Foreclosures and Community Preservation
My friend Mary is still in her house, but they’ve received a couple of preforeclosure notices. She’s not alone. According to the latest news from RealtryTrac and CNN.com,
Foreclosures hit another record high in August: 304,000 homes were in default and 91,000 families lost their houses. More than 770,000 homes have been repossessed by lenders since August 2007, when the credit crunch took hold.
Her mother-in-law hasn’t told them they can move in with her at this point. I’ve assured her she could come and stay with me for a couple of weeks anyway. Maybe they’ll buy one of those little sheds for a backyard stay there. In any case, I’m worried for them.
Meanwhile in California, whole communities are nearly falling apart.
FLIPPERS and speculators who had nothing invested in Merced beyond money were the first to abandon the community.
Many real estate agents and loan brokers, their customers gone, soon followed. So did commuters who thought they could spend four hours a day making round trips to the San Francisco Bay Area. And the spinners, young men and women hired by the developers to stand at intersections and literally point the way to the new developments, disappeared.
Now developers are pulling out.
Sustainability becomes the next major question, especially for little boom towns like Merced. The key, in my opinion, is to find something unique or special about the town and then market it. In Wilkinsburg - outside of Pittsburgh - an urban farmer named Lenore Schwartz has big plans for her community, thanks largely to the tomato. From growing tomatoes, her business is expanding according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
The project includes the green renovation of a three-story brick house that will incorporate a commercial kitchen for cooking classes, guest room for visiting speakers, greenhouse additions and a central, exposed stone fireplace that will radiate heat and act as a support post when interior walls are removed.
Ms. Schwartz and Mr. Boulos also want the center to include a farmstand, an edible-fish pond, blacksmith forge and other features. They’re working to line up support in the funding community.
In my own community in middle Tennessee, I’ve begged our town to consider a farmer’s market. Having been told “That’s not our job as a town,” my next suggestion is to rezone residential areas to allow for stores like a 10 cent grocery, an art studio, photography or dance studio, garden center. But without someone like Lenore or an investor to lead this charge, it’s unlikely we’ll see that happen.
I’d talk about gasoline now - and the spike in prices due to Hurricane Ike fears - but it’ll ruin your weekend. Instead, I’ll just send happy thoughts your way for an enjoyable two-day break.
