Bedroom community blues: foreclosure crisis creating suburban slums (Arlington, Alexandria: cul-de-sac, for sale)

[googleme]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Bedroom-community-blues_-foreclosure-crisis-creating-suburban-slums-8412468.html (broken link)

Two years of economic collapse have pockmarked the D.C. region's affluent suburbs with blight and experts are worried that the foundering cul-de-sacs and towns are on the verge of becoming the region's next ghettoes.
"What you're looking at now is a structural problem," Brookings Institute scholar Christopher Leinberger said. "We have structurally overbuilt the fringe...It ain't coming back."

Foreclosures per 10,000 homes:
» Arlington: 68
» Alexandria: 87
» Montgomery: 88
» D.C.: 115
» Fairfax: 189
» Prince George's: 219
» Loudoun: 343
» Prince William: 722

Look out below?
Percent change in home values in the D.C. region, 2007-08
» Downtowns (D.C., Arlington, Alexandria): up 3.4 percent
» Inner suburbs (Fairfax, Montgomery and Prince George's Counties): down 3.2 percent
» Outer suburbs (Loudoun, Prince William and Frederick Counties): down 25.6 percent.

Source: Council of Governments


Consider, for instance, Prince William County's Georgetown South community. The signs there used to say, "For sale." Then they said, "foreclosed." Now they say, "For rent."
Neighbors who just a few years ago worried about curb heightor speed bumps now find themselves fighting to keep drug dealers from setting up shop in boarded-up homes.
"It's yanked the feet out of a number of associations," said Georgetown South community manager Christi Strader.


Moderator Edit: Due to copyright i$$ue$, we cannot reprint whole articles in the forums.

[jaunespinoza]

Georgetown South is actually in the City of Manassas. There are some well built THs in there from the 50's. They hit 300K, back in 2006. It's a very good location, but it seems to have been labeled hopeless by way too many people. There are many people, who have lived there for years without trouble. There seems to be a very bad trend regarding gang activity in Manassas. Bristoe Station (not Bristow) and Point of Woods (Liberia Rd.) have the same problems. The schools and police need to take a proactive approach on this and less of a "well, that's a bad area, what do you expect, approach." There is certainly an overflow of the DC crime mentality in all three places.

[ChristineVA]

Georgetown South was a problem well before the housing bust. I've lived in PWC for 15 years and, for at least 10 of those years, I've heard nothing but bad news out of Georgetown South. I don't think the housing bust was the reason for their problems.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by googleme

"We have structurally overbuilt the fringe...It ain't coming back."

Good!

[terrence81]

I don't know. This isn't really new news. Prince William county homes have been falling in price since the whole foreclosure mess began. The rising gas prices of last year are also part of the blame. People started seeing more value in living closer to work and amenities. The thing I noticed about Prince William county in particular is how seperate and spaced out subdivisions are. I know a guy out there who lives so far from everything not even close to a 7-11, but some people like that. Also yeah I've heard Georgetown South had problems before the foreclosure mess as well.

[TechlawyerinPG]

Loudoun has communities facing the same issues. Perhaps the decline of the outer exurbs will assist with increasing the value and redevelopment of close in communities; i always suspected these far away communities would drop in value faster than those closer in; I know people who paid $900k for a home in Haymarket that is now worth half that.

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by terrence81

The thing I noticed about Prince William county in particular is how seperate and spaced out subdivisions are. I know a guy out there who lives so far from everything not even close to a 7-11, but some people like that.

Much of it is the way it is zoned (or had been zoned in the past--they might be changing). I live on a 5 mile stretch of road in PWC that is fairly heavily populated with subdivisions. It is zoned for residential use ONLY. I kind of don't like that, but it is a draw for some people. I am approximately 5-7 miles to a grocery store. I can get to gas station (which has milk) within 3 miles. All of these places are not on the main road that I live on and involve a few traffic lights, etc just to get to them. Somedays I just long to be in a neighborhood where a grocery store or Starbucks or gas station is right at the beginning of my neighborhood. It's just a pain to get a gallon of milk.

I really like the concept of residential mixed with commercial in the town center type of format.

[terrence81]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

Much of it is the way it is zoned (or had been zoned in the past--they might be changing). I live on a 5 mile stretch of road in PWC that is fairly heavily populated with subdivisions. It is zoned for residential use ONLY. I kind of don't like that, but it is a draw for some people. I am approximately 5-7 miles to a grocery store. I can get to gas station (which has milk) within 3 miles. All of these places are not on the main road that I live on and involve a few traffic lights, etc just to get to them. Somedays I just long to be in a neighborhood where a grocery store or Starbucks or gas station is right at the beginning of my neighborhood. It's just a pain to get a gallon of milk.

I really like the concept of residential mixed with commercial in the town center type of format.

Me too! That's what I don't like about VA in general. Getting gas is always so inconvenient. Because usually it's out of my way. Back home in GA or even when I lived off Columbia Pike in Falls Church/Annandale getting gas was convenient and on the way to wherever I was going.

As much I love Oakton I can't walk to anything and getting something to eat after work during rush hour is such a pain because of all the traffic on 123. So yeah not a fan of VA zoning laws.

[SteelCityRising]

More "Brambletons" is certainly a good answer. A lot of people are like me and Christine in that we'd like to live in a safe area but still be able to walk to pick up a gallon of milk, a cup of coffee, or to their Zoomba classes. Virginia's zoning regulations really need to be readjusted to reflect the growing trend of people wanting to live nearer to businesses to reduce the time spent behind the wheel. For God's sake I was in Oakton yesterday, and while it seemed like a nice area I would HATE to live there and battle traffic for 30 minutes at 5:30 PM just to get to a hair appointment.

[terrence81]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

More "Brambletons" is certainly a good answer. A lot of people are like me and Christine in that we'd like to live in a safe area but still be able to walk to pick up a gallon of milk, a cup of coffee, or to their Zoomba classes. Virginia's zoning regulations really need to be readjusted to reflect the growing trend of people wanting to live nearer to businesses to reduce the time spent behind the wheel. For God's sake I was in Oakton yesterday, and while it seemed like a nice area I would HATE to live there and battle traffic for 30 minutes at 5:30 PM just to get to a hair appointment.

As much as I love Oakton I will admit that the traffic makes me feel like a prisoner in my own home sometimes. I don't cook and a lot of times I get home wanting something to eat but driving to the Giant which is just a mile away can be an ordeal because of the traffic. I think the good outweighs the bad. I couldn't live in Brambleton unless I had a job out there though. I actually work in a mixed use community, Shirlington. Living there would be great because I'd never have to drive my car except on the weekends to go somewhere fun. But Shirlington is just so darned expensive.