Rehad in the Neighborhood

[jania]

I live in a neighborhood where most of the homes were built in the 1960's. The area has not been hit by foreclosures like other neighborhoods, but in my morning walks over the last few years I have seen homes suddenly vacated and left to sit, as well as several homes being in a "for sale" state for over a year.

During the last few months it has been so refreshing to see sale signs being taken down, people moving in and renovations being done. It's been nice to see some fresh starts occurring and a positive, rather than a negative, direction being taken.

I live in Phoenix. Has anyone else been seeing this trend?

[razz]

Nice to see signs of optimism, isn't it?

[iris lily]

Right across the street from me, after 22 years of inactivity of a vacant commercial building (which was razed) a developer is building a single family house. Two other lots are sold for the same thing. DH and I have been waiting for this for 2 decades. yay!
While it is true that I had to sacrifice one of my iris gardens for this, it is well worth it and is for the good of all here. I was glad for the economic downturn that allowed this to happen. During the run-up of property values developers turned over that vacant plot across the street as follows:

$250,000 ------> $650,000------> $885,000------> crash and burn. Current developer bought it for $200,000.

The developers who ran up the price had ridiculous, ugly plans for building a huge monolithic complex that never got off the ground because the market didn't support it.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Not really, vacant houses are staying vacant for the most part (for years and years). No construction of any sort really going on. A few less "for rent" signs though.

[rosarugosa]

I don't think the greater Boston area was greatly impacted by the housing downturn, at least not like other parts of the country. As far as I can see in my immediate area, it just means that one can now score a starter home that needs work for under $300,000. Property prices here are still pretty high.

[JaneV2.0]

I haven't noticed abandoned houses around here, but I recently browsed houses and condos here and around Portland and came across a large number of short sales and bank-owned properties. Not a good sign.