California

[MossRoad]

I remember the boarded up houses walking to school in the 70's that the city was selling for $1 if you moved in for 5 years and made $5k in improvements... paint and a roof would pretty much cover it...

I remember those $1 homes that are now selling for 350k and up.

I'm no fortune teller but experience has repeatedly shown California always comes back stronger...

They tried $1 houses here several times. Very, very little success. Most failed and ended up abandoned. Just about 4-5 years ago we had a 40% vacant housing rate.... 40%!!! In the last 2-3 years they started a program called something like "1000 houses in 1000 days." They tore down more than half of them and sold the rest for dirt cheap to folks that would fix them up. I've gotta say its improved things somewhat, in that bad people can't use the abandoned houses for illicit activity. However, there are now blocks with more vacant lots than actual houses. Now the city is trying to figure out what to do with the empty lots. You can only have so many community gardens. I think they ought to split the lots down the middle and give them to the neighboring homes, but not increase their taxes. At least that would make them cared for.

I have a child in Pittsburgh. There is lots of gentrification going on there and its not good for low-income people. Its great for folks that can afford $350K town houses and $2000 per month apartments, but there's few places left for low income people to live.

 

[MossRoad]

Yep. First house we bought over in the state capital was a small decent duplex in an older 'white flight' neighborhood. This means as the elderly population in the neighborhood died off the absentee heirs rented to whoever because near nobody would buy there. I think the Black Panthers shooting a cop in a siege of their site gave the whole neighborhood a bad name, but that had been the only scary incident in the neighborhood's history. Population was mostly elderly white owners, maybe 10% younger, qualified black owners, 10% poorer black and white renters.

Anyhow we were poor. We applied our life savings of $1,000 and a month's sweat equity to qualify for a FHA 3% down loan, and bought it for $15,000.

We made the right choice, rent from the other side of the duplex covered all our housing cost and that was the beginning of 40 years putting part of our paychecks into accumulating savings and investments.

And the neighborhood wasn't scary. Our black and white new neighbors who owned, stopped by to say our purchase was a good sign the decline of property values had turned around and now their property values would hopefully turn up.

Ok, we bought it for $15,000 during a time that was tense nationally, but not in our little neighborhood. I see that duplex is presently on the market, listed at $298,000. Zillow's rough estimate of value based on comparables is $387,000.

Yes, California seems to come back.

The first house we bought was $20K. That was in 1985. We sold it for $30K in 1995. I just checked 2 minutes ago and it is listed for $32K.... 21 years and it increased $2K in price. If the home value had kept up with inflation it should be $48K. Owning your own home in low-middle class neighborhoods in this town are a losing proposition as an investment. Renting them out, however, can be a good return on investment if you can get decent tenants.

 

[ultrarunner]

What we hear a lot about is Black Flight....

Not that long ago Oakland was majority African American... the percentage has fallen dramatically to about 25% and dropping.

It's not so much people being pushed out as cashing out.... lots of retired I know cash out and leave the State... many return home to the South... Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, etc... they built a life here and now have good pensions.

As a child, we had several families on my Grandmother's street that were from Indiana... they, like many others came to California during WWII

Each time an African American owned home sells it virtually never to a African American buyer... typically it is young professional couples mostly white, asian, mixed or LGBT...

Three homes recently sold in the neighborhood where I grew up and all were black owned for decades and all are now LGBT owned...

I'm old enough to have witnessed several transformations... from predominantly white to black in the late 60's-70's to Asian in the 80's-90's to Latino from about 1997-2007... then the mass foreclosures with at least one on every block and now it is young professionals of all races with maybe a third LGBT...

Lots of changes... from armed Panthers (Huey Newton/Angela Davis to HeII's Angels (Sonny Barger) to the Symbionese Liberation (Patty Hearst), Earth First, Weather Underground... etc. The Chicano movement was also alive and well through the United Farm Workers (Cesar Chavez)

 

[ultrarunner]

First house I bought was around that same time for 15k... I imagine it would sell for 250k now... small home on a postage sized lot.... I sold it for 255k in 2005 and it later sold for 350k in 2007 and then the bank sold it for 80k.

 

[California]

The first house we bought was $20K. That was in 1985. We sold it for $30K in 1995. I just checked 2 minutes ago and it is listed for $32K.... 21 years and it increased $2K in price.

Is the population stable? I would have thought the population would decline after the departure of Studebaker, Willys, the other (pre?)AMC etc manufacturing and machine tool companies that were the core of the economy in South Bend for a long time. What has taken their place?

 

[MossRoad]

Is the population stable? I would have thought the population would decline after the departure of Studebaker, Willys, the other (pre?)AMC etc manufacturing and machine tool companies that were the core of the economy in South Bend for a long time. What has taken their place?

"This is not Studebaker, Indiana. This is South Bend, Indiana."
Famous quote from a local businessman.

Breaking the news: Studebaker closing | News | southbendtribune.com

I've mentioned this before on TBN, but there was a time in this country where almost everyone, on a daily basis, touched or used or was affected by something manufactured in South Bend, Indiana. Studebaker was the largest employer at the time, but we also had Bendix, Oliver Tractor, Kaiser Jeep, Singer Sewing Machines, South Bend Lathe, Ball Band (next town over), clothing manufacturers, and so much more. While it was a big blow to the local economy, we're still here. The peak employment was of course, during WWII. The population was 132,000 in 1960. Stude close in '63. Population was 125,000 in 1970, 109,000 in 1980, 105,000 in 1990 and 101,000 in 2010. However, there are over 266,000 people in this county. Its the fifth largest county in Indiana by population.

Many people moved out of South Bend, buy only into the county.

[h=3]South Bend 's Top Employers[/h]

South Bend Organizations	# of Employees
University of Notre Dame	4459
South Bend Community School Corporation	3295
Memorial Health System	3008
AM General	2400
Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center Inc.	2291
City of South Bend	1300
Martin's Supermarkets	1138
Wal-Mart	1111
Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation	989
School City of Mishawaka	922
City of Mishawaka	922
St. Joseph County	900
Madison Center	780
Honeywell	777
1st Source Bank	758
Indiana University South Bend	714
South Bend Medical Foundation, Inc.	714
U.S. Postal Service	678
Meijer, Inc.	631
Bayer Corporation	583
Liberty Mutual Insurance Company	574
Robert Bosch Corporation	559
Kroger	546
Steel Warehouse Company, Inc.	520
Press Ganey Associates, Inc.	508
South Bend Clinic	504
South Bend Tribune	500
I/N Tek - I/N Kote	487
The Diocese of Fort Wayne - South Bend	475
Saint Mary's College	459

 

[MossRoad]

Is the population stable? I would have thought the population would decline after the departure of Studebaker, Willys, the other (pre?)AMC etc manufacturing and machine tool companies that were the core of the economy in South Bend for a long time. What has taken their place?

As I recall, Kaiser Jeep bought Studebaker's truck plant on the south side of South Bend. They later sold it to American Motors. That became AM General. AM General is still headquartered here, and their Hummer plant is located in this county.

History | Company Information | AM General LLC - Mobility solutions for the 21st Century

 

[houstonscott]

Population is growing and homes have more than doubled in value... so the demand can't be disputed. I've never lived anywhere in the city with bad neighbors... didn't matter what race... most are simply doing the best they can for their families... and most were homeowners. Not that it really matters but here are two examples of East Oakland homes to illustrate the market... The first is a 1100 square feet 1922 Craftsman Bungalow on a 5,000 lot that sold for 350k The second is a 1550 square feet 1960 home on 1/2 acre that sold for 600k

New, 25 minutes outside Dallas. You can't find a similar paying job in Dallas you have no skills. Remember the top four computer companies are in Texas, not California. Better community, better schools, more freedom, no State taxes. 585 Limestone Ln, Midlothian, TX 7665 | MLS #13371286 | Zillow HS.

 

[California]

Please, everybody move to Texas.

It was better here before everybody rushed in.

 

[ultrarunner]

Of fair amount of my friends and coworkers now live in Texas and most are not coming back... two did.

Size of the homes or even buying a home is a big draw... seems most of them go to Austin/Round Rock and vicinity and say it has a California vibe for whatever that means... I think it is because there are so many with California ties that live in the area.

The two homes I pictured do give an indication of where the SF East Bay is price wise on housing... just because the median price is a million... there are plenty of homes for a fraction of that.

That 350k Craftsman Bungalow would rent easily for 2k per month and depending on upgrades maybe even $2,400.

I have not a clue what the future holds... all of my family live in California... I have some distant relatives in Germany.

Like many... California has been very good to us... it's just some of the actions politically speaking seem to defy logic... like going after 50 hp Diesel backhoes and chippers.