The latest news is that property prices are falling… well, in these ten cities anyway.
Toledo, Ohio: $115,000 (-18.7%)
Rochester, N.Y.: $149,000 (-17%)
Detroit: $75,000 (-15.4%)
Pittsburgh: $230,000 (-13.7%)
Springfield, Mass: $239,900 (-5.8%)
Tulsa, Okla.: $220,000 (-5%)
Los Angeles: $985,000 (-5%)
Memphis, Tenn.: $173,500 (-4.6%)
Chicago: $399,000 (-3.7%)
Richmond, Va.: $310,000 (-3.4%)
Running a skeptical eye down the list, it surprises me that any properties in these shit-hole cities ever experienced a housing price increase in the first place. I wouldn’t live in any of them for free.
My parents moved to Rochester, NY in the 50s when Xerox, Kodak, and IBM were creating a jobs boom there and moved back to rural PA when I was born in the mid-60s and racial riots were starting. The neighborhood they lived in and really loved is a complete shithole now, when we were up for my aunt’s funeral back in the late 90s we wanted to walk over and check out our old house but decided to turn back when the crack vials got too thick along the sidewalk. All of my cousins still in the area live well outside the city where rather than crack vials the streets are littered with Trump signs and other anti-government statements. I have lots of good memories there and love visiting my family, you couldn’t pay me enough to live in NY state though.
Pittsburgh isn’t too bad, but like many other places, it has its seedy sections, the No-Go’s, and the amazing ones.
Besides having a Democratic government, a twit for a mayor (that has been the tradition for P-burg mayors for a long, long time), and absolutely microscopic support from Harrisburg (the State House must still think the steel mills are still up and running…) to weather the economic downturns its suffered.
Outside the downtown area, its vibrant, stoic, and diverse as anybody could ever want. Sure, they are rabbid football (US version) fans, but that fervor bred resiliency, tenacity, and a ‘work-hard play-hard’ mentality. The surrounding Counties are as ‘hometown’ as you could find anywhere – I grew up in Beaver County – it still has that hometown feel, after all these years, but had its trials as its livelihood was shuttered and torn down. Its having a bit of a revival with gas fracking, but FJB (and his willing enabliers) are trying REAL hard to shut that down too, but that cool, cool, moola they syphon\graft off they can’t deny.
I think the ‘Shit-hole’ moniker should be for policies and actions of the government and their sycophant’s , but the people are rock-solid, and there are ample nice areas beyond the city, tunnels, and bridges.
I was about to comment that Pittsburgh isn’t that bad for the most part. I’ve visited on several occasions and really liked it. Considered taking a job there, but decided to become a southerner instead.
PA could be okay if they can get a hold on the Philly-based corruption.
I can see why the housing prices in those places are falling. They have had single party rule for decades and businesses have been driven away.
My next move is NH or the hills of Tennessee, maybe Kentucky. I want far enough in the hills to be left alone but not so far that my full set of teeth casts me immediately as a foreigner.
JQ
I’ll assume you’re joking with the dental comments, but if not, you might want to reconsider the patronizing attitude before finding a place in southern Appalachia. Life’s easier when you don’t immediately estrange yourself from the local community by implying that they’re inbred hillbillies. But, YMMV.
I love seeing Detroit, in my former home state, lead the way in such things. Great Googly-moogly this is what a city run by incompetents in a state run by incompetents looks like. Detroit is like the star quarterback in high school who peaked his senior year. Forever stuck in the past with little hope that he’ll ever be jarred from his complacency. So too is Detroit stuck in 1965, desperately clinging to a past long forgotten by the rest of the world.
Chimpcongo and Memphis have a long way to fall yet to adequately live down to their reputations.