This is true. Only this time we're talking about a couple hundred thousand pieces of depressed property all coming on the market at once, and no buyers in sight.
Smart people are fixing up and selling for what they can get.
The rest of them are just catching on to the fact that they're stuck with no Plan B.
Maybe you're right, maybe it's just a blip that won't mean anything except to the people it affects. I assume the Congressional Budget Office number crunchers are chewing through the numbers as we speak, and have their green eyeshades on and are scrutinzing the bottom line.
Because that's what we're really talking about here, the bottom line. All the yelling about "serves them right" is 2005's old news. It's a new year, out with the old, in with the new.
I know there will be some people hurt very badly. I feel sorry for them and I am glad i am not one of them. Some will make out like bandits by buying dirt cheap and redeveloping. Even that is highly speculative.
The future value of New Orleans property will depend on what the federal government decides to do about the levees, etc. Whatever they decide will take time. As a result, I don't expect to see a lot of rebuilding soon, mostly just cleaning up and fixing up.
Those who were in the blighted areas, the ones also most prone to flooding, are not likely to rebuild. Most of that was rental property anyway, at least I think it was but it had been there a long time. It didn't start blighted, just ended up that way.
Remember, even without a hurricane, with just a heavy rain which occurs pretty often down there, they are totally dependent on the pumps. It floods often as the pumps try to keep up. The drainage systems are also old and many are probably undersized.
I am glad it is not my problem to solve.