The community my wife brought out of the ground was about half built out when the world crashed
https://images.finehomebuilding.com/app/uploads/2019/01/28004321/Emerson.jpg
Well she was talking to someone yesterday and the rest of the place is sold out. (sold and unbuilt) They cut the prices enough so people would buy. This ends up being about 60% of what things sold for when you couldn’t build them fast enough and there was a lottery for the right to bid but at least the trades are working. The people who got screwed are the ones sitting on $400,000 mortgages on a house virtually the same as a brand new one across the lake that went for $250,000.
I do think the $450,000 house will have more granite and high end fixtures than the price reduced one tho. They just look the same on the outside. Even with all the same stuff, added as options, they are still significantly cheaper now.
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About time!
The trades didn't take the chance with shakey loans.
The trades didn't speculate on property values.
The trades didn't jump on the 'dot com' bandwagon.
I'm tired of the trades suffering unemployment when these paper-pushers take foolish chances. The loss belong to the speculator; he gambled and lost. It's about time the speculators recognized that nirvana isn't going to return, and stopped sitting on their bad investments.
They must love it that they've brought everyone else down with them; doesn't misery love company? They weren't nearly so eager to share the joy when money was good, though!
Here, here! Appreciate the rant.
I disagree with the rant.Speculators and risk takers and developers have provided employment for many, many, many tradesmen who in turn have provided a nice living for their families. Eliminate the speculators and "capitalists" and you have USSR.
Much appreciated. I do not have any problem with taking risks. I do have a problem with the position that the risk-taker gets to reap the rewards, but the losses are to be borne by someone else. It is that attitude to which I object.
In more conventional settings, you see this where a successful quarter results in a firm giving the boss a bonus, and a bad quarter resulting in the boss firing the underlings. There's a situation where pne guy gets the reward and the credit - but the failure is passed off to someone else.
For too long, there has been little 'downside' to real estate. I'm sure you heard those assurances during the bubble, that you couldn't lose - only gain. The entire reason our towns have vacant lots and empty buildings is that it costs nothing to let a property sit idle; indeed, we seem to reward this by abating taxes on them. If the property has decreased in value, then the owner ought to willing to sell for that lower value; if he wants more, then obviously it's worth more, and should be taxed as such.
So ... forget the 'bailouts.' The banks that issued bad paper need to fold; the politicians that enabled them need to be retired in disgrace, and those who gambled and lost need to be in bankruptcy court. Let's get those bad investments back in play- all that idle property does is drive up the values of other properties, by restricting the supply.
Lets not talk about the bank bailout. That was just criminal....a bunch of elitists making sure their elitist campaign funders were taken care of.Get down to the little guy and it makes sense. Give the manager a bonus makes sense. Firing workers who don't perform makes sense.
To be clear, the "trades" benefitted handsomely during the go go period. Every mope that could buckle a tool belt and many that couldn't even do that became a builder around here. I see complaints on here constantly about all the hacks. Well the reason the hacks exist is because all the qualified people were so busy (and so high priced) that they could exist. Now the hacks are bidding against the qualified people who are taking less for their better quality and hopefully many of the hacks are going out of business.
That's a very good way to look at it!
The only problem with that is what are the hacks going to do for a living now. There isn't a factory job waiting for them.
Don't know where they will end up. Some will change professions. Some will grow better I suppose. Some will survive as hacks just as surely as some qualified people will go under. Everybody is going to learn a lesson that nothing lasts forever and they will temporarily adjust their habits to spend less and save more until the next boom time comes along that will never end.
I have been talking to people still working for production builders and they are carrying 30-35 houses each. Nobody can build 30 houses and actually see every house every day.
Maybe there is a market for someone to be an agent for the new owner, walking their house? I understand that will be a delicate balance between ragging on the builder and actually helping them. Mistakes missed by the builder cost more to fix down the road.