Neighborhoods That Go Downhill

[markas214]

Originally Posted by joninaz

Sometimes life is a bet. Sometimes you have to gamble.

And timing helps.

Lower downtown Denver was a dump and is now hip. Same with Long Beach, West Hollywood, etc. I see the same happening in PHX and a few other parts of town.

I have a friend who bought a co-op in Greenwich Village NYC in the 80s for $10,000. No one wanted to live their. It's probably worth close to a million now.

[ITChick]

Originally Posted by joninaz

Sometimes life is a bet. Sometimes you have to gamble.

And timing helps.

Lower downtown Denver was a dump and is now hip. Same with Long Beach, West Hollywood, etc. I see the same happening in PHX and a few other parts of town.

How very true. Timing is everything.

[ITChick]

Originally Posted by Patrick754

Interesting article in the Republic today:

Subprime mortgages concentrated on Valley's fringes (broken link)

In addition to traffic and gas costs, I think the foreclosure activity is also going to make the fringe areas unattractive for some period of time. Who wants to live in an area of vacant homes and unfinished developments left behind by bankrupt builders ?

"Queen Creek, Apache Junction, Avondale, Buckeye, Goodyear and Surprise have double or even triple the rate of these high-risk mortgages compared with neighborhoods closer in,"

This reminds me of an article about the subprime failures in North Carolina. I think the link was posted on the city-data forum board somewhere. There are people living in subdivisions in NC surrounded by abandoned homes. That article mentioned that neighbors are taking the time to mow the abandoned homes lawns to keep up appearances to prevent squatters, etc. Scary!

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Maybe because the outlying areas have twice and three times the amount of homes being built is a reason that they have more mortgage issues than the interior. What are we comparing here? Are we saying that the outlying areas built more homes and during the past five years also originated more new loans than areas closer to the center of the valley? What is the amount of loans that are traditional fixed loans where the buyer put a down payment on the home? I think before a discussion of how bad the outlying areas are finanially we also need to lump in the remaining facts on the subject. How many good loans are there in the valley and how many of those are in cities that you need to drive away from the interior to get to. If you are saying that a city like Surprise has a majority of bad loans, what is the number of good loans in the city?

[ron17571]

I just spent time looking at homes in maryvale,like almost all of az,there were nice homes and neglected ones,also the spray painted walls(so special,would b nice if i could read the message)i look at the prices and what you get,i want boat parking and no hoa.all the places i would work at are within five miles.i dont think there is some magic part of town where knothing bad happens.

[Great Joy]

Originally Posted by altus2006

A lot has been posted lately about buying into areas that are losing their value and becoming bad locations for family living.

What things do buyers need to look for in order to not get into these circumstances? Are the problems mainly location of the property, housing falling apart after a few years, poor quality soil problems, too many foreclosures in the area, a good/bad HOA, too many investors buying houses which become rentals, etc?

I would appreciate advice from those of you that have been in the area for years and who have seen neighborhoods change from great to dumps.

altus2006

In the three years we've been here, it's been interesting to watch areas change over time. Some stay looking nice, while other areas don't. I'm so thankful we bought into a community with a great HOA and residents that care about keeping their community and homes looking nice. There are developments newer than the one we're in that are showing "wear" even only being a few years old. IMO, a person can spot a neighborhood going down hill just by driving through it. Some questions to consider:
~ Homes maintained well?
~ Yards maintained well?
~ Driveways maintained well? Or lots of oil spots, junk, etc?
~ Lots of cars parked on the roads? Or abandoned neighborhood? Either extreme is bad in my opinion.
~ Car types? Rusty, dull paint, or worse?
~ Old boats, campers, trailers, etc parked on roads, driveways, or in yards?
~ People outside walking/riding bikes?
~ Lots of house for sale/for rent signs?
~ Lots of foreclosures? (Given today's housing market here in AZ, even the nicest communities will have some foreclosures in them.)
~ Community amenities/common areas maintained well?

After a community passes the "drive thru" test, I always think it is best to talk with a few residents to really find out if "it" is a match for you. Best wishes!

[Cary Schroeder]

Thanks for the brain storming I needed the schooling. Suberbs - more recently bought homes, so more fore sale. Worse public transit with better schools. Long term hy. Always know when to move further out for Home value increase. City - increase in gas future and tired of long drives can cause dontown building growth. Higher taxes. Recent prices holding best in city. improvement in poor inner cities. Home cost more bargins in suberbs. Other big cities found ways to make prices go up including Fed. help. Looks like even with recession the inner cities is best bet, but i'll be there soon to use the drive through tips and talk with people. Thanks again.