What does the recession look like where you are? (X-Posted from GDP)

[SidneyCarton]

I live in Riverside County, California, one of several epicenters of the foreclosure crisis. At present the only region of the country which has a higher unemployment rate than the "Inland Empire" which includes my town, is Detroit. The number of homes being foreclosed on and payments being defaulted on in the region is incredible, I forget the actual statistic, but it is astoundingly high. The pitiful image of people begging change in front of stores, freeway onramps and streetcorners has also become more common, although in fairness, they were pretty common around here even before the media took notice (proof positive that things have been bad a lot longer than anyone would like to admit.)

However, one of the most noticible things for me personally are the vacant apartments. My family lives in a "resonably priced" (If such a thing exists in Riverside, we currently pay more in rent than my parents paid in Mortgage on the house I grew up in) apartment complex not far from the University. When we first moved in, the lower rents (in comparison to the neighboring complexes) essentially insured that no apartment in the place remained vacant for long. But in the past months, there have been numerous apartments which have remained empty, with their darkened windows leering at us in the evenings. I can see similar empty apartments in neighboring complexes nearby, which have remained vacant for some time as well.

People don't just vanish, which means that the people who otherwise would be living in these apartments, are living somewhere. Some are probably living with family, others in shelters, still others in the "tent cities" that are sometimes mentioned by the news down here. These empty apartments stand as mute witness to me about the shock of this recession. Their silence is deafening.

How about you, what do you see, and what does it tell you?

[ogneopasno]

1. It's kind of odd -- I live in an economically precarious area anyway, in a boom-and-bust region

that relies on mining, so it's not as bad as it could be, I think. People learned to "make do" here a long time ago because of the boom/bust cycle, and so highs aren't quite as high as elsewhere, and the lows don't hit quite as hard, either.

[SidneyCarton]

2. One of the problems with SoCal is that we are pretty much divorced from our rural roots.

Hell, at the height of the real-estate bubble, pot-growers were leasing whole houses as giant hydroponic farms! (We don't even grow our pot outside anymore!)

[Jack Bone]

3. It looks like 1982 all over again....

I live in Kokomo, Indiana where Chrysler employs around 8,000 people and Delphi employs another 2,000 or so. Business' are closing, vacant homes w/ "For Sale" signs in the front yards.

A good friend of mine told me that there are some great bargains at the pawn shops. I just can't find the strength to go and buy something that someone else bought, w/ dreams and aspirations to make their lives better, just because it's a good deal. Karma's a funny thing...ya know?

[SidneyCarton]

4. It is.

As I watch real-estate prices return to sanity around here I am glad that I was too broke (starving student) to get caught up in the buying craze, but I mourn that this return to sanity, which may yet benefit me with an affordable residence, had to come at the ruin of millions.

[oldnslo]

5. I'm not seeing much of it here, in the Portland, OR area

The freeways are still clogged all the time, restaurants seem busy, nobody's moving out of big, fancy houses in my neighborhood. New cars everywhere.
I'm beginning to wonder if it isn't all just a hoax.
It's gotta be bad somewhere, but it isn't real noticible here yet.

[SidneyCarton]

6. I hope it stays that way for you.

I've always wanted to live in the Northwest (I think all Californians do, that's why we're not particularly welcome there) so I hope it stays nice, something ought to.

[grasswire]

12. I don't know what part of town you live in...

....but the newspaper has noted that restaurants have had their worst year in many decades, and many restaurants have closed. Clackamas Town Center Mall is now in bankruptcy (the parent company), and small retailers all over town are shuttering their doors.

Meanwhile, rental prices are going higher and higher as foreclosures mount and people move to rental properties.

The home my family rents (for almost $2000 per month!) will be sold by the bank in a couple of months because the landlady has not paid mortgage payments on it since September. I have no idea what we are going to do, as I'm told our deposits will not be recovered.

[Liberal_in_LA]

17. Hunger grows fast in Oregon

http://www.thedalleschronicle.com/news/2009/02/news02-05-09-02.shtml

February 5, 2009

Hunger grows fast in Oregon
Oregon Food Bank reports a 15 percent hike in emergency food

SALEM (AP) — The Oregon Food Bank is dealing with a record level of requests for emergency food. They say the numbers are driven by the economic fallout, and they doubt the increased demand will let up any time soon.
Oregon Food Bank saw a 15 percent increase in the distribution of emergency food boxes — packages meant to feed small families for about a week at a time — during the last half of 2008 compared to that period the previous year.
Some regional food banks have seen even greater increases, the highest being a 40 percent rise in Astoria.
“We’ve seen a tremendous growth in need,” said Rachel Bristol, the CEO of Oregon Food Bank. “The numbers are just astounding.”

[tosh]

7. This rural area had too few jobs "in the best of times" and the nearby

small city has had plant closings.

I hand-delivered my payroll reporting to the regional Department of Labor office a few weeks ago and the place was PACKED with people filing for benefits and searching the job listings. A staffmember there told me that they had never seen numbers like these before.

We have had break-ins at small businesses lately at a rate of 2 or 3 per week. In the past this rarely happened, almost never.

Foreclosure notices in the local weekly newspaper, once limited to mobile-homes and their small lots, now include large tracts of land and some larger houses.

We already had great numbers of families living way below the poverty level. The state is cutting its budget & slashing social services right and left with repugs in control.

So very sad.

[Warpy]

8. This state is supposedly not terribly affected by the crisis

but McMansion neighborhoods were overbuilt to satisfy mostly out of state speculators who have either dumped them on the market or simply skedaddled. The areas are full of strip malls that are getting to be ghost malls. That started last year.

This year the "missing tooth" appearance of strip malls has extended all over the city as both chains and struggling small businesses have gone under. Restaurants are closing, especially the mid level types between fast food and dining. Traffic during the week is noticeably lighter, although heavier than it was when gas was nearly $4.00/gallon.

One particularly sad strip mall near me housed Circuit City, Comp USA, Linens and Things and Foot Locker. All went under, leaving one end of the mall totally deserted and the rest under siege. This mall is less than five years old, one of the nicer ones. Soon it will be weeds and broken glass, can't make it here any more.

I haven't been to the big shopping mall, but I'm willing to bet the "sale" signs are presaging the same thing happening there that's happened to the more precarious businesses in the strip malls.

I've long said that recession meant most of us didn't have the money to buy things and depression meant there was nowhere left to buy them. We're getting to depression very quickly.

[SidneyCarton]

9. I think you're right,

There is a mall full of furniture stores just outside of Murrieta, near Temecula. They all opened at the height of the housing boom, the Wickes is already closed, and several others are folding.

I wen't looking for a breakfast nook a few months back and had a furniture store owner practically beg me to let him order us something from the catalog. (We couldn't afford it, and ended up finding one on Craigslist for $300.00 less than what we would have been quoted.)

We may soon have very few places to buy things at the very least. (Though I suspect there will always be Walmart.)

:scared:

[AnneD]

10. Houston has, for the most part been sheltered......

from the recession. Most shopping places are dead during the week and busy during the weekend. We do have pockets of foreclosures.

We got hit hard during the 80's and were it with the S&L and RE bust. Everyone at least 50 years or older saw this one coming and folks were more conservative financially speaking for the last few years so we are in a good position for another few years.

But we feel you pain. We suffered from 1982-92. It took 10 years to recover. And once we recovered-we diversified the economy and started being more prudent.

[notesdev]

11. In Washington DC area

You wouldn't even know there was a recession on if you didn't read the news. You want an easy job as a bureaucrat that you can't be fired from unless you commit a felony in the office... welcome to the land of opportunity.

[amandabeech]

14. I also live in DC--Montgomery County--and I see problems here.

In my development, there are a growing number of FOR SALE signs morphing into FOR RENT signs. That means that the RE market isn't moving much.

A lot of condo complexes are having great difficulty collecting their fees from folks who are really strapped.

Also, crime is spreading from the least affluent areas, mostly eastern side of the county, into the more affluent communities in the western side. I'm in the middle near the metro, and the number of burglaries here are definitely increasing.

I've been temping but need a real job now. I'm not finding it easy to get into the bureaucracy. If you have a moment, I'd appreciate a PM with a few hints. You obviously have the inside line.

[notesdev]

15. Send me your info

and I'll see if I have any leads appropriate for you. Let me know what skills and work experience you have and where geographically you would need to be. The government keeps adding jobs, and it doesn't look to be reversing that trend anytime soon.

[truedelphi]

19. One good thing is that as people go out of denial, rentals will again be affordable

Right after the economy soured, rental prices actually went higher, because so many people who were walking away from their over priced homes had to rent instead.

Glad to see that people owning the homes are deciding to make them useful.

[Hello_Kitty]

16. I suspect the DC area will see an upsurge in the next few years

I personally know about 6 people who have moved there for what sound like pretty good jobs. Unfortunately I'm not a bureaucrat or I'd see what I could get.

[barb162]

13. I see nothing unusual in my immediate area.

But I do wonder where people are living when they lose their houses. I suspect they move in with their families. The papers are mentioning foreclosures rising, but I do not see more than the usual for sale signs in my immediate area. I know the next town over has a lot of foreclosures but I never had any reason to go there so I never see it directly.

[PassingFair]

18. Here's what it looks like where I am:

Michigan is going down the tubes.
I am being told that every week
at work may be my last.

I have been looking around, and no
one is hiring.

My husband has made only about $12,000 a year
average for the past 5 years as a free-lance
designer/illustrator.

I have 2 elderly relatives to take care of,
so a move would be almost impossible.

Sucks to be me.

[barb162]

23. Where once every single business and store

had "hiring" signs on their front doors up to about 3 yrs ago, I see no signs anymore.

[PassingFair]

24. Worse here, as many, MANY former businesses are now EMPTY

storefronts with FOR LEASE signs posted.

STILL, people are clueless about what is
happening...

Our choices, when we CAN afford to buy,
are becoming severely limited.

We are headed for DEPRESSION in Michigan.

[barb162]

25. I think of Michigan and Ohio as already in depression

and other states soon to follow. What's happened to auto and other manufacturers around the country has been absolutely devastating for a few decades now. The fact that workers are demonstrating in Europe over losing their jobs and here people don't and the fact that people keep voting for Republicans in Congress, etc., are some of the problems. The construction industry is in a depression right now, with 30% unemployment I believe. I'm wondering where all these people are who had forecloures.

[PassingFair]

26. Many have left the state.

My mother is trying to sell her house in
Detroit (my brother lived there until last
year), and we had to get SQUATTERS out of
it 2 months ago!

So, many people are either renting, moving
in with family or just plain squatting.

[barb162]

27. Oh

the squatters. I heard of that from a friend of mine. I think it's becoming fairly common. Probably abandoning property is going to become more common too. Another thing is thieves just break into foreclosed houses and start ripping appliances and piping out. Even siding is being stolen.

I hope your mom gets that house sold soon.

[PassingFair]

28. Me too, although if things get any worse, I'LL probably need it!

Mom doesn't want to deal with renters, but
I'm afraid that the house will be pillaged
by furnace thieves...luckily the neighbor's
keep an eagle eye on the place.

The police were able to evict the squatters
before 48 hours had elapsed, but not without
some major anxiety on everyone's (ours AND
the squatters...) part!

[The Brethren]

20. Very good question.

My partner and I live in the south-west region. We bought our home in the last year and the town we live in is a beautiful location with a variety of incomes levels -- mostly those upper-middle class including a lot of old, established homes.

Our town has also been a very successful seasonal tourists area that is mostly economically quiet right now till spring through fall. So the crisis isn't showing up quite as much perhaps as other areas in the state. Except some local business owners have been cutting back on employees more so than usual. One for ex., that I know of fired all of his staff after the holidays and will be running his business by himself to keep his company going; much like a lot of small to med. size business owners are doing nationwide to deal with the crisis. I hope this will change by spring, but I have a feeling it won't. Another local vendor told me while I was talking about the need to buy more USA products that she and her business partner are trying to buy more USA products, except they're too expensive. So they have to sell both imports and domestic products to keep their business open.

Because of the way our town is set up, it is not uncommon to see a number of shops closed for the season. However, I've also noticed recently some vacancy signs on shop doors. This is a little odd to me considering the town is limited in space for shops. So to complete, a business will usually stay open yr. round if they can afford it. Or they'll lease a building till spring reserving that area. Perhaps it's an issue of one business transitioning to another -- I hope so.

Statewide the picture looks worse. The crisis is clearly showing up in the number of job losses and companies closing. And as you mentioned, rentals vacancies are unusually high. Which concerns mean me a lot. And as you said people don't just vanish, not unless this is the Twilight Zone. I'm very glad that you've noticed what is going on as well. The rise in vacancies is not a good sign at all, esp. for those who may now be homeless. It also means the rental market is losing money which also adds to the crisis.

[grasswire]

21. a rise in rental vacancies would be a good thing in this city

Prices are high, and renters are at risk of being evicted because the landlords have bought multiple properties on speculation with ARMs and go under and walk away.

The mortgage on the house we rent is upside down. The landlady owes $80,000 more than the original price, after two years of ownership, because she either had one of those mortgages that doesn't even require an interest payment but tacks the interest onto the loan, or because she took out secondary loans or something. On multiple properties.

Rent skimming is a felony for a landlord in California. I wish it were the same here, as our family dwelling would not be foreclosed and up for auction soon.

[The Brethren]

22. grasswire, I hope things change for the better

for you and your family in your area! And that your home/dwelling is not foreclosed or sold from under you.

Awhile back when I lived in a previous state. We were renting a large apartment - part of a mini size mansion house that belonged to an elderly landlord. He died about a yr. after we moved in. His very greedy daughter decided to sell the place as quickly as the ink dried on her father's will. By law, she had to give us a 30 day notice that the house was up for sale. She was also a lying, little weasel who lied to us about transferring our orig. deposit over to new owners, which is illegal. In fact, in that state, at least at that time, a landlord must set up an account for each tenant's deposit, which can also accrue interest. In addition, by law the landlord can touch this money unless there is a valid reason, such as a tenant who refused to pay their last's month rent, or damages to the apt., etc. Then as soon as the new owner's bought the house, they wanted us to pay a 2nd deposit since she had taken off with our orig. one which didn't failed to tell us about.

I hate it when landlords turn out to be slum lords or thieves. But I'm hoping that even tho. your state doesn't have rent skimming laws, that at the very least your landlord must provide you and your family with at least a 30 day notice if the property is sold or foreclosed and that you will get your deposit back. And if you haven't already looked, there maybe some renter's advocacies groups or agencies in your state that may offer free legal advice for your situation.