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If the media says it is so, why does everyone believe it? Why does the media have so much control over what we do? I am baffled by everyone believing everything they read! The power of the media is amazing, to me.
Vicki
That's the way it is Vicki. Because it is an election year, the media started with the world is ending news about everything, when it was not happening. They just pounded everyone into the ground with horrifying news, until they made it actually happen. Just about everything we do is based on emotion and when the media plays these games, this is what happens. They got what they wanted. Now after the election, they will start with the world is bright and things are geting better, as that will be the new push and guess what, it will happen. You are correct, the media controls people.
Let me see if I can 'GUNK' this thread up. 'Pressure' on home prices in both positive and negative directions 'flow' with demands. When pressure builds in one area or 'field' it tends to relax or 'backfill' in another. So if someone pulls up their 'pipes' and 'tanks' in one area say the outline areas and lay them back down in city type areas that will create a demand for city residences.
However, the 'well' in the outline areas will not go 'dry' anytime soon as their are more and more jobs where people work from home and city conveniences such as stores, services, and mass transit are moving to the outline areas. Even government services are moving to the outline areas such as Wake Forest getting a northern branch of some Wake County government jobs.
As in underground 'oil' it typically covers a large area both Central to the 'well' and flows outward in all directions, just like the way our cities and outlines areas do today. Unless something really drastic changes I don't see a major 'suction' to the city areas anytime soon! So before my 'valve' gets turned off on this subject that is all I can 'spew' about this subject!
This very topic was covered briefly on the ABC evening news last night. One of the concerns is the impact of forcing poorer folks out of areas traditionally closer to work, like downtown urban locales, and the demand on the transit systems that ironically are funded in some part from -- are you ready for this? -- the taxes on gasoline.
I agree that I don't think we'll see too many opting to go to the expense of actually moving, but it may generate an interest with new buyers who feel they can no longer entertain working in the city and living in suburbia, with the skyrocketing gas prices. The best to come of all of this has been the reduction in driving and the decline in sales of gas-guzzlers. Given the price of gas in other areas of the world, it seems inevitable that it will be as expensive here eventually. Our former exchange student says gasoline in Korea is roughly $9.00 gallon, which would cost me about $200 to fill-up my tank. It would curtail any 'joy riding' I do, given that a tank, when I was still having to drive to work, lasted about a week.
That's the way it is Vicki. Because it is an election year, the media started with the world is ending news about everything, when it was not happening. They just pounded everyone into the ground with horrifying news, until they made it actually happen. Just about everything we do is based on emotion and when the media plays these games, this is what happens. They got what they wanted. Now after the election, they will start with the world is bright and things are geting better, as that will be the new push and guess what, it will happen. You are correct, the media controls people.
Yes, I think you are 100% correct. But, it still frustrates me. I've never been a follower. I look back at the things the media says and writes and some of it is so ridiculous. I KNOW housing in this area. And I read and hear so much that simply is not true. Yet, the average person with no experience doesn't know it isn't true so they believe. Frustrating.
I look back at the media hype in 1999. Remember how everything was going to come to a standstill January 1, 2000??? What happened? NOTHING. Frustrating.
But you are right. The media controls people. I know it and I'm still frustrated by it! But it does make me feel better that I'm not the ONLY ONE that knows it.
NRG seems to be in the right price range if I am getting his "backstory" right. This is his first house. He and his wife don't have kids. He's lucky to get a starter house for that kind of $$$. Where I live, starter homes are about $400k!
But to address the topic: I don't think fuel prices are going to cause a mass exodus from the 'burbs. People will eat out less, give less to charity, take more modest vacations, clip coupons, shop at Target--whatever people do to scale back the cash outlay so they can afford the higher fuel and heating prices.
One big change I do see up here in the Northeast is that people are finally starting to move on converting from oil to gas heat. The gas companies have always made this conversion as attractive as possible but it was always an expensive to be put off for another time--until now. Oil prices went up 90% in a years' time compared with natural gas increases of 7%.
NRG seems to be in the right price range if I am getting his "backstory" right. This is his first house. He and his wife don't have kids. He's lucky to get a starter house for that kind of $$$. Where I live, starter homes are about $400k!
But to address the topic: I don't think fuel prices are going to cause a mass exodus from the 'burbs. People will eat out less, give less to charity, take more modest vacations, clip coupons, shop at Target--whatever people do to scale back the cash outlay so they can afford the higher fuel and heating prices.
One big change I do see up here in the Northeast is that people are finally starting to move on converting from oil to gas heat. The gas companies have always made this conversion as attractive as possible but it was always an expensive to be put off for another time--until now. Oil prices went up 90% in a years' time compared with natural gas increases of 7%.
Natural gas is twice as expensive this year as it was last year. No matter how your home is heated this winter, it's going to be outrageously expensive.
Natural gas is twice as expensive this year as it was last year. No matter how your home is heated this winter, it's going to be outrageously expensive.
True. I just read a story (somewhere) about the increase in natural gas prices. But in my area, the past and proposed future increases in oil far outweigh what we're seeing in gas increases.
Luckily my gas bills have been very low since we moved to our energy efficient new house a few years ago. Had a ~100yo house before that and I now spend less in a winter than I would some months in the old one.
I have doubts about any type of "new urbanism" in the Triangle area. Nice areas near employement centers are already built up, and there is already a premium for these locations. The reason people end up living farther away usually isn't because they wouldn't want to live closer, its just that they can't afford to do so (for cases in point, read many of the posts above this one). You also need to keep things in perspective. People around here talk about 30 minute rush hour commutes and wanting to decrease the time spent in traffic. This isn't quite the same as the 1/1.5 hour commutes you see out West or, in many cases, the NE.
An additional factor that will decrease the need for this type of population shift is the increased use of telecommuting. This is already popular in the tech industry - I have several people that I work with who live in different states (Florida, Michigan, New York, California, Kentucky, etc.), and even foreign countries. As technology improves, the need to drive to a central office so you can work with your colleagues will continue to dwindle for many (but certainly not all) people.
I agree that we can't have everyone suddenly do those higher-paying jobs, but there is no reason why an individual can't change gears and get on a career path that makes more money. I've been trying to convince my brother, a late 30s waiter, of this. But he is unwilling to make any short term sacrifices for long term gains.
If you've got any good ideas for someone with a marketing (business) degree, (but decided that she derives no joy from marketing or business), that don't involve a huge outlying of $$ for a new degree, I am all ears!
Quote:
Originally Posted by starla
I'm tired of hearing people complain about a lack of affordable housing in downtown. There are plenty of houses for less than $165k in Southeast Raleigh, but people won't touch them. Some of these houses are just blocks from government buildings. If moving closer to work is your main motivation, you could buy a house in a less prestigious neighborhood. But what people really want is to buy a $500k house for $200k. I don't know where people get the idea that everyone is entitled to live in the most desirable area of town.
I am very casually looking at real estate in the downtown area, and have been watching the Southeast area of downtown closely for two years. There are a lot of community issues in the area that are keeping it down by keeping investors out so that it can remain "affodable" in the subsidized housing sense of the word. I would love to be an urban pioneer in this area, but I have to say that I didn't feel very welcome in the Martin-Haywood neighborhood when I went to an open house there a few months ago. Many of the neighbors were loitering around the street ogling all the people coming to the open house as if they were watching aliens unload from the mother ship that had just landed in the middle of the street.
Not to mention that many of these affordably priced homes in SE downtown need a LOT of work and money sunk into them - money that first-time homebuyers such as myself do not have. I would love nothing more than to restore an old, dilapidated bungalow to its former glory, but I don't have the equity to do so at this point. First-timers need something that is easier to move into immediately, or at least livable while they do some repairs. There have been a few in the area that I have seen come on the market all fixed up, but they often are the only renovated house on a block of rooming houses.
I am not looking for a $500k home - I know how to live within my means, and have modest ideals. I am just saying that it would be nice if there was a more diverse stock of housing downtown. Hopefully SE downtown will be a nice place to live again, and I would love to be part of making it a great, safe and diverse community. But if you have been following that area at all in the last two years, you will see that there are some major roadblocks to improvement within the community.
Quote:
Originally Posted by upchurch
Sheesh miamiblue, I am sorry. I was not trying to insult NRG, I like him. I was just trying to say that $165K is not much when looking for a home. I think you agree with that. There are a lot more over $165K than under. Like some posts have shown, you can find some chaper homes near the city, but you will have to accept some issues with them. And people that are not execs or white collar, such as myself, can easily afford much more than $165K while easily living within their means.
I know what you meant, sorry it came off as more passionate than it was meant to be.
Yes, $165k is not a lot, but it's where a lot of people have to start. As I said before, there are people like me who are willing to "settle" or take on a certain amount of risk in order to get into the game, but we are the same people who cannot afford to get into a money pit, so we are in a sort of quandary when it comes to some of the options we have downtown.
I know that the Cameron Village condos are another good option in the downtown area, and I have been looking into them. They are priced over $165k and they are in limited supply (although there seems to be a lot on the MLS right now), but if I could stretch to $180k I would go for one.
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