Most of us would blame the real estate bubble for squeezing the middle class and making it hard for families to live in San Diego.
However I think that run up in real estate prices has brought some benefits:
1) Acceleration of the redevelopment of Downtown. Downtown is now a viable place to live.
2) Gentrification of neighborhoods such as Hillcrest and Normal Heights, and revitalization of low income neighborhoods such as City Heights.
3) Increased tax revenues made highway projects such as the 5/805 merge possible. Homeowners tend to support highway projects as long as home appreciation goes on strong.
4) Building of new schools.
Can you guys think of any other benefits of the bubble?
Heres a benefit to correction…(its not a crisis, its a correction)
5) Hopefully it will teach us a lesson on lending standards and why abandoning them is a huge mistake. And why re-instating them is even more important.(probably should be even tighter standards)
6) Speculators will think twice in the future before ruining the markets again.
You know the speculators won’t sell you thier cars cheap. They are going to expect at least 20% appreciation annually. You’re going to have to buy them from the bank if you want a good deal.
Sorry PC,
I’m far too pragmatic for that. In my eyes one of the greatest joys in life is driving a car you own free and clear. For me to actually drive one, it would have to be really a good deal or I would have to have run out of things that I value considerably more to spend my money on.
SDR
This bubble brought us the failed Fashion Walk in Mission Valley. What a great concept right? er… right?
This is a topic I tried to start maybe six months ago but it didn’t really take off at that time. As damaging as I think this run-up has been I can also see where it has been really healthy for certain neighborhoods as far as fixing up crapy areas but then again they may go to crap again when its all over. We’ll just have to see.
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