Will the outer suburbs become the next slums?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Geez PP, what is the point of that nastiness? Takoma Park may not be my first choice either, but I would prefer it over an outer burb in Loudon County for sure. Luckily, I live in my first choice neighborhood (in NWDC) and I hope you and the Takoma-Park-Poster do too!! There is no need to bash other people's location choices. Variety is the spice of life afterall.

I wasn't bashing Takoma Park. I was curious about home prices in that particular area, since I've heard good things. I was EXPLAINING that you can AFFORD to live close in but it will be SMALL, but doable.

Could you please point out where I bashed Takoma Park? I live in Alexandria-we have foreclosures too.

[Anonymous]

Places like Loudon County are booming now (or until a couple of years ago), but nothing is built to last: the place gets uglier with every new tyvek development and there is no public transport to speak of. Bringing in a metro in a few years time will be too late - it has been built for sprawl with insufficient density to make public transport sustainable.
I wonder if over the next decade or two it will get more crowded, the demographics will change, the schools will get worse as the white flight begins, and you will be left with a scarred ugly mess of sprawling concrete, plywood, tarmac and broken dreams on what was once pristine countryside as the developers move into west virginia...

[Anonymous]

I read the Washington Post real estate section religiously-my husband is a real estate guru. I was shocked to find SFH priced in the $200K range in Takoma Park-but we also found a SFH in Woodbridge for $165K. All of these are foreclosures.

Alexandria has SFH priced extremely low. A lot of these homes need some TLC but hey-if you're handy and up for the challenge-and it's affordable-why not?

[Anonymous]

Takoma Park has become unaffordable for many buyers with prices reaching over a million dollars in some cases. But there are tiny foreclosures for sale at good prices. Beware, though: There's a poster on here who hates Takoma Park and Silver Spring. Too much diversity, I suspect.

[Anonymous]

In the European cities I'm familiar with, this is absolutely the case. The high-density suburbs are the problem areas, and the "inner city" is all rich folks. Of course, in Paris anyway, it was built that way-- ugly high rises for poor families, instead of single-family homes for the middle class, so it's not a question of middle-class neighborhoods becoming home to a bad element.

[Anonymous]

http://www.homes.com/Content/ListingDetail.cfm?City=TAKOMA%20PARK&State=MD&Radius=0&FirstRec=46&OrderBy=price%3AD&Bedrooms=&FullBaths=&MinPrice=&MaxPrice=&PriceRange=&AmenitiesList=&PropType=%20&TotalRecs=65&MinSqFt=&MaxSqFt=&LotSize=&MinYear=&MaxYear=&PropIdList=70638388,70642232,62516907,57323416,70601488,69004635,59867902,66629296,63037939&PropId=59867902&NHC=1&searchorig=main

Here's one-asking price of $250K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.homes.com/Content/ListingDetail.cfm?City=TAKOMA%20PARK&State=MD&Radius=0&FirstRec=46&OrderBy=price%3AD&Bedrooms=&FullBaths=&MinPrice=&MaxPrice=&PriceRange=&AmenitiesList=&PropType=%20&TotalRecs=65&MinSqFt=&MaxSqFt=&LotSize=&MinYear=&MaxYear=&PropIdList=70638388,70642232,62516907,57323416,70601488,69004635,59867902,66629296,63037939&PropId=59867902&NHC=1&searchorig=main

Here's one-asking price of $250K.

http://www.homes.com/Content/ListingDetail.cfm?City=TAKOMA%20PARK&State=MD&Radius=0&FirstRec=46&OrderBy=price%3AD&Bedrooms=&FullBaths=&MinPrice=&MaxPrice=&PriceRange=&AmenitiesList=&PropType=%20&TotalRecs=65&MinSqFt=&MaxSqFt=&LotSize=&MinYear=&MaxYear=&PropIdList=70638388,70642232,62516907,57323416,70601488,69004635,59867902,66629296,63037939&PropId=70638388&NHC=1&searchorig=main

I had copied the wrong listing. SFH-$289K.

[Anonymous]

There was a great article in a recent issue of The Atlantic about how outer 'burbs may become the next slums due to the subprime/foreclosure crisis and changing American lifestyles brought on by high gas prices, etc. A really good read.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/subprime

[Anonymous]

simple answer no. Too many people with good jobs and higher educations and of course pleanty of jobs in the burbs. Of course there will always be pockets..Sterling Park in Loudoun Manassas Park in Prince William, but those are neighborhoods heavily laden with illegals and very low skilled workers. Since there is no public transport (and the mentioned counties are currently inhospitable to illegals), gas prices will rise and they will have to pack it in even more, dozens to a house closer in. The social problems will just migrate back to the city centers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In the European cities I'm familiar with, this is absolutely the case. The high-density suburbs are the problem areas, and the "inner city" is all rich folks. Of course, in Paris anyway, it was built that way-- ugly high rises for poor families, instead of single-family homes for the middle class, so it's not a question of middle-class neighborhoods becoming home to a bad element.

Anonymous wrote:simple answer no. Too many people with good jobs and higher educations and of course pleanty of jobs in the burbs. Of course there will always be pockets..Sterling Park in Loudoun Manassas Park in Prince William, but those are neighborhoods heavily laden with illegals and very low skilled workers. Since there is no public transport (and the mentioned counties are currently inhospitable to illegals), gas prices will rise and they will have to pack it in even more, dozens to a house closer in. The social problems will just migrate back to the city centers.

Yes, there was a reason that the riots happened in the suburbs of Paris! The poor and disenfranchised live there.

As for the social problems migrating back to the city centers, I wouldn't count on it. I live in a neighborhood where the poor are being pushed out. With gas at over $4 a gallon, I can't see the poor beating out the middle and upper classes in getting first dibs on a house/apartment near a metro stop any time soon. (Unless of course someone detonates a dirty bomb in my Capitol Hill neighborhood. Then all bets are off.) But you are right about employment in burbs (she said, grumbling about her commute waaay out the red line) so maybe that will have an impact.

[Anonymous]

People won't want 4k square foot when they can't afford to heat the upstairs.

There are many old big houses in the US that have been broken up into smaller apartments.

[Anonymous]

pp, these cheapo new houses aren't tough enough to be broken up.

[Anonymous]

That won't stop illegal conversions - You should see down-town Hot Springs Arkansas. Beautiful wood houses that clearly can't handle all the electric power the multiple families need. Fires are common.

[Anonymous]

All these busy moms so worried about the burbs!

Aren't you city gals normally busying yourselves walking to get some coffee, to the park, or grocery store?

[Anonymous]

You know, it really is the whole suburban mentality that is driving this economic crisis. You all want no traffic, cheap gas, huge and cheap housing, close to Metro (though you'll never actually use it), great schools with all the "extras" and support for gifted students, special ed students and struggling students with learning disabilities. YET no one wants to actually PAY for these services!!! Everyone wants to keep their SUVs, drive into and clog city centers without paying any income tax in the city, have free or cheap parking and scoff at the idea of paying tolls or a tax to drive on commuter roads or into the city center. Really, everyone needs to get a grip and actually PAY for what they USE.

What will it actually take for people to change their attitudes? Their lifestyles? It's the sense of entitlement and selfishness that is driving this country and economy into the ground.