the DUmp waxes on about....the housing market. Sort of.

[dutch508]

Liberal_in_LA (977 posts)      Sun Apr-20-08 07:39 PM
Original message
Minnesota's new ghost towns http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3185039
 http://www.startribune.com/local/west/17932454.html

Minnesota's new ghost towns

There are few trees or hills in this flat, predominantly rural county to obscure the evidence: Rows of vacant and unfinished homes, often with lockboxes on the front doors and foreclosure notices taped to the windows. Realtors call them "see-through houses," so empty of furniture and curtains that it's possible to see right through them.

"Based on what I see out here, we're headed for the Great Depression," said Dan Frie, a sales agent with Wright Sherburne Realty in Monticello, who has been in the business nearly 30 years.

 
MINN being a HUGH liberal welfare state.

mike_c  (1000+ posts)       Sun Apr-20-08 08:18 PM
Response to Original message
9. real estate values HAVE to come down-- this is the only way to do it, I'm afraid....
 This is the result of a cycle of greed that WAY too many people bought into, and not all of them were unscrupulous real estate speculators or big money developers. I have friends and neighbors who have either lost value on their homes, and in one case lost her home altogether-- but as painful as that is, those folks helped fuel the greed back in the early days of the housing bubble. I am SO glad I didn't succumb to the temptation. If real estate prices ever return to some semblance of sanity, maybe, but I'm hoping to see home prices lose half their value or more. There is simply no other way for normal working people to afford their own home without becoming house destitute or worse.

Say, mike? Arn't you a liberal college professor? Yeah, you'd hate to make money off the system, eh?

[franksolich]

What bothers me about the mike_c primitive is his limited perception of "greed."

Being a college professor, I have no doubt the mike_c primitive has some sort of really big retirement and pension plan, and I have no doubt that the older the mike_c primitive gets--he's already no spring or summer chicken--the more of an interest the mike_c primitive takes in the size of those retirement funds.

And to top it off, the bulk of those retirement funds owned by the mike_c primitive are probably invested in "war-mongering" "capitalistic" enterprises.

What a way to have one's cake, and eat it too.

[delilahmused]

He's a college professor? Is this the same guy that bashes the military every chance he gets? Oh tell me he doesn't teach history.

Cindie

[Crazy Horse]

He's a college professor? Is this the same guy that bashes the military every chance he gets? Oh tell me he doesn't teach history.

Cindie

Yes and he's a bug teacher

[Chris_]

He's a college professor? Is this the same guy that bashes the military every chance he gets? Oh tell me he doesn't teach history.

Cindie

Yes and he's a bug teacher

And he's pro-NAMBLA.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Rural Minnesota, now there's a real growth center.  Maybe it's just me, but perhaps those real estate geniuses the writer consulted might have considered building where there is actually some significant net demographic expansion.

[JohnnyReb]

Oh how many times in 40 years have I seen the real estate market go up and down like a yo-yo. ....and it's a good thing. It weeds out the greedy and the weak making it better for those that plan ahead and weather thru a down turn.

DUmmies: If you can't stand the roller-coaster ride, get off.

[DixieBelle]

The market needed cleansing. It will bounce back. Those developments will either propser or die. It's the way things have been for ages. Why is every day like Groundhog Day for DUmmies???

[Texacon]

Where the DUmmies see woe and despair a lot of folks will see opportunity.  They will buy those homes, renovate them then either rent or resell them.

It isn't as bad as they try to make it out.  I have about 10 homes and none of them are even close to being in foreclosure.

KC

[Chris_]

Rural Minnesota, now there's a real growth center.  Maybe it's just me, but perhaps those real estate geniuses the writer consulted might have considered building where there is actually some significant net demographic expansion.

Granted, I have not lived in the area since 1975, but Montecello was only 20 miles NW from the Minneapolis suburbs, and there is (or was) a large nuclear power plant there.....it is entirely possible that Monticello is a "bedroom community" now, and part of the Minneapolis suburbs....

doc

[DixieBelle]

Uh, I just noticed this story at the same site referenced in the DUmmie's OP.
http://www.startribune.com/local/west/17958114.html?page=1&c=y

http://consumerist.com/382098/real-estate-speculation-from-a-trailer-park-to-foreclosure-on-4-homes

So everyday Joe's struggling to get by fueled by greed and a willingness to cut corners ignored basic math and are now upset at their misfortune??? It boggles the mind!

[Texacon]

Uh, I just noticed this story at the same site referenced in the DUmmie's OP.
http://www.startribune.com/local/west/17958114.html?page=1&c=y

http://consumerist.com/382098/real-estate-speculation-from-a-trailer-park-to-foreclosure-on-4-homes

So everyday Joe's struggling to get by fueled by greed and a willingness to cut corners ignored basic math and are now upset at their misfortune??? It boggles the mind!

Now that was a good find!  Very interesting article ... the DUmmies should take note.

KC

[Flame]

Uh, I just noticed this story at the same site referenced in the DUmmie's OP.
http://www.startribune.com/local/west/17958114.html?page=1&c=y

http://consumerist.com/382098/real-estate-speculation-from-a-trailer-park-to-foreclosure-on-4-homes

So everyday Joe's struggling to get by fueled by greed and a willingness to cut corners ignored basic math and are now upset at their misfortune??? It boggles the mind!

The sad part is, those of us who played by the rules all along are the ones who are gonna get screwed.

[DixieBelle]

Or you could go on TV and pretend to be "duped"

major eyeroll alert!!

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2008/04/21/variable-rate-too-much-abc-borrower-understand

[DumbAss Tanker]

Rural Minnesota, now there's a real growth center.  Maybe it's just me, but perhaps those real estate geniuses the writer consulted might have considered building where there is actually some significant net demographic expansion.

Granted, I have not lived in the area since 1975, but Montecello was only 20 miles NW from the Minneapolis suburbs, and there is (or was) a large nuclear power plant there.....it is entirely possible that Monticello is a "bedroom community" now, and part of the Minneapolis suburbs....

doc

I'm no expert on Minneapolis, but whether it's economically viable as it stands is not really the same thing as whether there is enough economic expansion occurring to justify a large investment in significant development of new housing tracts.  The upper midwest has been something less than a magnet for new industries since the major farm machinery makers collapsed and consolidated 30 years ago.  Even for the upgrade market, you are not going to be selling newer, better, more expensive homes to people unless there are plenty of willing buyers in a lower-end market to whom they can sell off the equity in their existing homes.

[Chris_]

^As I mentioned, I haven't lived in the Twin Cities for over thirty years, however it was a real growth area economically when I was there....it was home base to General Mills and Pillsbury, as well as Honeywell, IDS, and several large insurance companies.  Wierd state politically though.....liberal tax policy may have run a lot of the growth off, like Michigan on a smaller scale.....don't know how it is now....

doc