a while for it to die. Then it will really start to smell. . .
PLEASE DO NOT LIEN
Very creative thinking ……
I also wonder who’s finger prints we might find on that Kahlua bottle …….
I’ve been tracking the inventory for my zip, 21113, since the beginning of the year. We started around 180-200, then pushed the 300 mark recently before falling to around 285-290.
Today I go look, and there’s only 88! I check later in the day and its down to only 1.
Looks like somebody hacked realtor.com.
Nope, probably at the end of the 90 day listing contracts. They expired.
The real test is how many pop back onto MLS in the next 30 days.
That will be the test for the oft trotted out cliche if owners can’t get their price they will just take their homes off the market.
My bet and Bob Casagrand’s data show 90% are re-listing.
It’s back up to 289 (not counting rentals, mfg homes, land, farms, which pushes it up to 334).
BayQT~
those turds deffinitley did not sell
my spelling is terrible.forgive me sister mary thomas my 2nd grade teacher.
Aha - I see that you, too, learned by the rulers. Hey, it worked.
“But Kevin Burke, a Del Mar real estate agent, suggested the condo numbers were misleading. ‘That just means we flooded the market with condo conversions. That doesn’t mean the market has come down,’ Burke said.”
Realtors have an answer for everything. They are like motivational speakers.
They’re almost as honest as politicians.
-Richie
They were making the “condo conversion” claim last year as well. This thing is toast. No reason to buy anything right now, least of all a condo, IMHO. Those don’t exactly do well in a downturn.
Teeing Off: Who Needs Retirement?
by Henry Rollins
Have you noticed how many advertisements you see for loan agencies these days? You know why there’s so many? Could it be that more than ever, people are spending more than they’re making? More than they’ll ever make? That perhaps what they want is completely out of their price range?
I saw an ad on TV recently where an actress who is acting as a person in debt said she was so relieved that because her loan all her credit cards were paid off and that she was out of debt. Huh? She’s still in debt–just to a different company. Why many people are compelled to live above and beyond their means is distressing. Perhaps they have been poisoned by too many lives of the rich and famous type shows. Perhaps some Americans are obsessed with the attractive and well publicized wealthy and want a taste of it for themselves before they shuffle off. There’s a kind of Thelma and Louise “Aww, fuck it!” mad dash over the cliff fatalism to all this. For some who willfully spend beyond their means there is an air of self-destructive entitled justification that is frightening. What are they thinking, after they become millionaires, all this will be behind them? Those who plan poorly enough to find themselves in debt rarely plan well enough to get out. To be in debt and have to pay on the debt just so you can watch the rich and famous on a plasma screen in high definition is just not worth it. There are people in America who will be in debt all their lives, well beyond their capacity as part of the workforce. What then? Who picks up the tab? Do you just get punted out of your dwelling onto the street? Does Visa, just curse and shake their fist when they see your obituary? Does the guy at the bank give you a hug and tell you just forget about it? You could take all the time I have spent resting assured there would be Social Security for me when I am old and it would make a second feel like an hour. America is a great place but it turns from the land of opportunity into a dead end nightmare when you’re in debt and even then, the lines of credit just keep on coming.
The President says the economy is strong. I say start learning Chinese! Many Americans seem all too eager to put off responsibility to a later date. They can’t build hotels in Las Vegas fast enough. People can’t wait to get out there and part with their cash. This country has no money left but there’s some people you just can’t talk to. Other countries look at us and wonder what’s in the water. We freak them out with our reality shows and half-time displays, we terrify them with our foreign policy, our leader bewilders, angers and alienates them at every turn. And we’re broke. So, by the time you retire, what do you expect to retire to? Only 25 hours a week employment? Doesn’t leave much time for walks and MacGyver re-runs. You could end up competing with young folks and undocumented workers for minimum wage employment. You might have to do some things you never thought you would to get enough money for your meds like selling hard drugs to pre-teens or mugging fellow retirees for the few bucks they may have. Where will you live? I hear public parks are nice and the fresh air will do you good. Not so great in winter though. On the other hand, you could just do your best to live within your means and not get taken for a ride by every credit card company who keeps showing up with more money every time you’re trying to kick. After all, we all can’t be trust fund kids, heirs or born again Texans.
I think that was a DiTech ad from a while back–the woman on the phone allegedly being “interviewed” says something like “it feels so GOOD to be out of debt!” I haven’t seen the ad for a while—it’s so patently false and misleading that they may have been forced to pull it.
“I saw an ad on TV recently where an actress who is acting as a person in debt said she was so relieved that because her loan all her credit cards were paid off and that she was out of debt”
Just to clarify, I was responding to this quote.
A guy I know actually said this to me! He’d been laid off for a year or two and piled up the credit card debt. He lives in Tucson. So he said recently he found out how much his house was worth, refinanced with cash out, and told me:
“Now I’m debt free.”
He was quite serious and matter-of-fact. He’s never owed more in his life, and he tells me this! WTF?
How about the ad on TV for Ditech. There is a woman talking about how she refinanced her home, paid the credit cards off and how wonderful it is to be debt free again. What an obviously transparent load of cr*p.
“You cannot borrow enough money to get out of debt”
Paradoy of Ditech ad:
Camera: Flipper looking at newly arrived foreclosure letter:
“Damn! Lost another home back to DiTech”
Is that the Henery Rollins from Minor Threat and Black Flag?
Why yes it is………….I’m speechless…..even aging punk rock icons from my youth get it. Maybe the band Fear could get back together and sing about realtors.
Grubner:
You beat me to it.
When washed up middle aged punk rockers start giving lectures about debt, this very big pile of shit is getting pretty f’ing close the to fan.
not ozzie.but i got a moody blues cd reunion im listening to right now.
Fear was my favorite. Whatever happened to Lee Ving?
If you ever get a chance to go see a Henry Rollins speaking tour show, by all means, go, you will not regret it. One wise and observant human….
Punk rockers have the natural ability to “think outside the box,” (sorry about using a cliche). So I’m not surprised. I don’t know much about Henry Rollins, but would not be surprised if many “aging” punk rockers are now libertarians, like I was as a 20-something in the 1980s.
If you get a chance, see him while he’s on tour this summer- http://21361.com/
Henry in minor threat? He’s friends with Ian, but he wasn’t in minor threat.
“Henry in minor threat?”
I was posting late and I stand corrected. If memory serves he was in SOA while in DC. His last name was Garfield or something and later changed to Rollins. Buried around the house somewhere I have an original pressing of the 1st SOA single in green vinyl! What happened when my kids find the box with all those records?
JMunnie - nice to see you back here. Seems like it has been a long time since you posted.
I know what you mean.
two homes around me are sales pending. one(used to be all different crazy colors) is 5% less than asking and the other was relisted at a new price and the land that was seperate was thrown in. that new lisiting sold for 10% less than asking. so basically you got 10% off the original price and the land thrown in.
this guy is sharp!
(”Granted, affordability is at an all-time low,” Hunter said. But she said the high prices constitute a sort of “sunshine tax” that people pay to live in San Diego County because of its popularity.)
at least there is some sanity.
(Campbell countered that, while residents indeed have always paid more to live here, the difference is far greater now than ever before, and that suggests housing is overvalued. He said that, on average over the last 35 years, San Diego County residents paid 73 percent more for housing than the national average, and today they are paying 180 percent more.)
I knew I liked Robert Campbell.
Robert way to kick some realtor a$$!
a sort of “sunshine tax”
its so ridiculous. Sunshine Taxes that don’t apply where there is the most sun.
Simmssays…Customize your IPOD
http://www.americaninventorspot.com/new_ipod_wizard
Monetary squeeze:
http://petropestlaunchpad.blogspot.com/
I wonder if the “Campbell Method” will be a successful buying strategy in the coming year?
not a year wait 3 to 5 you will make a killing
Sunshine Tax indeed. PG&E cost for AC in Bakersfield $500 per month. House cost 350k. PG&E cost for Pismo $45. House cost 700k. Math majors do the analysis for me pleeese!!!
This ad rubs me the wrong way.
http://www.lnxloans.com/johnad.mp3
Sounds like a used car salesman, doesn’t he? We hear him all the time on the radio. He’s just looking to beef up volume with the, “refi over and over again,” schtick.
Can’t wait for the day we don’t have to hear or see any more mortgage commercials. That time can’t come soon enough.
This scam started in the early 90’s (I worked for the guy whom I think invented the concept) Constant refis with cash out, lower payments, lower rate, no ‘closing costs’ etc. BIG scam. The sales people make a ton of money, the broker makes money, and they roll the costs into the new loan. All very nicely hidden from view. Problem is you never build any equity…oh, except for the constant increase in value, of course.
“‘People are saying, ‘I don’t want to go naked for the rest of my life. I still have to eat.’ And, he said, they are canceling plans to buy until the market becomes a whole lot more affordable.”
It helps that rents are only 2/3 or so the monthly mortgage payment on a comparable property, and that is before you consider other expenses the homeowners get to cover (insurance, taxes, HOA, maintenance, lawn care, etc). And now that prices are falling, it is cheaper than ever to rent, relative to the cost of owning. In fact, it is so relatively cheap to rent that even the USA Today has caught on…
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/housing/2006-08-09-rent-1a-usat_x.htm
“The 172-unit BayView Suites hotel will soon be called the BayView Tower, becoming the latest brand of condominiums to hit a housing market that has seen a bounty of apartment units converted to condos in recent years.”
I suggest BayView Apartment Tower…
“This movie has replayed for the last 40 years. This shouldn’t surprise anybody.’”
In fact, the movie has replayed this way in California for well over 40 years. Last year Robert Shiller had a wonderful LA Times editorial (”Housing bubble will pop”) citing evidence for a California real estate bubble (the first?) which burst around 1890. In fact, it is right here, on the “old Ben blog” archives…
http://housingbubble.blogspot.com/2005/04/housing-bubble-will-pop.html
Looks like both Roberts (Campbell and Shiller) called it pretty well!
Tony Garcia, acting building director for National City, said he thinks the development will be good for the area. He said this conversion and the other condo projects planned for downtown National City will make it a lot like the Gaslamp district in downtown San Diego.
“It’ll be a great place to live,” he said. “A vibrant street life, cute cafes, pizzerias.”
People, I used to party down in National City. It was fun because it was just a sh*thole and you didn’t care. It’s like going to TJ except you don’t have to walk or pay to park.
It is not the gaslamp.
It will never be the gaslamp.
It is 90% non-white. Not that that is bad, but it is often poor, and in this case that is true. Full of Navy Wives, Navy ex-Wives, the family of Navy Wives, the children of Navy Wives, and uh, recent immigrants from Mexico.
A bar 1 block away from this hotel named “The Trophy Lounge” was always a blast because it had just completely nutty, though sometimes gorgeous, Asian girls in it. I did heard rumors of prostitution busts in the past. I don’t know how far “in the past” they were.
National City is where dreams go to die.
In regard to your Navy Wives comment, you should be more specific as to not disparage the majority of respectable U.S. citizen Navy Wives (I am married to one). You are referring specifically to those of a certain nationality that many sailors since WWII met in an overseas island nation, and brought back to the states with them. They in turn sponsored their extended families for entry to the U.S. Yes, there are many of them hanging out in National City. Most are good hard working folks and make up a substantial part of the community (except maybe the “working” girls in the Trophy Lounge!).
“Campbell maintained that some real estate analysts are refusing to acknowledge that, for most people, the market is out of reach and no level of negotiation or creative financing will help them buy a home. ‘Basically, what has happened is, the consumer has gotten squeezed and something has got to give,’ Campbell said.”
“‘People are saying, ‘I don’t want to go naked for the rest of my life. I still have to eat.’ And, he said, they are canceling plans to buy until the market becomes a whole lot more affordable.”
Finally! Thank you, Robert Campbell. Why is it so hard for the rest of these so called experts to say this when it is so crystal clear to millions of people?
The bow is going down ladies and gentlemen..the stern is in the air..the screws are showing..the USS Real Estate is sliding ..the Horror..the Horror…