One of these permanent marks left by the previous recession is what's happened to neighborhoods hit by a wave of home foreclosures. Peck points to areas in Florida, Arizona and Nevada that are starting to disintegrate — just like what happened to some inner cities back during the 1970s.
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More signs that Privatopia and its privatized local government by HOA that grew dramatically over the past four decades and built to a climax over the past 15 years is on the decline. Peck predicts HOA land will become blighted. Note however another author predicted the suburbs would become the new slums long before Peck: Jack Lessinger in his 1991 work Penturbia: Where Real Estate Will Boom AFTER the Crash of Suburbia.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Home | What Went Wrong: The Betrayal of The American Dream
Home | What Went Wrong: The Betrayal of The American Dream
Donald Barlett and James Steele wrote a Pulitzer Prize winning series for the Philadelphia Inquirer back in 1991 about how the Reagan era policies undermined the middle class. Now they are back--and the situation is far worse now.
Donald Barlett and James Steele wrote a Pulitzer Prize winning series for the Philadelphia Inquirer back in 1991 about how the Reagan era policies undermined the middle class. Now they are back--and the situation is far worse now.
Woman’s yard sale to pay medical bills gets shut down | News | Salem News
Woman’s yard sale to pay medical bills gets shut down | News | Salem News
A woman fighting a terminal form of bone cancer is trying to raise money to help pay bills with a few weekend garage sales, but the city of Salem says she’s breaking the law and is shutting her down.
Jan Cline had no idea, but the city of Salem has a clear law that states a person can only have three yard sales a year.
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Thanks to Mystery Reader for this depressing story of mindless rule enforcement.
A woman fighting a terminal form of bone cancer is trying to raise money to help pay bills with a few weekend garage sales, but the city of Salem says she’s breaking the law and is shutting her down.
Jan Cline had no idea, but the city of Salem has a clear law that states a person can only have three yard sales a year.
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Thanks to Mystery Reader for this depressing story of mindless rule enforcement.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Case against MERS reaches Supreme Court « HousingWire
Case against MERS reaches Supreme Court « HousingWire
A controversial case challenging the ability of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems to foreclose on a California man was filed with the Supreme Court Monday, making it the first major MERS case to reach the nation's highest court.
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But the USSC hasn't agreed to hear the case. This is just a petition for a writ of certiorari. The court gets thousands of these every year and ends up deciding fewer than 100.
A controversial case challenging the ability of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems to foreclose on a California man was filed with the Supreme Court Monday, making it the first major MERS case to reach the nation's highest court.
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But the USSC hasn't agreed to hear the case. This is just a petition for a writ of certiorari. The court gets thousands of these every year and ends up deciding fewer than 100.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Libertarian Billionaire Wants Island Nation for Libertarian Billionaires
Libertarian Billionaire Wants Island Nation for Libertarian Billionaires
Awesome. Too bad they won't be taking the rest of the libertarians with them. Most of them no doubt will continue to preach the gospel of Ayn Rand and Ron Paul from Mom's basement..
Awesome. Too bad they won't be taking the rest of the libertarians with them. Most of them no doubt will continue to preach the gospel of Ayn Rand and Ron Paul from Mom's basement..
Hercules Municipal Utility Has Drained City Coffers
Hercules Municipal Utility Has Drained City Coffers
HMU rates are higher because the utility's growth has been balanced essentially on the backs of residential ratepayers and taxpayers. Over the past decade, Hercules has spent more than $16 million building a utility that today consists of little more than nine miles of underground cable, switching boxes and a vacant piece of land that was supposed to house a substation.
It is an enterprise awash in IOUs. In the process of serving 840 customers, the utility has saddled Hercules with more than $13 million in bond debt. And since 2003, Hercules' redevelopment agency has loaned the utility almost an equal amount of money -- this in a town of only 24,000 residents that has a general fund budget of just $14 million.
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Wow. It appears that a city can be run as badly as an HOA.
HMU rates are higher because the utility's growth has been balanced essentially on the backs of residential ratepayers and taxpayers. Over the past decade, Hercules has spent more than $16 million building a utility that today consists of little more than nine miles of underground cable, switching boxes and a vacant piece of land that was supposed to house a substation.
It is an enterprise awash in IOUs. In the process of serving 840 customers, the utility has saddled Hercules with more than $13 million in bond debt. And since 2003, Hercules' redevelopment agency has loaned the utility almost an equal amount of money -- this in a town of only 24,000 residents that has a general fund budget of just $14 million.
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Wow. It appears that a city can be run as badly as an HOA.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Hybrid housing holds appeal | StarTribune.com
Hybrid housing holds appeal | StarTribune.com
This type of housing -- called manor homes, villas, cottage homes or detached townhouses -- is tailored to people who want the privacy of a traditional single-family home with the convenience of a condo. And although it accounts for only a tiny slice of the real estate pie, builders and developers are cautiously optimistic that this hybrid style of house will grow in popularity, partly because it's designed for a growing population: retiring baby boomers.
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This is a puff piece touting a super-paternalistic type of HOA where the association hires all the contractors that service the individual lots. Next step is what? The HOA sends inspectors into your home and makes you pay for repainting your bathroom a different shade of beige?
Anybody who buys into a place like this isn't really a homeowner anyway. They are just tenants with an investment interest.
Thanks to Mike Ramsey for the link.
This type of housing -- called manor homes, villas, cottage homes or detached townhouses -- is tailored to people who want the privacy of a traditional single-family home with the convenience of a condo. And although it accounts for only a tiny slice of the real estate pie, builders and developers are cautiously optimistic that this hybrid style of house will grow in popularity, partly because it's designed for a growing population: retiring baby boomers.
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This is a puff piece touting a super-paternalistic type of HOA where the association hires all the contractors that service the individual lots. Next step is what? The HOA sends inspectors into your home and makes you pay for repainting your bathroom a different shade of beige?
Anybody who buys into a place like this isn't really a homeowner anyway. They are just tenants with an investment interest.
Thanks to Mike Ramsey for the link.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
10 housing markets that will collapse this year - Business - Real estate - msnbc.com
10 housing markets that will collapse this year - Business - Real estate - msnbc.com
As if they hadn't already collapsed? What do you call it when something that has already collapsed once decides to go ahead and collapse again?
As if they hadn't already collapsed? What do you call it when something that has already collapsed once decides to go ahead and collapse again?
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