These housing markets are in danger of a coronavirus-related recession

Doesn’t surprise me that Vegas is going to become a buyer’s market.

 

Money is going to begging before too long in this year. If you are in a position to do so, have at it. Our Financial System has regressed to world war two strains. That led to a boom in the 50's. That is the hope anyway when this is over.

The alternative would be not good which is a understatement.

 

The way the government is firing up the printing presses don't be surprised to see money pouring into hard assets like real estate and prices going up rather than down.

 

I disagree.

It would crumble like Baltimore had done. Sell a house for a 1.00 to pay the unpaid land rent and bills and utilities. Now it's a project to put people to work cleaning bricks from the pile and junk the broken ones. Aka Post WW2 Germany. Those bricks still good will be most valuable when all of this is over and done with as will the land. Blocks of it at a time.

One of my former houses are still standing, a little over a hundred years. The maintenance on it must be a beaut they just converted to central air and replaced the roof to reflect sun. The old slate finally failed after just about a hundred years. If they were careful, the wood inside will be good another 50 years. But soon must face replacement as it was never designed to withstand central air. All three floors of it.

If its central heat, it will be even more expensive. The old oil furnace supporting steam coils under all windows were perfect as long you properly fans in windows during summer to exhaust heat from the cold alleyway out of the top floor. From 1921 until ww2 it was coal before the oil. Stoker coal pea. Shovel a batch into the burner early in the morning for a few hours.

If they did put in central heat with the central air, the electrical cloth covered wiring from 1930's would all have had to come out. The shotgun cartridge protected mains would also had to come out. Modern electronics would suffer and burn long before those shotgun fuses ever heated enough to break the circuit.

The telephone line in would also had to come out, it was the old rotary 4 wire system. There was a satellite dish on top of the kitchen roof among other things. The deck out back is still there. Essentially a sunroom in winter.

Land rent was abolished in the 90's Natrual gas line would be in need of replacement by now from the street. Its been in since 1978 and since 1925 before that. Before world war one, as of 1905 or so maps showed it was about a 10,000 acre dairy farm supporting the city.

 

"Atlantic County NJ" heh, once you get away from Atlantic City you get poverty spec pretty quick.

Even Atlantic City itself has some ghetto on the extreme ends of the boardwalk and on the bay side a few blocks in. When you can fly to the Caribbean from NY in a few hours 12 months a year, why drive to a decaying gambling hub 4 months a year? Oh, and gambling is everywhere now. So not much exclusivity anymore. Hurricane Sandy scared a lot of people away from the coast and NJ taxes are a big disincentive as well.

Delaware seems to be the place to go for Pennsylvanians.

 

Here in Texas, they say home prices will go up no matter the Virus. I hope the legislators get this past the Gov.

State representative asks for property values freeze, protest delay because of COVID-19

The state representative who covers Hunt County in Austin believes freezing tax appraisals at last year’s values would be a wise decision during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rep. Dan Flynn has reached out to Gov. Gregg Abbott, asking him to consider the measure.

“The appraisal districts can expect a wave of appeals and most likely will be overrun with people filing protests at a time when social distancing and minimal crowds will be so very important,” Flynn said in the March 23 letter.


Hunt County Chief Appraiser Brent South said he agrees that it would be a good idea.

“Not only because we are dealing with a health crisis due to the pandemic, we are also in the middle of an economic crisis,” South said.

South said his hands, and others at appraisal districts across the state, are tied, as by statute they are required to file appraisals based on property values as of Jan. 1, 2020.

“That’s going to cause a lot of problems,” South said. “The average home value was raised by 8 to 9 percent.”

Whereas at the start of the year, the local economy was booming, with record employment and retail sales, the arrival of the pandemic has meant huge surges in unemployment and the closure of multiple businesses just as the appraisal notices are going to be released.


“That is going to cause a lot of anxiety and additional stress,” South said.

The appraisals, which were expected to be mailed out April 15, are now scheduled to be released on April 23.

On top of all that, there will be a significant change in the appraisal protest process this year.

“We are going to have a record number of protests,” he said.

But the shelter in place order connected to the pandemic has meant South’s office is closed to the public, meaning no informal face-to-face protests will be conducted.

“We are not going to have people in the office,” he said. Protests will be conducted online or by mail, “and that is going to slow the process considerably.”

The current date to file protests is set on July 1. Flynn’s letter also asked Abbott to allow extending the ending day.

South said he believes it is possible protests could take until September, but added Abbott is the only one who would have the authority to make that happen.