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Randy H Says:
June 18th, 2006 at 10:46 pm e

Hi DS & LiLLL

Good to be back. I will say that I am a bit more disillusioned about the housing bubble after touring the deep rural Midwest. I saw people putting 3BR McMansions in rural Indiana on the market for $800K, and not with 50 acres either, just tiny little yards. I talked to old high school friends who think they’ve discovered the golden goose because they’re flipping homes in little towns of 5,000 people making $10K per pop. People are using the same toxic loans as we are in the BA, second mortgages, negative amortization, interest only and all. There are still nice old homes for $150K, but they haven’t been updated since 1940, have 1 bathroom for every 5 bedrooms, and about 20 cubic feet of total closet space. The biggest boom business is flippers moving into these old homes and turning them into faux McMansions with some cheap, creative drywalling and pergo, then trying to sell them for 150% return.

Similar posts from Ben Jones' blog:

Comment by Brandon
2006-06-16 15:07:53

The condo boom has arrived in downtown Boise:

“The development will consist of 19 three-story buildings. Each unit in a building will be allocated two spaces in an underground parking area. The units will range in size from 1,800 to to 2,600 square feet, and will be priced between $700,000 and $1.2 million.”

Yes folks- San Diego condo prices right here in Boise!
We need more housing in downtown Boise, but 700k plus?

Comment by groundhogday
2006-06-16 15:46:47

In Bozeman, MT we have a flush of new downtown condos coming onto the market - the “mill district” which used to be known as the bad part of town. Small 1-2 bedroom condos 800-1100 sq ft are listed for $350k +
All the way up to $660k for a 3/2 1650 sq ft luxury condo or $1 million for a penthouse loft.

Consider that Bozeman is a town of 30-35 k with a handful of restaurants and bars downtown. And the “mill district” is bounded by the railroad tracks, interstate 90, main street traffic and a poor neighborhood with a bunch of very junky bungalows.

In a word: unbelievable.

Have CA specuvestors fled their own (now depreciating) RE market to ply their evil trade in "fly-over country"? Will they do for the Midwest and South what they did for their own state (f@ck over working families and drive prices to absurd heights)? Is there still enough time to warn people in those regions, so they can organize lynch mobs and destroy the flippers before they wreak too much damage on their (still) affordable communities?

Discuss, enjoy...
HARM

#housing