Hampton Roads Housing/Real estate/and Economy

[Telmnstr]

So I'm going to retell the story of someone I know who was renting in downtown Norfolk in one of the "better" buildings.

So he comes home one day to find his apartment unit totally flooded. A pipe leak upstairs had resulted in a ton of water flooding their unit. The ceiling actually came down on the floor. A huge mess.

So the property management company tells them they can move downstairs to another unit directly below theirs (I think it was below), since it will take time to fix, and there are units unoccupied.

So once they move all of their crap to the new apartment, the property management company sends them a bill for $60 for not patching the nail holes in the walls where the pictures were. They are like WTF? It wasn't THEIR fault they had to move, and it wasn't an official termination of the lease.

I *think* they managed to talk them out of that, but I'm not sure.

So then they are trying to get cable TV service. There is a cable downstairs for the unit... but no outlet or cable in sight. They go to Cox, and Cox tries to sniff out the cable with some sort of Fox & Hound unit. The guy checks all of the walls. Can't find it.

Dude finally gets people from the building, along with Cox in the room together to prove once and for all that something is messed up. Randomly one of the lower ranking employees of the company said "I seeeeeeem to remember something about this apartment... I think the cable TV hookup is behind the stove." He said the Cox guy has this look like, are you absolutely !!@#ing me? Sure enough, the cable TV hookup was located behind the gas range located in the kitchen.

After dealing with the property management company, he finally just took a better job in Texas and moved.

Edited July 28, 2008 by Telmnstr

[rusthebuss]

So I'm going to retell the story of someone I know who was renting in downtown Norfolk in one of the "better" buildings.

So he comes home one day to find his apartment unit totally flooded. A pipe leak upstairs had resulted in a ton of water flooding their unit. The ceiling actually came down on the floor. A huge mess.

So the property management company tells them they can move downstairs to another unit directly below theirs (I think it was below), since it will take time to fix, and there are units unoccupied.

So once they move all of their crap to the new apartment, the property management company sends them a bill for $60 for not patching the nail holes in the walls where the pictures were. They are like WTF? It wasn't THEIR fault they had to move, and it wasn't an official termination of the lease.

I *think* they managed to talk them out of that, but I'm not sure.

So then they are trying to get cable TV service. There is a cable downstairs for the unit... but no outlet or cable in sight. They go to Cox, and Cox tries to sniff out the cable with some sort of Fox & Hound unit. The guy checks all of the walls. Can't find it.

Dude finally gets people from the building, along with Cox in the room together to prove once and for all that something is messed up. Randomly one of the lower ranking employees of the company said "I seeeeeeem to remember something about this apartment... I think the cable TV hookup is behind the stove." He said the Cox guy has this look like, are you absolutely !!@#ing me? Sure enough, the cable TV hookup was located behind the gas range located in the kitchen.

After dealing with the property management company, he finally just took a better job in Texas and moved.

I bet this all makes you happy to hear that

[MissySchmidt]

Has anyone seen this PR? SBA Study Identifies Hampton Roads as #1 in U.S. for High-Impact Firms

That's a pretty impressive stat for HR, but I've seen little coverage in the press. I googled the report and there are big news stories and conversations all over the U.S. based on a particular city or region's good points brought out in the study.

I wonder if anyone's looked into who these "high-impact" companies are in HR? And what can the cities' Economic Development Departments do to leverage this "impact" for the region?

[vdogg]

Has anyone seen this PR? SBA Study Identifies Hampton Roads as #1 in U.S. for High-Impact Firms

That's a pretty impressive stat for HR, but I've seen little coverage in the press. I googled the report and there are big news stories and conversations all over the U.S. based on a particular city or region's good points brought out in the study.

I wonder if anyone's looked into who these "high-impact" companies are in HR? And what can the cities' Economic Development Departments do to leverage this "impact" for the region?

This is definitely news to me. What criteria do they use to determiune "high impact". What does "high impact" mean exactly.

Well, here's the answer but i'm still confused. I really can't think of what firms in this area fit this description. It seems a description more apt to Nova.

High-impact firms are defined in the report as rapidly growing firms, accounting for almost all employment and revenue growth in the economy although they represent only between 2% and 3% of all business firms.

[metalman]

...and another #1 for the third consecutive year!!!

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/07/forbes-ran...a-best-business

[Telmnstr]

Has anyone seen this PR? SBA Study Identifies Hampton Roads as #1 in U.S. for High-Impact Firms

That's a pretty impressive stat for HR, but I've seen little coverage in the press. I googled the report and there are big news stories and conversations all over the U.S. based on a particular city or region's good points brought out in the study.

I wonder if anyone's looked into who these "high-impact" companies are in HR? And what can the cities' Economic Development Departments do to leverage this "impact" for the region?

Don't get me wrong, jobs are good. But these high-impact jobs are all welfare companies. You know, companies that receive their money from the US Gov't. Defense and homeland security are often just wasteful spending to keep middle class people employed.

I'd rather see companies that make a true impact with people, and companies that bring in money from overseas (other countries.) When a defense contractor gets paid, the national debt goes up.

[scm]

Don't get me wrong, jobs are good. But these high-impact jobs are all welfare companies.

Do you actually know who these high impact companies are, or are you just speculating?

[scm]

Has anyone seen this PR? SBA Study Identifies Hampton Roads as #1 in U.S. for High-Impact Firms

That's a pretty impressive stat for HR, but I've seen little coverage in the press.

Before everyone gets all caught up in this irrational exuberance, time for a little analysis. The high ranking comes, primarially from the fact that this MSA has an abnormally low number of firms to begin with, and the ranking is based on ratio of high impact firms to total firms -- not the number of high impact firms as an absolute.

If you look at the three MSAs above us and their number of high impact firms, Orlando had 3,354, Indianapolis had 1,904 and San Antonio had 1,687. Three below us -- Las Vegas -- 2,476, Columbus -- 2,014, Charlotte -- 2,389. So in reality, in the cohort of seven MSAs from #28 to #34, we ranked next to last in number of high impact firms (1,813) -- just that we started from a low total (70,323) so the ratio looks large.

Another impact from the addiction to the Navy cocaine........

[scm]

San Antonio plays to its strengths to survive

More important still, city officials and economists say, a fundamental change has taken place in the San Antonio economy. Gone are the days when the town's economy boiled down to military and tourism. Those two sectors still play an important role, yes, but efforts over the past 20 years to diversify into health care, high-tech data centers and manufacturing have resulted in a more resilient economy, the experts say.

Interesting article on how San Antonio, an area much like HR with large military and tourism economies, has successfully diversified into new growth areas. I've been on the road for two weeks, but I'm formulating some thoughts wrapped around the "high impact" story line, as well as some of the opinions in the "white flight" topic, into a potential way forward for HR. Some of it will look much like this article.

[Telmnstr]

A Pilot article dropped this weekend with the comment box turned off. Looks like some sorta insider deal:

http://hamptonroads.com/node/474920

"Area has favorable market for home buying vs. renting"

A few things wrong with it:

"The Virginia Beach/Norfolk/Newport News, VA - NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, or MSA, was determined to be one of the 66 places where monthly housing costs were in line with fair market rents, according to the findings."

They are saying buying at 75% of the median, which is $212K, is the equiv of renting. But they TOTALLY ignore costs like taxes, insurance, mortgage insurance (PMI), costs of upkeep. They also say there should be equity price gains by 2012..

They ignore the upper end of the market that isn't selling, that will put pressure on the lower end. They also ignore tha rents are far disconnected from purchase prices.

A friend rents a 4 bedroom house for $1600/month. The nearby homes sell for ~$300K that are similar. If you multiply the rent times 120, you get $192K. Owner paid $160K a number of years ago, perhaps 2003? I seriously expect it could easily revert to that.

I'd be cool with it if the purchase payments (PITI) were around $1600, although I wouldn't want that place or area.

You could do a 15 year loan on 170K for $1600 (not PITI).

My friend does well, so for all I know similar places rent for less. There is no shortage of nearby homes for rent and sale. The hood is sprouting the signs like weeds.

[Telmnstr]

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/08/retail-spa...-harbor-heights

Retail space for sale at Norfolk's Harbor Heights

Looks like they are trying to sell the "condo" that The Marketplace / Farm Fresh occupies.

1/3rd of the building is still for sale. Didn't know that.

[Telmnstr]

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/08/smoke-norf...sidents-streets

"Smoke in Norfolk apartment building sends residents into the streets"

I was *PISSED*

[Telmnstr]

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/08/julys-home...an-price-steady

"July's home sales still down from last year; median price steady"

Not sure what to make of it. The asking prices are definitely coming down. No mention of what happens when all of the un-sellable high end homes actually start being liquidated.

[Telmnstr]

So it's official, they've bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The gov't took over it.

One moron in charge mentioned how great it will be when interest rates go down, the mania will magically boom again. It will be good times. Totally ignoring the TRUTH, which is, the issue is prices are too high, not interest rates are too high. Interest rates are still very low. And as any fence sitter waiting to buy a house should know, higher interest rates can be good!! Drive the sales prices down.

So they drag it out longer. Trying to save the home price values and screwing over young people. You know, those old and well paid coworkers of yours that say stuff like "Man, I couldn't afford my house today if I had to buy it!! I don't know how these kids afford it!" They get sold a noose to hang themselves with.

And of course MAYBE the gov't will you know, stop writing $100,000 checks MONTHLY to the people who forged the paperwork at Fannie Mae in order to receive over $100 MILLION in bonuses under false pretenses. They've already had punishment for their actions, which was a $3.2 million dollar fine, totally covered by insurance. Yes, they got to keep over $100,000,000 in ill gotten gains, and they are still paid $100,000 a MONTH .. now paid by the US Gov't.

ARRRRGH

Anyone else feel like America absolutely deserves to crash and burn?

[Telmnstr]

New condo project starting @ Wards Corner:

Wards Corner condo project to take the place of apartments

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/09/wards-corn...lace-apartments

My account on Pilot is now shoved in some moderation mode, so none of my comments get posted. Perhaps because I referenced the "Jhag" building, which is the ex-hag Precision Bearings building that JFCOM took over. The JFCOM buildings start with J, and the building had "hag Precision Bearings" on it so people called it the Jhag building, not in hate. What can you do.

My censored comments. Sure partially a diss track but was hoping lots of people would pour their hearts into heated replies:

Heh

This comment is awaiting staff approval.

Submitted by Ethan on Mon, 09/15/2008 at 11:46 pm.

The entry price point of the condos, $150K, is around what the median income family in Virginia Beach can afford, based on census data. A little bit under. I believe Norfolk has a much lower median household income. However, I bet the low end condo is some lame studio. What I'm saying is, these are mania prices. Way too high. I just busted open Realtytrac.com, and found $120K bank owned for sale detached home 2b/2b in Raleigh NC, with garage, 1200 sq ft, nice looking. These prices are comparable to Ashburn VA. Way too high. Sorry. Then again, probably counting on retirees since that is who likes condos.

[rusthebuss]

I would like to see plans for this. I wonder if they have the sketchs already done

[Telmnstr]

Hmmm. Interesting news lately, huh fellas? This is what I was talking about. Their little bailout thing. It's not to bail out the little people, it's to bail out the rich people. Once the taxpayers fund the purchase of the garbage from all the rich banks... and all that inventory is dumped on the market... what do you think THAT will do to home prices then?

So sad. So avoidable.

Oh well!

What is even worse is seeing all the people fight about republican versus democrat parties. They should both be punished, eliminated, whatever... But I guess it distracts the people from seeing how they are taken advantage of.

It's interesting to see old quotes and how they relate so well to today...

"Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves.'" -- Andrew Jackson

[Telmnstr]

Let's take a moment to look back... and remember. Remember when those "investors" were sleeping in tents on sidewalks in Miami to get hold of condo contracts? They would immediately resell their option to buy contracts for $50K more than they paid.

National Association of Realtors took in $60 billion in commissions in 2005 alone.

Ahh yea, the good ol days!

As hard as they are trying to "save" the over inflated home values, it ain't coming back... not until all the sheep forget and do it again!

[Telmnstr]

Article in the Pilot yesterday about epic fail Granby Tower. Some interesting comments as well.

I hope the people are able to recover their deposits.

And I hope the market continues to decline in terms of unrealistic asking prices.

[scm]

Small amount of good news -- no HR stores among the ones Circuit City plans on closing:

VIRGINIA:

_ Charlottesville, Manassas, McLean

[urbanvb]

Sounds pretty bad for foreclosures in HR. yikes.

Housing foreclosures in region spiked in October

Foreclosure activity in Hampton Roads spiked last month and has increased nearly threefold since a year ago as banks took over more homes and homeowners across the region struggled to pay mortgages, a report to be released today found.

The pace of foreclosure activity in Hampton Roads is higher than it is nationwide.

Koch said he expects to see foreclosure activity double or triple in the coming year.

[Telmnstr]

Sounds pretty bad for foreclosures in HR. yikes.

Bad for the banks that were out to make lots of money on the loans.

Good for the person that sold the house and already got a huge check.

Good for the future buyers, as prices decline they will be able to buy without devoting as much to the cost of housing, and can hopefully spend money on consumer goods and save for their retirement.

High housing costs is bad for everyone except the banks, flippers and home builders.

Crash and burn baby.

[Telmnstr]

Looks like the Pilot is finally starting to report a little on the housing.. articles that don't look like sales pitches for developers.

Sob story from someone loosing their crib the other day. Probably a 3 way with greed. Funny comment from a Realtor aghast that people are attacking them. Geez, no barrier to entry, a get rich quick profession over the past few years and an obsolete profession if it wasn't for their MLS database and in some areas their epic powerful lobby (their lobby is very powerful on capitol hill as well). A $300K home sale would result in $18K in Realtor fees. We have the internets now, middlemen can go away.

Today an article about the appraisal pressures. Thanks, but 3 years late.

Meanwhile no one will admit it. The problem with the economy isn't that houses aren't selling at prices above what incomes can support, fueled by fraudulent loans. It's that the houses _ARE_ overpriced, and there are too many because it was a get rich quick scheme. While the 50% loss in value will hurt some, it's needed to fix things. Those gains should have never been, and have to be given back.

But at last, they will do everything in their power to prevent that from happening... and wreck our country in the process.

Oh yea, I doubt it would fly in Hampton Roads since people don't hang to have discussions they just watch American Idol and the 700 Club... but would anyone be interested in having get-togethers with the subject of housing bubble for Hampton Roads?

[Telmnstr]

So it continues. Christmas was epic bad, 1 in 10 mortgages (almost) are behind in the USA. People still have insane wishing prices on homes here in Hampton Roads.

The gov't is doing so many things wrong to try to "save" things. They want to respike the punch bowl, to watch the party continue. But it's not happening.

[Telmnstr]

So what does everyone predict is going to happen with all of the "high end" apartments coming online in downtown Norfolk? There is a huge number of new units being built. The builders will put in the normal lipstick, like granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, call them luxury, and try to charge very high rents. But will the market support this?

There are more open listings with the company I rent from now than ever it seems. I see for rent signs here and there, but have no solid numbers to go by. In other areas, more statistics are published. We don't get price per square foot figures from our Realtor association like other areas get.

If anything, I want to pay less than I pay now. I understand some people will pay huge percentage of their income to live somewhere for the status of bragging they live there, but in tight times we will see how that plays out.