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Doesn't a mortgage being underwater just mean that you owe more than what the house is worth? The owners are not necessarily in foreclosure. In the area we bought a home, we're buying our house for 320k, and the neighbor bought her home at the height of the bubble for 650k. She has a good job though, and she's not planning on doing anything other than continue to pay her mortgage.
At some point she very well may bolt. She's probably just scared of damaging her credit. In scenarios like hers you become a prisoner to the house. You may not take up the attractive job offer out of the area for example.
So how come there are so many more underwater mortgages in Prince George's County than in Montgomery, Howard or other nearby counties? It's the same state, the same foreclosure laws. It doesn't seem like we can blame the state's slow foreclosure process for the slow housing recovery in Prince George's county.
You're right state laws in regards to the foreclosure process is no silver bullet for PG. Fortunately MoCo, Howard and other non-PG counties have the demand to cushion any softness in the market. PG does not so a process that quickly brings inventory online should help. At some price point these homes will sell and stabilization can occur.
PWC has recovered nicely as a result of a streamlined foreclosure process.
The answer as to why Prince George's county property values have been slower to recover than MoCo, HoCo and AA Co lies far beyond what most people are even comfortable discussing. Other questions that will arrive at the true answer would involve lack of corporate business presence, lack of quality retail and restaurants, lack of incoming traffic during the morning rush, etc.
The answer is it's who wants to live their. That's not a question. The majority demographic in Prince George's county is not the target for most businesses (and no, the demographic group I refer to is not based on income as a large percentage of county residents do very well). The answer is who wants to live in MoCo, HoCo and AA Co. The answer to that is the same demographic groups who already live there. To business interests, there's little else to discuss.
Jurisdictions that look the "right way" are doing better because businesses and offerings go there. Though Prince George's county has the highest single-county share of Federal employees, the county also has the lowest share of Federal office space. Commuting outside the county for work means few if any contractors or consultants need office space to be near their counterparts, little restaurant and retail is needed to serve lunch and happy hour clientele, and commutes are longer to get to work or return home. As a result, Prince George's county is a less disirable place for many to call home.
I agree but it's not so much about the "look" of the people but the culture these people represent to businesses.
I think irresponsible lending plays a big part, but the most simple and only rule of real estate is supply and demand, and they built way too much supply in an area with bad schools without a ton of jobs. Combine that with the crash of the market and values plummeted. Loudon County got away with it because they have an exploding job market nearby and great schools.
I think irresponsible lending plays a big part, but the most simple and only rule of real estate is supply and demand, and they built way too much supply in an area with bad schools without a ton of jobs.
This is not completely true. There are more 20th century housing than there are new build-outs. Apartments for the most part are 90% leased. It has already been stated that the foreclosures and the recession is the cause for the depressed values. Foreclosures indicate there were people living in those homes. Which means supply wasn't too far ahead of demand. If you want to see supply/demand issues, go to Florida where my wife saw entire new neighborhoods empty. Blocks and blocks of new builds just sitting there empty. Was it schools? Crime? Or foreclosures and the economy? Builders won't build if there is no demand. Which means at some point there was demand for new housing. That demand was seriously cut off during the recession. But I think PG had enough used housing stock that supply was never a problem. I mean the issue with PG is complex. I don't think it's as simple as schools, supply and demand, crime, jobs, etc. There's a whole litany of variables that comes into play with PG. And like I said before, the recession exposed a lot of weaknesses in PG that were unnoticed when the economy was strong. A recession will expose any jurisdiction's weaknesses. PG was already close to the edge before the recession.
Was PG targeted or does PG County have a lot of residents that simply aren't educated when it comes to money? Being targeted for scams is not unique and honestly has little to nothing to do with race. Money knows no color. If businesses see an opportunity to make money they will take it. How many old people do you see getting caught up in telephone scams? You think these only will try to scam them if they are black?
Let's deal with the real reality. PG County has an obviously very large black population and there are many who live within the county who are the first generation in their family to make a middle class living. Many of these individuals have no idea what it's like to have money, how to handle money and how to make money work for them. In addition to that as a whole there are a lot of insecure black people who are looking to prove that they made it and having a big house, with fancy cars and other extra unnecessary things. Sometimes buying a house isn't smart. There are people buying $300k brand new townhouses in Pepper Mill Village in Capitol Heights amongst some of the worst schools in PG, amongst some of the highest crime and with literally nothing good other than a metro station nearby but people still brought it and they are going to never get that money back because their property value went down immediately after buying it and will likely never be that high again.
Having money doesn't mean that you know how to use it. For many black people in this country, we don't have generations of wealthy ancestors who have had money, who can set examples for us and who can teach us how to use it. The misuse and abuse of money is real in black culture. Look at the number of athletes who have gone broke. Look at how companies like Walmart and McDonald's market their advertisement towards black people. These companies know that black people in general will spend money, so money isn't a real issue, but what we are doing with it says a lot. For there to be such an extreme difference in the underwater rate in PG, there has to be some consideration on how the culture of flashiness has impacted poor spending habits and how a lack of education in real estate is fueling it further.
Was PG targeted or does PG County have a lot of residents that simply aren't educated when it comes to money? Being targeted for scams is not unique and honestly has little to nothing to do with race. Money knows no color. If businesses see an opportunity to make money they will take it. How many old people do you see getting caught up in telephone scams? You think these only will try to scam them if they are black?
Let's deal with the real reality. PG County has an obviously very large black population and there are many who live within the county who are the first generation in their family to make a middle class living. Many of these individuals have no idea what it's like to have money, how to handle money and how to make money work for them. In addition to that as a whole there are a lot of insecure black people who are looking to prove that they made it and having a big house, with fancy cars and other extra unnecessary things. Sometimes buying a house isn't smart. There are people buying $300k brand new townhouses in Pepper Mill Village in Capitol Heights amongst some of the worst schools in PG, amongst some of the highest crime and with literally nothing good other than a metro station nearby but people still brought it and they are going to never get that money back because their property value went down immediately after buying it and will likely never be that high again.
Having money doesn't mean that you know how to use it. For many black people in this country, we don't have generations of wealthy ancestors who have had money, who can set examples for us and who can teach us how to use it. The misuse and abuse of money is real in black culture. Look at the number of athletes who have gone broke. Look at how companies like Walmart and McDonald's market their advertisement towards black people. These companies know that black people in general will spend money, so money isn't a real issue, but what we are doing with it says a lot. For there to be such an extreme difference in the underwater rate in PG, there has to be some consideration on how the culture of flashiness has impacted poor spending habits and how a lack of education in real estate is fueling it further.
DC is still mostly African American. Explain the gentrification or "whitening" of once strong African American and Latino strongholds.
Was PG targeted or does PG County have a lot of residents that simply aren't educated when it comes to money? Being targeted for scams is not unique and honestly has little to nothing to do with race. Money knows no color. If businesses see an opportunity to make money they will take it. How many old people do you see getting caught up in telephone scams? You think these only will try to scam them if they are black?
Let's deal with the real reality. PG County has an obviously very large black population and there are many who live within the county who are the first generation in their family to make a middle class living. Many of these individuals have no idea what it's like to have money, how to handle money and how to make money work for them. In addition to that as a whole there are a lot of insecure black people who are looking to prove that they made it and having a big house, with fancy cars and other extra unnecessary things. Sometimes buying a house isn't smart. There are people buying $300k brand new townhouses in Pepper Mill Village in Capitol Heights amongst some of the worst schools in PG, amongst some of the highest crime and with literally nothing good other than a metro station nearby but people still brought it and they are going to never get that money back because their property value went down immediately after buying it and will likely never be that high again.
Having money doesn't mean that you know how to use it. For many black people in this country, we don't have generations of wealthy ancestors who have had money, who can set examples for us and who can teach us how to use it. The misuse and abuse of money is real in black culture. Look at the number of athletes who have gone broke. Look at how companies like Walmart and McDonald's market their advertisement towards black people. These companies know that black people in general will spend money, so money isn't a real issue, but what we are doing with it says a lot. For there to be such an extreme difference in the underwater rate in PG, there has to be some consideration on how the culture of flashiness has impacted poor spending habits and how a lack of education in real estate is fueling it further.
I think it has more to do with jobs than with race. PG has no real estate demand, so if you can't sell you foreclose. I don't think the black people in MoCo are any more financially or fiscally responsible, just that NIH and other government agencies are close so *someone* is willing to buy.
"It's because you are black" isn't always the right answer (and I use that alot, black culture and PG still have a ways to go. PG needs jobs, and they need them badly.
I think you Debbie-Downers are wrong! In certain parts of the county at certain price ranges houses are snapped up within a week and there isn't even enough to go around. We were looking at homes 300-400k in Bowie, Lanham, and Glenn Dale earlier this year and the glut of foreclosure/short sale deals dried up sometime before May. As other threads on this forum have noted, areas like Hyattsville and Cheverly are even MORE in demand! Now a well maintained home in that price range doesn't even sit on the market. They may be short sales and foreclosures, but these houses aren't sitting around causing blight in the neighborhood. And have people been house-hunting in Virginia lately? A house in the Fairwood development in Bowie would cost more than 700k (prob more like 800k) almost ANYWHERE in Northern Virginia or Moco that is decent commuting distance to DC. PG county is the last affordable place left for young families in this region who don't want to live in an ugly rambler the size of a shoebox, or commute 2 hours each way into D.C. If I had the money, I would buy ANOTHER house in PG, that's how convinced I am that there's an opportunity for growth here.
DC is still mostly African American. Explain the gentrification or "whitening" of once strong African American and Latino strongholds.
DC doesn't have a glut of new McMansion styled homes
DC has a historic black population which has been around for decades while PG only became majority black in the past two decades.
A large portion of DC black population is poor and aren't homeowners.
Even when you look at the numbers, Charles County has similar numbers in areas with a higher black population. The thing that. separates this area and PG from places like MoCo and DC is the housing stock and the lack of amenities to justify the prices.
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