tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667758136428430114.post8608461127425905721..comments2023-05-27T06:59:49.394-05:00Comments on Freedom Is the Solution: Housing Crisis Will Get Worse, Much WorseBrian Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01072759016620084338noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667758136428430114.post-53106742526623882732008-03-02T20:22:00.000-06:002008-03-02T20:22:00.000-06:00You may very well be correct. The S&P Schiller do...You may very well be correct. The S&P Schiller doesn't have data on every city. For some reason they don't collect data on Houston or Philadelphia even though both metros are around 6 million people.<BR/><BR/>I think it will be sad for many communities that are affected by this even though they weren't causing the problems.Brian Shelleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01072759016620084338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667758136428430114.post-55797715439403222008-03-02T19:41:00.000-06:002008-03-02T19:41:00.000-06:00We did a vacation tour of the west last summer for...We did a vacation tour of the west last summer for the purpose of looking at housing and came to the exact opposite conclusion - the bubble exists EVERYWHERE. Sure, it isn't as extensive in some places as it was in, say, Los Angeles. But there is no way I'd pay the asking prices these other places want - it still looked and smelled like a bubble.<BR/><BR/>Reno was still in a heavy construction boom as we drove by - I don't know if that's changed. The Las Vegas strip must have had at least a dozen hotel construction projects going while we were there.<BR/><BR/>I looked at some houses in Ely NV in a pretty dumpy neighborhood. My guess at asking price - $130,000. Actual asking price - $260,000. The outskirts were not as bad though. There was even a development of tiny houses. I don't recall what they wanted for them.<BR/><BR/>St. George, UT as far as I'm concerned is steadily being ruined. Big builder housing developments set up in the pretty red rocks. People think St. George is cheap but I got the impression from talking to a few locals (who happened to be California escapees - imagine that!) that people are leaving one bubble and creating new bubbles in other areas.<BR/><BR/>The one difference could be if people plunk down cash entirely on these new areas so they don't pay a mortgage - that might help stabilize those areas containing California escapees. But if the escapees make the mistake of otherwise squandering their California windfalls...<BR/><BR/>I have a stack of real estate literature on the floor of my den from the trip. I hope to repeat the trip in a few years to see if anything's changed.<BR/><BR/>The cheapest housing we found was in the Las Vegas area - a mobile home - for about $35,000. And if we wanted to go ultra-cheap rent to ride out the storm there's always Battle Mountain - but that's for if we get desperate.bearmasterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05290246991286430222noreply@blogger.com