Up A Creek In Texas
The Houston Chronicle reports from Texas. “Barbara Thompson put her four-bedroom home near Pearland on the market last November. But even though she upgraded the house about a year ago with hardwood floors, crown molding and a larger patio, it still hasn’t sold. She just dropped her asking price by almost $5,000. ‘I didn’t think it would take six months to sell,’ said Thompson. ‘Nobody has looked at it within the last three weeks.’”
“The slowdown is being felt primarily in the lower-priced market, which is being affected by stricter lending standards. ‘Unfortunately, it is owners in that range that have been most impacted by the mortgage industry’s woes of late,’ said Rob Cook, Houston Association of Realtors chairman.”
“Sales of homes in the $80,000 to $140,000 price range, which made up 32 percent of the May transactions, were down 8.3 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the association. The number of homes on the market rose in May by 16.2 percent over last year”
“‘If you have bad credit and no money, you’re probably up a creek,’ said Shad Bogany of ERA Bogany Properties.”
“Thompson said three different buyers tried to purchase her house, which is now listed at $132,000, but none could get approved for a loan. She also has competition from other homes in her neighborhood that are for sale. And builders are putting up new subdivisions nearby.”
“New agent Vira Garza, has lost out on several potential sales because the buyers couldn’t qualify for loans. Garza recently quit her job to go into real estate. She’s now reconsidering her decision.”
“‘I had plenty of clients and little by little they’re dwindling out cause they don’t have good credit,’ she said. ‘I’m really thinking of going back to work and doing this part time.’”
The Dallas Morning News. “Burned-out homes and a number of foreclosures along Rolling Oaks Ridge, where Audrey and Stephen Riser built their 3,940-square-foot home in 1998, have soured the couple on their neighborhood.”
“‘Lake Ridge has just ruined my dream,’ said Ms. Riser, who lives across the street from a home that burned in January. Another home around the corner on Golden Pond also sustained fire damage several months ago, and both houses are exposed to the weather.”
“‘It’s an eyesore, and I can’t stand to look at it,’ Ms. Riser said. ‘Then we’ve got all these foreclosures. I know we’ve got at least four of those on this street, and who’s going to buy a house with burned houses on the street?’”
“Officials in both cities admit to problems in the 3,000-plus-acre community, where homes range from $350,000 to $2 million.”
“Some homes have been abandoned midconstruction, and unscrupulous dealings have forced some homes into foreclosure, Cedar Hill Mayor Rob Franke said.”
“According to Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service Inc., 88 foreclosures have been posted for Lake Ridge since January, compared with 48 in the first six months of 2006. That is six times the foreclosure gain for the overall Dallas-Fort Worth area, said George Roddy Sr., the company’s president.”
“‘Midyear’s residential foreclosure posting activity for D-FW metro increased 14 percent compared to the same time frame last year,’ Mr. Roddy said.”
” Bob Way of Barclay Custom Homes said he is tired of seeing so many foreclosures and unfinished projects in Lake Ridge, where his company has been building homes for 19 years. ‘It seems like any street we run up and down out there, every third home is in foreclosure,’ Mr. Way said.”
“Kenneth Hollingsworth, president of the Lake Ridge Property Owners Association, said many of the area’s problems can be attributed to growing pains associated with ongoing construction. With more than 1,200 lots still without homes on them, it will be awhile before construction ends.”
“‘The only problem I see if you’re in it for the long term is the crime rate might increase because I think vacant houses probably attract criminals,’ said Keith Thieroff, who lives next door to the fire-damaged home on Overlook Circle. ‘But I think the [adjustable-rate mortgage] lenders have learned their lessons and will have stricter regulations, so people will get conventional loans and finish off those houses.’”
The Dallas Business Journal. “Land prices are reaching historic highs in northern Denton County, despite a slowdown in housing development.”
“Parcels in far northern areas, largely agricultural tracts, are selling for $75,000, $85,000 and even $99,000 an acre, double and triple what buyers were paying 10 years ago.”
“A little more than 2,800 homes were posted for July’s foreclosure auctions in North Texas. That’s up only 3 percent from a year ago, according to statistics released Thursday by Foreclosure Listing Service. Before July, total postings were up 14 percent for the year.”
“‘I don’t think this is a trend,’ said George Roddy, president of the real estate statistics firm. ‘I think it’s an anomaly.’”
“Since next month’s foreclosure auction is the day before the Fourth of July, some trustees and lenders who coordinate the postings may be taking off, he said. ‘It always drops in July,’ Mr. Roddy said.”
“But Collin and Rockwall counties continued to see double-digit gains. Collin was up 11 percent, and Rockwall 22 percent.”
‘Parcels in far northern areas, largely agricultural tracts, are selling for $75,000, $85,000 and even $99,000 an acre, double and triple what buyers were paying 10 years ago.’
Those familiar with this area know these prices are crazy.
‘Developers hope their new condo skyscraper will be a standout in Dallas’ downtown Arts District. To buy into the ultramodern high-rise, residents will need to come up with $1 million for the smallest unit.’
‘The condo building is to contain between 100 and 125 residences, with some units taking entire floors. The smallest is around 1,500 square feet. It’s a radical departure from a much smaller building that the developers had previously intended to build there.’
‘But Mr. Puls said that the minimum price for the units will limit the buyer pool. ‘A million bucks is a real big investment,’ he said.’
I read that DBJ article yesterday and just about heaved. I’m sure smart landowners out there will be dumping if there are buyers at those prices.
And also took umbrage at the Morning Snooze being used as a promotional tool for that Arts District condo building. They’re having trouble selling those (and they should - they’re damned expensive and there is little to do around there).
‘there is little to do around there’
What area are they calling the Arts District?
Ross Avenue from the freeway to about Akard. Around the DMA, Morton Myerson, new opera house, etc. There are some nice museums there (Trammell Crow Asian art collection and the DMA is first rate) but there is no commerce within walking distance and the sidewalks roll up at 6 p.m. It is not Manhattan or San Francisco even though they are trying to get those type of prices.
Has any planner/developer ever put 2+2 together and realized that “supporting the arts” means cheap space?
Durrt.
Why would anyone live in North Denton County when you can buy a huge house in North Plano or Frisco for a song and a dance?
I posted a comment yesterday that square foot costs in Plano/Frisco/Allen appear to be $100/square foot. Another person who lives in Richardson stated that square footage cost is more like $75. So what gives with this land boom in north Denton County? I think it’s hype combined with some developers “paying” excessive amounts for land in deals that are designed to give the appearance of rising prices when in fact the whole thing is an engineered scam.
Remember the Texoma thread last year? I’ve been seeing some of those “investment” properties come rolling out and prices we don’t want to discuss in front of the women and children
It isn’t a song and dance compared with local incomes.
It is when you compare it to what I’m used to seeing in California. I mean, in Texas they build these giant castles with waterfalls in the backyards and then sell them for the price of a lean-to shack in East L.A.
The odd thing is the North Dallas/Collin County area has a very high per capita and household income. Is that an illusion? Perhaps things are not as they appear.
I mean, in Texas they build these giant castles with waterfalls in the backyards and then sell them for the price of a lean-to shack in East L.A.
No comparison in land costs in or availability TX vs. California or NY. No Pacific Ocean in Texas. No NYC in Texas. It’s like a penny stock vs. Berkshire Hathaway. It’s cheap for a reason.
To txchick57,
You are correct. But I am interested in the economy of Collin County. Do the stats showing high per capita and high household incomes genuinely reflect the kind of income an engineer or some other well educated person can expect to command in the area or are those stats misleading?
I can only relate my efforts to compare economic conditions in Texas, Virginia and California in my business field which is automobile repair. Back in 2004 I cold called repair shops in Texas and Virginia and asked the owners about business conditions in their areas. Plano shop owners were generally happy with business conditions and the average shop labor rate in Plano was $70/hour. Here in Santa Barbara the average rate at the time was around $80/hour, but costs of leasing were $2/square foot in Santa Barbara versus 60 cents/square foot in North Dallas. A 1500 square foot house in Plano was ( and is) 20% the cost for the same house in Santa Barbara.
I know that comparing Cali to Texas is, in many ways, apples to oranges. However, as a practical business matter Texas seems to have some real advantages.
Collin County has a good economic base. It’s close to Telecom Corridor (Nortel, at&t, Verizon, Countrywide, Sonus, Samsung etc) with many business headquarters. There are alot of decent jobs out there if you have the correct skillset. It took a big hit with the tech crash but has recovered nicely. You won’t make the big bucks like you would in Silicon Valley or NYC, but the costs are also much lower. Make sure you can deal with the summer heat before moving here. It’s pretty plain jane surburban living. Good for raising a family without destroying your finances.
Location….to work….If you work in Fort Worth and don’t want to send your kids to private schools, certain parts of Denton county become arractive alternatives.
It is all about schools and access to decent retail.
I can tell you that this is factual…..there are lots listed in the 180k-200k+ range and they appear to be selling. I live in the central/northern denton county (not denton) and I can tell you a lot that I could have bought in 1997 at roughly 35-40k would probably bring around $200k (of course it needs to feed into certain schools). This is nuts……
“She just dropped her asking price by almost $5,000.” The original asking price was $132K, so this is not even a 4% drop.
Significant price decreases might result in an offer - let’s begin at 25% off, then work downward from there.
Isn’t is strange how the seller thinks “almost $5K” is a large sum but buyers think it is a pittance? Who needs who more?
Pearland is a blue collar hole. Next.
‘Isn’t is strange how the seller thinks “almost $5K” is a large sum but buyers think it is a pittance? ‘
- Here in So Cal 5k is what we budget for new 22″ wheels and tires for our rides.
I read that in the Barnacle yesterday while I was eating my lunch and I came pretty close to hurling. Some sacrifice.
I do give the Barnacle credit for finally getting it. The local REIC can’t be too happy with the negative RE articles appearing in the Chron. The bottom half of the market (houses less than $120k, don’t let the “median price” fool you) has collapsed. Established subdivisions are weathering this OK, but there are massive tracts of new exurban subdivisions that are hurting bad.
Friends of ours from India bought a McMansion in Cinco Ranch 2 years ago. He’s a college professor, his wife is a school teacher. I talked to him last week and he’s having second thoughts. They can make the mortgage nut, but it’s everything else. Property taxes are enormous on their McMansion, and they are looking at summer a/c bills of over $500/mo.
Renting, the new paradigm!
” Bob Way of Barclay Custom Homes said he is tired of seeing so many foreclosures and unfinished projects in Lake Ridge, where his company has been building homes for 19 years. With more than 1,200 lots still without homes on them, it will be awhile before construction ends.”
Bob, you have made yourself sick. You were the one that was so willing to make everyones dream come true and build them a house. Didn’t your business model forecast the bottom falling out?
I don’t want to bore everyone here by ranting on and on but I lived in that area for 6 years and loved it. Still do. These f***ing builders and the city enablers allowed them to shave beautiful hills and ruin a lot of bird habitat to build houses that have no relation whatsoever to the area. Dallas has long had a tendency to white flight north of town, not south where Cedar Hill is, and there is and was no reason to build hundreds of $300K+ houses out there. Certainly no million dollar ones! The median income out there is about 38K. Bluegreen Corp. was an early developer of Lake Ridge if I recall correctly, they may have sold and moved on now. There are many lots out there for sale at ridiculous wishing prices. In the mid 1990s, I bought some that were abandoned after the Superconducting supercollider boondoggle went away and resisted offers for 4x what I paid. I’m looking to do that again when these end up in bankruptcy estates.
If you didn’t take the offers for 4x what you paid, what did you eventually sell for? Or do you stilll own the lots? Is that area built up now? Do you have to maintain the lots or is it essentially private park land?
Didn’t buy them to sell. I’m a deluded tree hugger who hopes the few remaining birds can use them.
Good for you. I highly recommend a book called “Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds by Scott Weidensaul. Wonderful read. And lots of tree hugger stuff.
Wow, txchick57, I’ve always enjoyed your posts, wit, wisdom, insight, and info. Now I see I have another reason for admiration. Its great to learn of another tree-hugging bird-loving human, and even better if s/he puts her money where her heart is. More power to you. You brightened my day.
IAT
TxChick - you are a woman I would like to meet someday. I live here in the Dallas Fort Worth area -
My great-grandfather was a professor of ornithology at OU - I am now 40 - when I was a little kid - he would take me and my cousins out on bird banding and bird research trips all the time all around this part of the country - we went as far south as Waco. I remember the trees in the meadows being FILLED with yellow-rumped warblers, cerulean warblers, indigo buntings, painted buntings, western kingbirds, eastern kingbirds, scissor-tailed flycatchers, northern orioles, you get the drift. There were days out there with him - when as far as the I could see - flashes of yellow red orange green and blue. I distinctly remember one day - banding over 1500 birds at one time.
I want everyone to know - THOSE DAYS ARE LONG GONE - the birds for the most part - even in the most remote areas - have simply vanished. Where 35 years ago as a child there would be hundreds and hundreds - now you go out in the field and are lucky to see a mating pair or 2. At least I have the memories. I doubt anyone will see birds like that in any lifetime now. I am a fiscal conservative — Waste not - want not. I am also a treehugger - and it escapes me how people can vote for morons like Jim Inhofe in Oklahoma. The evidence is all around us that something desperately is wrong with our planet.
Just like the old canaries in the mine shafts - could our meadowlarks and warblers be telling us something????
Anyone who wants to know more - just look up the old essay - “29 Days” - think about it rationally - and then tell me something is not wrong.
The first winter I was down there, we had a hell of a snow storm. We had our feeders out in the back yard. I started counting cardinals. Stopped counting at 175 in the back yard feeders. I’ve seen painted buntings out there, mountain bluebirds, vireos, an eagle or two, many types of owls. Saw a great horned owl trying to take a dog (a Vizsla!) out of a dog house. The lot behind that house was pristine forest but in 2001, was shaved off by a scuzzy builder to build a cheap POS which is now being auctioned having been foreclosed. That’s when I left. But I am heading down there this afternoon to look at this. Hope springs eternal.
http://www.cbdfw.com/property/property.asp?PRM_MLSNumber=10795189&PRM_MlsName=NTREIS&VAR_AgentCode=0278880%20&VAR_OfficeCode=94200602
I saw many scissortails, eastern and western kingbirds and two Baltimore orioles this morning at White Rock Lake. The scissortails were thick in the Cedar Hill/Grand Prairie area when I lived there. You’d see hundreds of them sitting on the telephone wires. I love those birds. I have never seen a cerulean warbler or indigo bunting (although I may have mistaken what I thought were mountain bluebirds for the indigo buntings) in Cedar Hill State Park. That’s one of the reasons I like Arizona so much. The birding is outstanding there.
“‘If you have bad credit and no money, you’re probably up a creek,’ said Shad Bogany of ERA Bogany Properties.”
I’ve got a news flash for you Shad. If you’ve got bad credit and no money you shouldn’t be trying to buy a damn house. Its called ‘living within your means’ and up until about 5 years ago, anyone who didn’t recognize this little truism was considered a fool. As in, “A fool and his money are soon parted”.
The would-be buyer isn’t up the creek at all. He’s no worse off then he ever was.
It’s the seller who’s up the creek.
“‘It’s an eyesore, and I can’t stand to look at it,’
why don’t they bulldoze those firepits?
Who’s going to pay for it?
I’ve been waiting for a Texas thread. Anybody got boots on the ground who can provide intel on the north 1604 loop area of San Antonio? Boerne? New Braunfels? Fair Oaks Ranch? Houses, especially those over $400K seem to still have very unrealistic prices. Internet shows some price drops and it is trending downward but still very sticky. Any views on the area and opinions would be most welcome. By the way, thanks to all of you on this blog, especially Mr. Jones, for giving so freely of your knowledge and intelligence and providing an excellent education to so many. You’re doing great work.
It’s all unsustainable. If you are interested in that area, wait.
I’ve seen some really lovely Hill Country properties for sale recently at *better* (still not good) prices. It should get a lot better.
Txchick,
We have friends in Garland whose house is worth little more than what they paid for it about 25 years ago. Yet in 2005 they bought a new house in Arlington specifically as a rental investment. They have a tenant. A good move? Were prices low enough that they can be cash flow positive?
Nope. Bad move unless Jerry Jones wants to condemn it.
Arlington is No. 1 in DFW foreclosures. Too bad; apart from Cedar Hill, it’s my favorite place to look for houses.
How about the Plano area? How are the prices doing there?
Plano is a good area, but it is not immune. Dallas is like every other Texas city, with the exception of Galveston or El Paso. There are no barriers to growth, so land should always be cheap.
I would like to move to SA. My wife and I talk about it all the time. Bandera would suit us fine. Right now is not a good time because people are flooding the area not because they love it as we do, but because they see dollar signs.
Bandera isn’t 100% better than it was 10 years ago, or 200% better than it was 20 years ago. It was still the same great place, but in 1989 no one was buying even though it was inexpensive. I think that will happen again, and that is when I will move.
After a bunch of research and a visit, made the move from NorCal in Aug 2006 to Kyle (45miles up I35 towards Austin) Tx native going home for me, Ca wife and kids love the area.
Take a week, fly out and rent a car. Probably need an agent because things are spread out. (Zoning is generally only a concept out here.) Remember, you can overpay anywhere. I bought a place to live, not an investment and hardly ever get the “green envies”.
Ask around for places to eat and putter around. Gruene is pretty neat, outside New Braunfels and the Grist Mill has chicken fried steak….
Polite, friendly here. Hays CISD not as tough as Davis Ca (hi gwynster) but better environment for kids. New Braunfels ISD is supposed to be good, also.
TxDOT gets a lots of grief ( deservedly so?) for traffic around Austin but my experience with San Antonio has generally been positive (take CE classes there), at least around NE410 Loop. Had forgotten about the on/off ramps and this can be scary to a Ca transplant, ask the wife.
SA has a nice zoo if you like birds, too. Cavern thingy for crawling around in the mud, snake farm for son, New Braunfels, San Marcos area BIG summer destination for rivers etc and the countryside is beautiful, green and bunches of flowers now that the most recent drought is past.
Asked the wife if she’d like to move back ( the option is there with work) and got a great big NO! Kids agree with Mom. She is not thrilled about the dragon’s breath (her term for the humid air, but I didn’t move back to Houston on purpose).
Opinion piece: Plenty of good liberal causes in CA should stay in CA
Already brought a sister, and pestering the brother. May get Mom to come back home but maybe not.
2nd try,
Moved to Kyle (45 mi up I35 from SA) in Aug 06. Suggest you take a week, fly out and rent a car. Likely want a realtor because lots to look at and zoning is only a concept in TX. Bought a place to live (fixed) and not an investment, so not house poor. (Even though BB and his Fed buddies jacked me up on interest rates)
TX native myself (which is why Houston wasn’t on the list) and wife and kids CA. Got a sister here now and brother likely by the end of the year.
Hays CISD is pretty good, but not as tough as Davis Ca (hi gwynster) and New Braunfels ISD is said to be similar (Not Canyon or San Marcos ISD according to locals)
My traffic experience in SA (CE classes) is pretty good. NE410 flows ok and Schertz on I35 going south is were I find it backing up some. But, hardly ever do the freeway parking lot like in SF Bay area. On/off ramps, Ca wife hates them and I had forgotten the scary layout.
Lots of good food, folks are generally polite and friendly. Green and beautiful, lots of flowers now that the most recent drought is past.
SA has a nice zoo if you like birds, the caverns and snake farm are nearby. New Braunfels and San Marcos are summer destinations for the river and such. Busy but aren’t all tourist places?
Austin is a blue patch in a red state, but likely more pale blue with pink highlights when compared to CA politix. Lots of music and other fun stuff to do too.
The wife’s biggest complaint is the “dragon’s breath”. Open the door, step out and its got you! So asked if she wanted to move back (work is there) and she said NO! Kids agree.
Best of hunting!
A Florida Update, Sorry
Canyon Lakes -
Bonyton Beach, Florida
730,000 purchased - 550,000 appraised
all of south florida is upside down.
p.s. dont have to cut taxes when house values are dropping every day.
So, a colleague specifically moved to Dallas from Northern Virginia to be able to buy a house about 10 months ago. She was convinced that Dallas was the next place for real estate to start appreciating because she knew people in the area that said their houses weren’t worth much more in 2006 than they had been worth in 1996. So, what gives? Obviously she hadn’t even considered the systemic credit bubble, but does it make sense for people to have said their houses didn’t appreciate much in 10 years in the Dallas area? This thread (and TXchick’s on the ground intel) make it sound like the Dallas area was plenty bubbly. Perhaps there was such an extremely strong local preference for new construction that the upside of the bubble hit mostly new homes and new land put under development? That sounds like a formula for older homes to not have gone up that much but to take a hit on the downside along with the new stuff. Unless the preference for new homes reverses itself because of total neighborhood collapse in the new developments? This sounds like it might be a more complicated and therefore more interesting market dynamic than other places.
Or she could just be wrong about the house appreciation in Dallas completely?
Oh, this woman is a tax lawyer and CPA. I don’t have any idea how she didn’t figure this stuff out unless it was complete lack of research. I didn’t understand the bubble when she moved and bought, but then I wasn’t going to start looking until after I finished up my LLM. Then I started to let my fingers do the walking on the net and decided to wait. Thanks, Ben.
Here’s one data point. The house we sold in 1985 near Campbell/Hillcrest showed up on realtor.com in 2002 for LESS than our selling price 17 years earlier.
and Campbell/Hillcrest is a nice area too. Ground zero for the white flight crowd. If that won’t appreciate, what will?
Story of a sub-prime broker update. Several times over the past year or so, I have posted the saga of a sub-prime broker which my wife hears via his wife. In the “golden days” he was making (literally) bundles of cash, buying BMW’s, RV’s, a boat, etc. How, with the help of a “tame” appraiser and a crooked realtor, he was able to increase the value of his own real estate holdings from a $150,000 condo to a $1.2 million ranch by simply selling one property, buying another, upping the value via the appraiser, selling that, buying another, upping the value of that and so on. All the time, of course, sucking money out of the properties. When the market started to turn, he didn’t think the party was going to stop. It was just a slow down before the next leg up. However, the next “leg up” didn’t happen so his next move, as his income dropped, was to move his family out of the $1.2 million ranch into a 3 bedroom condo, rent the ranch out to a fellow sub-prime broker for less than the mortgage payments and use that rental money to pay for the condo but also stop paying the mortgage on the ranch. Both he and his fellow mortgage broker knew the day of reckoning would arrive (foreclosure) but as is the case with all these gert rich quick artists, it’s a case of live for today.
His next move on the “leg down” was to abandon the sub-prime mortgage business a few months ago and get a job in construction where he worked prior to becoming a broker. However, that didn’t pan out. As the bust has gathered gathered momentum, his new employer told him a few weeks ago that he might have to let him go (last in - first out situation) because the construction business was slowing and he was going to have to start laying people off.
This is the update. He has now declared bankruptcy. I don’t think this guy’s story was that much different from a lot of these carpet bagger brokers and realtors who swarmed into the real estate industry and I have a feeling we are just seeing the start of a flood of bankruptcies as these carpet baggers discover the boom has busted and this isn’t just a pause before another leg up. However (Gee, I wonder if they knew something!) the bankruptcy laws have changed and I think bankruptcy now has a lot of pain built in which wasn’t there before.
Jesus. That guy’s life sounds like a mess. Thanks for the update.
“Another home around the corner on Golden Pond also sustained fire damage several months ago”
Expect a lot more “fire damage” when “fire sales” don’t pan out….
Yeah, can you say “insurance fraud”???
“‘I don’t think this is a trend,’ said George Roddy, president of the real estate statistics firm. ‘I think it’s (the foreclosure spike) an anomaly.’”
Sure. An anomaly that will last the next 18 to 24 months, until all the toxic resets have taken place.
Good one Bill
“Anybody got boots on the ground who can provide intel on the north 1604 loop area of San Antonio? Boerne? New Braunfels? Fair Oaks Ranch? Houses, especially those over $400K seem to still have very unrealistic prices.”
I live about 10 miles NW of 1604 toward Bandera. They’re still “shaving and ruining” (thanks, TxChick), building specs, pricing with no thought about people’s incomes around here - and things are NOT selling. A lot of construction is placed on eyesore pause.
The areas you were referring to……I refuse to drive up 281 from 1604 because I’ll just scream my fool head off at the sight of what they have done there (as opposed to laughing my fool head off when I travel west on IH 10 through Boerne). I used to travel the 281 route between here and Austin a lot and it was dang near pristine not so very long ago. It seems to be the most popular destination for the wealthier newbies to SA. Sad, sad.
New Braunfels is now simply a burb of SA - also hot with the newbies. It’s “small town” charm is now non-existent. Jeez, bummer post…..inasmuch as I love my native city.
hey saywhat?
My reply to outofSanDiegoQT (before reading down) sure missed your perspective. I’d rather have moved back to East Texas but feeding a small flock of kids was more important. Besides, strip mining isn’t on my list of pretty.
Traffic is relative, I still work in the SF Bay area and San Antoino and Austin are just wannabes in that competition.
Agree with all the posts per Txchick (see strip mining) and see loss of habitat and pi$$poor politicians and developers in NorCal and Reno, too. Darn, I’m a contributor by buying new construction.
But, quoting this “We, the people,” can change it if we want. Rant on! Bought and paid for politicians!! Rant off!
“‘I don’t think this is a trend,’ said George Roddy, president of the real estate statistics firm. ‘I think it’s an anomaly.’
“Since next month’s foreclosure auction is the day before the Fourth of July, some trustees and lenders who coordinate the postings may be taking off, he said. ‘It always drops in July,’ Mr. Roddy said.”
As a cynical optimist myself, I always try to find a silver lining in matters but dagummit (ode to Texas) if people don’t always say bad news is just temporary while good news is permanent.
I’ve been waiting for a Texas thread. Anybody got boots on the ground who can provide intel on the north 1604 loop area of San Antonio? Boerne? New Braunfels? Fair Oaks Ranch? Houses, especially those over $400K seem to still have very unrealistic prices. Internet shows some price drops and it is trending downward but still very sticky. Any views on the area and opinions would be most welcome.
I drive through that area frequently. There has been an ENORMOUS amount of growth along loop 1604 in north San Antonio. Traffic up there is getting almost as bad as the north Dallas area.
Personally I don’t think its sustainable. San Antonio just doesn’t have the economic engines to fuel that sort of endless sprawl. The San Antonio economy is basically just three things: Military, medical, and tourism. Military and medical are not going to expand at that rate, if at all. And the tourism industry doesn’t sustain housing because the wages are so poor.
Dallas and Houston have much more diversified economies and even they are faltering. I honestly can’t imagine that San Antonio will be able to sustain the type of high-end real estate that is going up around loop 1604 and points north.
As for New Braunfels? It’s a moderately seedy town where the main entertainment is to go tubing down the Guadalupe River towing coolers of beer with hundreds of other drunk college students. If that’s what you’re looking for then New Braunfels is your place.
The thing about Texas is that there is just so much of it which means that exclusivity is almost impossible to achieve. Someone is always going to build something bigger, better, nicer, etc. in the next boom. I grew up in Oregon and moved to Texas from Alaska. The difference between Texas and other western states is that in Texas something like 95% or more of the land is in private hands and basicall open to development. In other western states like Oregon, Washington, California, Alaska, Nevada, etc., the bulk of the land is either locked up in federal holdings (forest service, BLM, parks service) or is impossible to develop due to remoteness or lack of water. In Texas there is just land everywhere. Even around the major cities like Houston and DFW there is just endless acres of prairie and farmland just waiting for the bulldozers. You could draw a line around the populated zone of the DFW metro area and within that line there is enough vacant land to build another city of 5 million.
you know, prices do collapse in down markets, even when they are “flat”.
this lady has been carrying a house she doesn’t want for 6 months, she’s put $5,000 and she’ll probably have to reduce the price a time or two more before it sells. not to mention all the emotional dollars she’ll spend waiting for her home to sell. can you imagine the people who have 4 condos under the same scenario?
at least in stocks most people buy putting 100% down, I’d rather lose a lot in the market than lose money I didn’t have in the first place. I can’t imagine how many people will have to bring tens of thousands of dollars to close.
John - expansion of a soon to boom new industry - ‘new identities’. Possible ad - Buried under debts you can’t pay? Hounded by banks, individuals, realwhores, other FBs? Make your old identity disappear and come out with a new identity, new start. Don’t suffer anymore. Call me at 800-U R F****D
Sorry, I don’t have imploder’s wit, but try to be just as sarcastic.
Thanks to all who responded to my request for info RE: San Antonio. Sincerely appreciate your time and effort.