San Diego is a ‘boom or bust’ town. We tend to get over-dependent on a single industry (aerospace, tech, real estate) and then bust when the money leaves.
I’ve personally noticed, over the last few years especially, that most of the people I meet in SD are in one of the three R’s:
Retail
Restaurants
Real Estate
I see the first two as being largely dependent on the last one. I.e. real estate and related business tank, down goes the consumer base and HELOCs that financed the first two. I see lots of BK’s across all three sectors, especially ones that are tied directly to the former housing boom.
Anyways, kudos to esmith for bringing some fine data to the table. Indeed, the real problem are the people that are 100% dependent on the bubble in order to keep their properties. Paying mortgages on investment properties with home equity extractions, for example.
It’s this population that are doing the equivalent of going ‘all in’ on every poker hand. Which is a winning strategy until you bust, that is.
And when they do bust (and they will), there is no option other than foreclosure.
