[quote=Jim the Realtor]But the demand is here – people keep coming. Sellers can get what the last guy got.

The overwhelming #1 fact: People who have lived here a while don’t want to leave. At any price.[/quote]

JTR is correct, except I don’t believe the present and future defaulters (doesn’t matter the reason) will be given a “free pass” to squat for 30 months or more (like what happened between 2007 and 2012). I’m currently seeing some 40-year mod deals made in 2010/11 which aren’t going to end well for the trustor-homedebtors in question. Borrowers who got roped into these deals due to “squatting too long” and wanting to keep the status quo (mostly for their kids) are now slowly coming to the realization that their 1st TD lender is the one who is going to win at this game …. certainly NOT THEM!

The SD residents that will be okay without a well-paying job will be those who have paid off the mortgage on their principal residence or have the ability to do so anytime they so desire.

However you slice it, SD was never meant to be a town where one “strikes it rich” on a W-2 job. I DO BELIEVE it will eventually become the land of retirees, real estate “heirs” paying a pittance in property taxes as well as otherwise self-sufficient residents who are business owners or 100% of their income is passive (they don’t hold a local W-2 job).

SD’s service workers are/will reside with established relatives or in Section 8 units (or MX and commute every workday).

In some zip codes, the above is has been the main demographic for at least the last 20 years.