Housing and Construction in Your Area . . . .

[TexasTimbers]

FDH and myself has been solving the world's problems. We were kicking around the housing market and how it is one of the harbingers of the state of the economy. What's it doing where you live

[OneWithWood]

McMansions are popping up like mushrooms    I don't know who buys them or where they work.  This particular market has not slowed much yet but I am sure we will catch up to the rest of the country in time.

[jim king]

Honestly speaking here it is a little slow.

[DanG]

   Good one, Jim!  Ya know, sometimes I'd rather have something like that than one of the new "McMansions" that looks like the Credit Union.  I think a lot of those folks are gonna be in serious trouble if things don't go real well with them.  Many are only one lost job or illness away from losing everything they've worked for.

This little rural county I moved into 13 years ago is rapidly changing.  New houses are springing up everywhere, as farms and woodlands are being sub-divided.  The demographics are changing and so will the "flavor" of the area.  The townies will move out here for the open spaces and casual lifestyle, then change it into the same kind of high dollar ghetto they just left behind.

[jim king]

Dan:  What makes this unusual is that the floor is made of Black Palm and the posts are typicly Ebony and the people dont know the house has value.  Only in the last 3 or 4 years has there been a revolution in the mortage market here.  It is now up to five years.

We basicly live in a debt free society here.

[scgargoyle]

Our urban little county is almost entirely 'built out'. They are tossing retirees out of trailer parks to make way for condos which... aren't selling. I'm not sure about new construction, but existing housing has come to an absolute standstill. There are so many houses on the market right now that nobody knows what's going to happen. And there's a whole bunch of those ARM's coming due in the next few years- not good.

[tcsmpsi]

  The townies will move out here for the open spaces and casual lifestyle, then change it into the same kind of high dollar ghetto they just left behind.

It seems a simple concept, doesn't it?  The eggheads don't even realize it. 
They just can't seem to wait til they get it regulated to the point of flatulence permits.

They are building a new, large apartment complex just up the road.  Probably another of those 'project housing' extravaganzas that I'll get to pay rent for.

Other than that, I'm afraid not much else going up presently.

[Burlkraft]

Don't worry there will be more. You'll be buildin' new roads, a couple a schools and a fire department er two to "serve and protect" all them new apartment dwellers.         

Oh yeah and yer taxes will go up too.....Ain't it GREAT.....

[CLL]

Here in Missouri, people from the east and west coasts are buying a lot of land. High prices there
and they can buy and build here for 1/2 of what they had on the coasts. Before I left Ohio, I lived just north of Cincinnati, houses was being repo'd a lot. According to the cincinnati paper
at a 20% rate, and I believe them, especially in the county I lived in.

[treebucker]

The town I grew up in was dying when I was young. The road I lived on was gravel. It was such a suprise to see a car coming that everbody would scream "car is coming!" when they saw the dust rising in the distance. Three cars a day was considered exciting. It was common for cars to get hung up in the middle of the road when it rained. The county had abandoned it. If it weren't for the fact that a neighbor who live several miles back had a road grader it would have been closed long ago. Our nearest neighbor lived a mile away. Skinny dipping wouldn't get you arrested. The old buildings in the town looked like they belonged in some B western. But signs were times were changing.

From the time I was a young teenager, our area has been one of the fastest growing areas in the state. 100's of acres close to me have recently gone to subdivisions and 1000s more over the years.  I can now look out the front window and see fresh subdivisions going in. More are coming but the developers are skittish. They are waiting for an announced influx of new people to Fort Knox to become official.  We have sold one lot and have nine more ~1 acre lots for sale. They put a large house on the first.  I hate to sell them but my mother needs the money for her declining years. The old farm will end up in out-of-stater's yards.

[Ron Wenrich]

Developments that were started are continuing their building, but maybe not as many starts.  The new developments are being taken off line.  We have one where they have to put in the electric, drainage, roads, water and sewer.  They moved all the dirt and put in their runoff ponds.  Then winter set in and they haven't done anything since.  We'll see what happens when things warm up.

I know of one logger who was getting logs from Delaware.  Developers bought a golf course and were tearing out all the trees.  Then, they stopped everything last fall and haven't started. 

I saw on TV the other week, a development in South Carolina where they had a foreclosure rate at 20% with more coming on line.  Seems that people actually could buy a house with $1 down.  Adjustable rate mortgages and couldn't refinance due to declining real estate values.  Those that have lost their homes won't be coming into the marketplace any time soon.

I heard today that used housing should decline in value this year, and new houses should rise by about 1/2%. 

[JimBuis]

In Higashi Kurume-shi, Tokyo, Japan, the market is a bit tenuous. A 1,000 square foot house on a lot that is only about 10% larger than the house footprint the cost is running about $500,000 depending upon how close it is to the nearest train station. There is no yard. You can reach out of your window and easily shake hands with your neighbor.


These two houses are no more than one meter apart. The bushes in the foreground are the property line and separate the houses from a heavily trafficked walking/bike path.  Most of Tokyo is like this for the lucky ones, the rest live in apartments that are much smaller.

Jim

[thecfarm]

Things are still booming around here.Where I work they just put in another 10 homes.I pass another 4-5 and people are building homes here and there.Small town fire stations are a big thing now and I do mean BIG.I'm waiting for the town that I live in do try that.

[jrdwyer]

Construction is still pretty steady (slow growth) in SW IN. The 4,000+ people working at Toyota have really saved this region from stagnation or decline. Lots of smaller companies have closed down, but it is still a positive sum for employment and that means people are buying homes. I don't know if contractors are buying new Tundras though.

[junkyard]

I live about 25 miles from Fort Drum home of the 10th Mountain Division. Anything sells at a rediculiosly high price. Most of us locals have been priced out of the market.
      Junkyard

[sandmar]

No signs of slowing up here yet.Of course,we ae just 40 miles north of Atlanta and they are scrambling to get out of town and find peaceful living.Unfortunately they are bringing Atlanta with them  Our pig trail road is now a speedway to the nearest boat ramp on fishing tournament nights....Tuesday and Thursday.....through the summer months. Don't get me started on taxes and new schools 
Sandmar

[Furby]

We hit our peak several years ago and have been downhill ever since.
They are always building "some" houses, but nothing even close to the boom that was going on a few years back.

[SwampDonkey]

There has only been 1 house built here in 10 years in my community. It's farming country and non of the original farmers are left, all retired. In Woodstock there has been new housing, mostly for retirees and government employees including teachers and health practitioners. A new regional hospital is about to open, a new seniors home is about finished, a couple low income senior housing apartments and another senior home is being developed. Not a lot of homes being built by young families outside of those careers mentioned. Most our small towns are turning into retirement places, and places to shop and eat. The new four lane will soon be finished after 17 years of construction. They are twinning another highway into Houltan, Maine from Woodstock, NB - a 2 lane road would suffice. People here don't want new industry, some towns have drove industry away to other towns. There has been more stuff done in Woodstock over the last 20 years, then the previous 40 years combined. We never had the job boom after the war here that they enjoyed in the US and the west, that is why our population has declined. It actually been backward since 1867. 

There I said my piece.

[farmerdoug]

As Furby said, we had our peak a few years ago here.  Now the lawyers and courts are booming with all of the foreclosures.

The Gov here is now thinking of doing away with Townships that have less than 5000 people to save money.  I guess they figure that our property taxes will then go to the state coffers.

Farmerdoug

[Corley5]

The Gov here is now thinking of doing away with Townships that have less than 5000 people to save money. I guess they figure that our property taxes will then go to the state coffers.

Farmerdoug

I haven't heard that.  That's most every township up here