No I'm not talking about Detroit. Right here in Southern California a bank took possession of a new housing development when the builder defaulted. There were 16 homes built or partially built, including the models. Then bank BULLDOZED them! These were off Bear Valley rd in Victorville.
11 comments:
Hmmm ... while it's understandable that there's a liability on the partially built ones, one would think that at least the models could have sold for something. My only thought is the "don't leave orphans" aspect ... it's gotta be depressing when you're the only house in an entire neighborhood.
Yikes, how depressing. Could have given them away to someone who was willing to finish them up, couldn't they?
It's the end of the world as we know it! I feel fine!
The streets did not have the final cap of paving (1 and 1/2 inch).
This means that the city didn't buy off on the public right of way.
16 out of what maybe 200 pads. When it comes time to sell, they will get a better price for all 200 lots being empty.
The next builder is definitely going to downgrade the size, quality and style of homes. In the long run these 16 homes would be undervalued relative to the lower quality homes in the neighborhood.
This is where I hate the Code Enforcement and City Planner mentality. Any sane person would look at a completed or even partially built home as an asset which might eventually be a productive part of the overall City, with a little creative thinking and a "let's work together mentality".
But nooooo! They prefer to issue citations, fines, etc. until the burden becomes such a pain in the butt, that the new owner, a bank in this case, says f'it, just turn those homes back into sand and tumble weeds to get those City tyrants off our backs.
What a bunch of intolerant, uncompromising, pig-headed, full of their own regulations and importance, passel of rectal-cranial impacted bureaucrats jerk-offs.
I was thinking of buying in Rancho in Dec 2007 and had an insightful friend ask "Are you friggin crazy?" He painted a vision of what he saw coming at that time, complete with houses being torn down because no one wants to live in them. It sounded crazy at the time, but now not so much.
It's good to have a friend who can give you a wake up that saves you a couple hundred G's! I guess I owe him a beer.
The guy that made the video says there are another 20 in Temecula that are going to be bulldozed once these are flattened. I actually would not be surprised to see that happen to the Riverwalk Vista tract in Riverside. There's about 20 or 30 homes in that development that are finished or very nearly finished. There's like 12 models and they built another 20 or so homes. The entire development is locked up and the windows on the homes are all boarded up.
Bulldozing is exactly what needs to happen in these bubble-induced sprawlburbs that never had any viable economic reason to be built.
Time to admit how overbuilt (not just houses but commercial space too) we truly are. No one will ever need these houses. Time to call a spade a spade. Returning these areas to nature is the best thing that could ever happen.
bulldozing is best! Cost of fuel - has come down in the last year - I am surprised - but cost of fuel is going up because the worlds oil fields are being depleted. sorry for those that think a 50 mile -one way commute is a way of life - it won't be. Distant suburbs are becoming undesirable - the more distant the less desirable.
I hope that they will recycle the materials, and use them to build some sustainable housing that actually would retain value, as opposes to most developer-created housing. How about this for an idea: hire an architect who knows sustainability, and pay them to design good building, instead of all this cookie cutter crap.
A new article about these homes is on the Daily Press web site today:
http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/new-12155-attention-victorville.html
Here are a couple more articles about them:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124148169574985359.html
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-demolish5-2009may05,0,4930126.story
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