[quote=briansd1]BG, that’s why it might be a good idea to buy in the hard-hit ares, if you can find some good deals. And if you believe those areas will come back.
In many areas, the housing collapse took on a life of its own and prices dropped below fundamentals, well below replacement cost. As an example, the replacement cost of my house in Vegas is more than double purchase price. USAA will insure the house only on condition of inspection because they don’t want a claim on a trashed house. Many insurance companies charge high premiums because of the claims in that market (because of foreclosures, short-sales, etc..) . . . [/quote]
I understand all this, brian. But WHO is going to rent YOURS or MY house in Lodi, for example, when there are now nearly twice as many living units as actually needed in that area?
And more importantly, how much can a long-term tenant there afford to pay (consistently) in rent?
I can see buying for clearance prices in a place like LV as even though it is overbuilt, it still has Nellis AFB and large government contractor-employers as well as it being the center of the gaming industry with a large tourism base. These sectors alone employ hundreds of thousands of people.
Los Banos and Brawley residents don’t have all these well-paying, benefitted jobs available to them. And when Norton AFB closed, it literally decimated the employment base of SB.
With contaminated groundwater, no residential building (thankfully) took place on Norton’s land (which was turned over to the City). Instead, distributor warehouses for retail and mfrs were built there after some mitigation work was undertaken by the City.
Those forklift drivers for Kohl’s can’t possibly be making as much (salary and benes) as those thousands of GS-4 thru 9, GM-11 thru 14 and WG-5 thru 9 DOD jobs they replaced.
