21Aug
The bridge over the Trinity River connecting 7th street to downtown is facing an overhaul from the city. Inspections point to a marginal condition of the structure, and the city is anticipating a rebuild in 2010. Estimates suggest that the closure would be in effect for about 10 months, and construction could end some time in early 2011. During the downtime the city suggests traffic be diverted to Lancaster.
I understand the need to overhaul the bridge but this is a terrible congestion for downtown traffic, and could really hurt nearby business. They say that there would be incetives for early completion, and hefty penalties late completion; but in my experience everything always takes twice as long as suggested.
A closure of 7th street bridge will be a major headache for the city. I regret that it comes so close to major developments along 7th street. All of the new business and residential has really congested the area, and will only continue to do so.
20Aug
A third of everyone on your street owes more on their home than the property is worth. At least statistically speaking that is true. And that means the number of homes which are overleveraged in DFW reaches into the tens of millions.
The common thought on a property which is “underwater” is that the devaluation in the market has forced the value of the home to be worth less than your note. While that may be true in some circumstances, the more serious trend is taking out second mortgages on properties. It is simply fiscally unsound, and altogether to commonplace. People like to point fingers for the meltdown in real estate, but we might want to look at ourselves and our neighbors before we displace to much blame.
18Aug
Dallas Fort Worth Foreclosures went up about 32% from the comparable (third) quarter last year. That’s really saying something. An incredible number of almost 16,000 homes defaulting, just this quarter alone. Collin, Denton, and Tarrant counties all set record foreclosure numbers this quarter. About 45,000 homes have defaulted this year.
The Business Press says that since 2000 The area has quadrupled it’s foreclosures.
17Aug
Apparently area home prices stopped declining in the second quarter and remained relatively flat. I suppose you could call this good news. Although I wouldn’t expect the markets to rebound into positive territory exceptionally quickly.
Of course the second quarter ends in june which is when people typically begin to make their real estate purchases and relocations. So perhaps we may even see a little uptick in the third quarter. Still I wouldn’t expect a strong rebound for some time. People will still be cautious.
Most likely the fed will begin raising rates soon. This will probably also dampen home buying.
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