[Dan from Michigan]

Jobs, jobs, jobs, and jobs. The Granholm economy in full force.

[sarasmom]

True.
But how much of the real estate bust is fueled by the speculators that bought homes looking to make a quick and unearned return on their dubious investment?

[MaryFromMichigan]

Sounds like this side of the state, too.
Way overbuilt.

[drt1]

Yep. Mich in general is a real estate wreck. Ann Arbor is especially vulnerable because of it's ultra Lib City Council and the ultra high property taxes which usually accompany this form of local Gov't.

[jim_trent]

> Through August 2005 the median sale price of a home in Washtenaw County was $227,500, compared to $230,000 that time last year.

That is not a "bust". That is a slowdown.

[cripplecreek]

The house next to me Was sold by the original owners for $149,000 about 6 years ago. It's been sold twice more in the first 3 years and has only been occupied for a few months in the last 3. Today the asking price is $225,000 and the owners expects to lose money on it.

From talking to people who have looked at it, it seems the house is too far from Ann Arbor, and about $60,000 too much.

[stylin19a]

From 9/4/05 Detroit Free Press

"York Township: This Washtenaw County community drew a lot of attention recently when Toyota chose it as a site for an engineering and testing operations facility. It is a hotbed of residential real estate activity. In the past 10 years, the area right off U.S. 23 has grown due to the luxury homes that have gone up. Most likely it will continue to grow, as those Toyota employees start looking for somewhere to live.",

[Black Tooth]

Big Mama winter is coming fast. I'd move too.

[Luigi Vasellini]

Obviously you didnt hear the radio guy on WJIM. He declared Granholms "Cool Shitties" initiative a success. He said it created 400 new jobs. The Cool Shitties budget was only 100 mill. Thus each job only cost the taxpayers $250,000.00. Granholms a genius....and the radio guy is ...a... Tool!!!

[goldstategop]

Its half the median for a comparable home in California. Here its $600,000 and you need a $100,000 income just to pay the mortgage. In Michigan, the price is still low enough to keep it within reach of the middle class but not for long if real estate prices continue to surge.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[lewislynn]

It's a bitter pill for home sellers who daily see stories about the super-heated home appreciation in other markets around the country. The national average for appreciation was 14 percent in 2004. Washtenaw County last year averaged just 1.5 percent appreciation, and is on pace for virtually no gain this year

Location, location, location....

[txzman]

"...coupled with a flood of new houses.."

This has killed selling an older home in DFW - so many new and updated houses on the market, areas are seeing pricing drops of $10-15K (Richardson, Plano and Grand Prairie)

[gwb2OO4]

With all due respect I don't see why anybody would want to move to MI. The state's economy is in shambles, devastated from the loss of factory jobs and the decline of the American carmakers. Young poverty-stricken males roam the countryside, stealing everything in sight and selling drugs wherever you go (and not just in the Motor City - along the lake shore, Benton Harbor, Grand Rapids, etc.). It's the most depressing place I've ever seen in the First World.

What surprises me the most is that property values have not collapsed in Ann Arbor. (Yet.)

[WildPlum]

The Delphi BK should help things out.

These "uneducated boobs" had no right to earn such high wages with which to purchase such properties in these "neighborhoods" anyway.

All "works out in the end", eh?

[Blackirish]

wait till the Fla. market falls flat. Over 60,000.00 condos being built in Miami alone. Ya think middle America will retire in hurricane central. It's over. look for lakefront property in N. Carolina.

[Dick Vomer]

who wants to live in Mich...????

Big deal. High taxes, crappy weather, libs out the whazoo.... sounds like East Lansing, Detroit, Ann Arbor and the rest of the blue states are gonna have a "bubble" cause people are voting with their feet.

Atlas is shrugging.... down to states with lower taxes... if we could just keep the parasite lawyers and umbilical-cord/ convention center liberal victims up in the blue states life would be good.

I say that everybody that wants to live off the government nipple needs to move to Cali, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Washington and any other generic Northeaster liberal nirvana and leave the rest of the country to produce stuff and make money.

[montag813]

The housing bubble burst in Michigan 20 years ago and never re-inflated.

[Moleman]

My home has been for sale since January. I have alreadyt moved on a bridge loan, expecting to sell ASAP. Michigan's housing market and gerneral economy is not good.
We did have more lookers over the weekend, please wish us luck.

[SunkenCiv]

"many people have been counting on gaining wealth through home appreciation"

the would-be sellers acquired their down payment by flipping IPOs in the 1990s. ;')

[quantim]

Somehow I missed this thread...I live in north Washtenaw and the housing is out of control and I'm only a dozen miles north of AA. There are thousands of new homes being built around here and are sold before they're finished.

#30 is dead-on.