Old money, new money, no real money. (Savannah, Wilmington Island: for sale, real estate)

[pink caddy]

I only have 3 years in Sav. so forgive me in advance if the answers are obvious to everyone but me.

Where is the "old money" in town? ie: one might suppose geograhically it might exist around the squares. But my logic tells me:what if that "old money" is gone and these grand houses are all new money? And speaking of "new money" who might these people be? What do they do? Where does the money flow from? We don't have a whole lot of banking and finance here like you might say was the impetus and growth of Charlotte...so who is "new money"?

Now for "no real money" but total BS. Who are they I might ask?


Your thoughts?

[ellie]

You're right that there are only a few old money families downtown. They're also living in nicer enclaves scattered throughout the city. Many are less obvious than you might expect. They're known for not spending freely, which is why their money is so old.

New money looks and acts like new money and they're closely related to no money, of course. They also live downtown, as well as the islands, or the better golf communities.

I think a lot of the new money comes from places outside of Savannah and people just move here because it's a pretty place to live. I can think of a couple of good examples, though that may not prove the rule. That's also true of some people with middle-aged money who are not from here. The Landings is full of retired execs who made their money someplace else.

If you wanted to learn the names of many of these people, go to the Jepson Center and look at the wall next to the grand staircase.

[pink caddy]

Originally Posted by ellie

New money looks and acts like new money and they're closely related to no money, of course

LOL! Love this quote.... ellie...think you should copyright this.

[ellie]

I'm surprised I found this story so easily. Here's an excellent local tale about a guy who played everyone and then more or less vanished.

Building History | savannahnow.com | Savannah Morning News

[pink caddy]

"New Money" also comes in the form of payments or subsisties of tuition of SCAD students. There is an awful amount of students 'paying' 28K for tuition and driving cars their LL's can't afford.

[pink caddy]

Originally Posted by ellie

I'm surprised I found this story so easily. Here's an excellent local tale about a guy who played everyone and then more or less vanished.

Building History | savannahnow.com | Savannah Morning News

THere are a bunch more of these stories that are even more recent that the one you showed.

Partnership team owning over 200 properties together in downtown and near downtown. Lost about 60 properties but still own more than a 100 that are "For Sale". But try and buy them. Impossibe, as they are so far underwater that they are unable to have the bank accept any offers.

But, the team owns Corvettes, houses at the beach, BIG houses 5 minutes outside of downtown, and you know the rest.

[ellie]

The students have certainly skewed the cost of living downtown. I'm so far out of the loop these days on what's going on with real estate, but I can surmise that many of the homes you're talking about were flipped several times before the market crashed.

What do you think will happen?

[pink caddy]

^^^^have my real estate brain turned off right now...will explain(?) later in the week. Got to put my "back to work tomorrow" hat on and get out of the f ing cold.

[Padgett2]

The REAL Old Money Families are still around. Mostly in those mansions on the water at Wilmington Island, Isle of Hope, Vernon View, etc. I think there are still a few around south of Victory Drive and Ardsley Park. Some moved to the Skidaway Island area when it was first developed.

Remember, that there used to be no air conditioning, so the ones with the money got the coolest summer areas. Some just had a cottage for the summers, but they got the breezes.

also keep in mind that many of the old "mansions" around the squares had gone downhill to the extent that Lady Astor called us a "lady with a dirty face." Before the Historic Savannah group started trying to save the downtown, those grand mansions were rapidly being converted in to apartments and the whole historic district of the city was borderline slum. It took a lot to turn the tide and restore Savannah to what it once was.