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Erica712 wrote:
Look at those counties in South Carolina with 20%+ unemployment. We drove through there last week on the way to visit my in-laws in PA. We also stopped in Charlotte, NC and the local newspaper headlines were all about how the need for aid of all kinds was still growing fast. (food stamps, Medicaid, etc)
Went on a few errands here last week and noticed many more empty retail storefronts. I would now estimate that a good 25% of every plaza here is empty. The new stip malls that were built are 90% empty. Any kind of small store that sells gifts and home decor is now closed. Every single one I can think of in this town. (and we have our share of million dollar lakefront mansions here, as well as a thriving medical commuinty)
Georgia lawmakers will be holding a special session later this summer to make even more budget cuts because state revenues continue to drop. Teachers are already getting a pay cut, and now it looks like we will have up to a week of furlogh days (unpaid). Mental health services are under major strain in GA. There was already a federal investigation because the state programs were dumping people off at abandoned buildings and the like. After the state vowed to fix the system, we see an article today that they recenly released a woman after she refused to take her meds and cursed the nurses. She was deemed a major threat. Well, shortly after that, she bought $1 worth of gas in a cup, went home, threw it on her mother, and lit a match. End of mother. Dang, it's getting scary around here and you can bet mental health is on the chopping block this summer.
My parents tell me that in their area of Central FL, the local post office now has to lock the entire lobby at 6PM. You can no longer check your mailbox or mail a letter inside. All because homeless people were packing in there and using it as a toilet. Same thing with the library. The county is now looking to outsource the entire library operation. I've never heard of that one before!
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Genesis wrote:
I would estimate that our tourist season is running 30% below normal.
This is dramatically better than it was on spring break though, when the place was a ****ing ghost town. That killed a number of businesses stone dead. This level of traffic won't keep people in business unless it levels off once school restarts, and it won't - not a prayer.
The "high rent" areas (there are a number of 'em around here) are going to all get the horse-dick embedded to the nuts in another couple of months. I'm still seeing lots of "come on in, walk-in special" signs up on the local hotels, and that's a bad, bad sign this time of year - not to mention that I can actually walk around the Destin Commons and find a place to park on a Friday night.
Its busy, but the commercial R/E activity around here for the last few years has been at a level that demands a LOT more traffic than this to keep people's doors open, and it ain't happening.
Olive Garden last night, 7:00 PM, had a 5 minute wait. Last year that would have been an hour or more and a "forget it"; we're WAY down on traffic levels and the "we're ****ed and done" signs will start showing up in store windows come late August.
S7rep wrote:
Here in Lee County the wheels are falling off the bus. Foreclosures have slown to around 80 a day for residential. The only problem is now the loan amounts are 600K, 800K, and some over 1 million. Bank of America owns a property around the corner from me that has a 400K loan against it. The property is in Bank of Americas name and there is not even a door knob on the front door. Half the time you drive by the doors are wide open and it has been like that for at least 3 months. There is vacant commercial real estate sitting empty everywhere you look. Much of it is new construction but the disease is spreading to established (10 years plus) strip centers. Vacancy rates are 50 percent plus at some of the older locations. Our post office is a ghost town and it was one of the busiest I've ever seen back in the hay day... That light you think you see at the end of the tunnel is a train!
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Phantomace wrote:
Take a look at Clark County and Nye County in Southern Nevada.
What's deceptive is that the unemployment rate in Clark (where Las Vegas is) is actually lower than Nye next door.
Here's the thing...
Nye County's largest town population wise (Pahrump) is in the SE corner of the county, about a 60 mile drive outside of downtown Las Vegas. Most of the employment there is actually lower wage service and support for Las Vegas. Many people moved there and bought disposable Hyundai's and the like to commute over the last several years because housing, while ridiculously priced, was still cheaper than a comparable in Las Vegas.
So, that 13% + UE number is actually reflective of lower wage LV jobs going away.
Also, LV's bread and butter has always been the weekend partiers coming in from SoCal. As UE goes up there, it's going to go up here even more.
In short, we are uber ****ed...
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Nuke_ops wrote:
Fidgit, all that money from the Feds for the Katrina rebuilding just started to hit the street in Feb-Mar for the big rebuild projects anyhow. I can't remember how many billions of dollars they've got to spend, but NOLA will be a strong area for construction and such in the coming years. NOLA still a hole, and still ****ing away opportunity.
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