Give Me Some Signs/Examples Of Economic Slowdown In Your Area

In My Humble Opinion
1

Here in Las Vegas:

Room occupancy at the hotels on The Strip is actually still pretty decent on weekends, but people are playing WAY less in the slots than just a year or so ago. Mid-week, however, is really slow - hence you can get great room deals Sunday - Thursday. should you have the money to come visit.

Some new casino construction has been stopped, or put on hold - although the new, enormous City Center hotel/casino project is marching onwards and should open early next year.

My house has lost about 33% of value in less than two years…simply based upon the economy, the glut of homes, and the prices homes are listing for in the neighborhood now. Las Vegas ranks as one of the top locations for home foreclosures.

My SO, and many others working for large chain stores, has had a “scale back” of hours - meaning not fired, but gone from 5 days/40 hour week to 3 or 4 day weeks of 24-32 hours per week. Has hurt badly…I suppose better than unemployed, but most certainly not fun to be “under-employed” either. To make things worse, due to the fewer hours, they suddenly announced he is no longer “full-time” (thanks folks) and thus his insurance was canceled (only eligible for full-time employees) - again, not just him, but lots of people at his job.

Some mini-malls/strip malls in older neighborhoods have lost so many businesses, they are just empty store fronts and sometimes only have one or two places still open.

Car dealerships are closing all over the place - and you notice there are far fewer television commercials for car dealerships now than ever before. Lots and lots of ads for attorneys offering to help with bankruptcies and foreclosures though.

I have to admit, although I have painted a rather bleak picture of Las Vegas, there is still a feeling of “this too shall pass” with people I work with, and the general mood of the locals. Casinos frequented by locals are way down in income (Station Casinos is trying to avoid Chapter 11) but they still get decent crowds on weekends. The brand new “M” casino is doing quite well and even hired more employees. I give Obama a lot of credit for this over-all, cautious optimism - I think those who are still employed are trying to keep things normal and there have been some local television reports that business is starting to feel upticks here and there, and that maybe the bottom has been reached and things are looking better.

What are the signs/examples of the economic downturn in your area?

2

I work in the auto industry, so know tons of laid-off people. Tears at work as folks get notice it’s their last day aren’t uncommon, and it seems like every other person has a spouse or sibling that has already lost their job.

Plenty of empty or near-empty strip malls all over, too.

One odd thing, I’m planning a wedding and use online listings to look up things before hitting the bricks. At least half the vendors listed are out of business when I try to contact them.

3

I’m in the “second tier” auto industry and there are layoffs galore. Also, our strip malls are freekin’ dying. We have a 3 mile stretch of mini-malls and large strip malls that all have numerous empty slots. And yet you’ll see a few brand new strip malls cropping up here and there. Go figure.

4

Here we were right at the peak of the building boom. I know a few engineering firms and homebuilding co’s which have closed their doors. There are also a lot of folks in the building trades who are out of work.

5

I don’t have any numbers to back it up, but there are fewer people on the trains. Runs that used to be stuffed to the gills, standing room only are now comfortable, with just a handful of standees. The only time I see crammed-full trains now is when there’s been a breakdown and two trains’ worth of passengers try to fit into one train.

6

Our house is worth about $30k less than it was when we bought it in July '08. And that was well after the peak- had we bought in July '07, it would now be worth $130k less; it was appraised at $300k in May '07.

Amusingly enough, I talked a bunch of friends out of buying around the same time, telling them that the market was going to keep dropping for a while, but couldn’t talk my own fiancee out of it. :smack:

It was really her choice, though; she put all the money down.

7

My commute to and from work is much improved, with about 10 minutes cut from the normal 50. Some of that is a road widening project that finally got done.

An entire strip mall near me is dead. A Mervyn’s moved in from the mall across the street, into a new building, just before Mervyn’s went tits up. Now there is nothing but a restaurant which is next to but not in the mall.

8

Back in late November I went in to look at an apartment. I liked it and verbally agreed over the phone to to take it starting January at $X per month. When I went back in a few weeks later to formally sign the lease, my rent was $13 dollars cheaper than what I had verbally agreed to. I looked at the website for the apartment I was staying in then, and I was paying about $25 more per month than new tenants.

9

We’ve been unable to sell our rental property. Three years ago listings in this particular subdivision wouldn’t last two days. We don’t HAVE to sell it, so we’ll just do some more fix up work on it and try again later.

I heard on the news toll revenue is down. Whether that’s due to less people driving to work or more people finding alternative routes because of the god-awful ham-handed way they handed the recent toll increase, I don’t know.

10

I’ve definitely noticed a distinct reduction in traffic on my way downtown lately.

11

Last year when I signed my lease, the rental company said that they would not offer anything but a full year lease. About a month ago, I got a renewal notice that offered month-to-month lease at an increased cost.

12

We’ve lost some major retailers in a strip-mall heavy part of town, such as Comp USA, Circuit City, Joe’s Sporting Goods, Linens & Things, to name a few. There aren’t any overall vacant strip malls, but there are notable occupancy gaps between active tenants.

I’ve noticed more blank billboards around town. People aren’t putting up the money to advertise as much.

13

When I’m out in NYC, there is a distinct shortage of D-bags in the bars.

14

There are quite a few dead malls around here. I’ve only been to the grocery store at one of them, but I have been to dead or dying malls in other places. They’re spooky.

15

Houses not being built, it’s rare to see one under construction. A big hotel in Charlottesville has halted construction and is now having financial problems. One large unfinished housing development over near the Blue Ridge mountains is now for sale.

OTOH, our small town did have a new store open recently, and a neighboring town is getting a new Dollar General.

16

Major mall near us (Springfield Mall) has been going downhill for years. It’s been sold to a realty investment company, who plans to basically gut it and turn it into a Fabulous Place with promenades, housing, offices, sit-down eateries… but supposedly construction was to begin this spring and no signs of it. The place is at least 1/3 empty.

Traffic may be a little better though it’s hard to tell; I only commute to work 2 days a week now.

My son’s school cut its activity bus from 2 to 1 day a week, which makes it harder for kids to stay after if they’ve got something going on.

My house is worth about 150,000 less, per the tax appraiser, than it was 3 years ago. It still appraises for more than we paid for it though, as we bought early on in the pricing run-up. And of course we paid less in taxes last year, and will save a little this year even with a rate increase, so it’s not all bad.

17

Vacancies in malls and businesses.

Not just vacant but abandoned properties falling into ruin.

Businesses that are still open are cutting back their hours.

Less traffic on the roads.

18

I live in the “silicon valley” south of San Francisco, CA. My commute to the job that forced a 5% pay cut on everyone is much improved. There were layoffs in a another department last week. There’s no money for nothing at work, and management is threatening to take the water coolers away. I’m predicting a revolt.
There’s a lot of houses for sale in my neighborhood. Whether people are facing foreclosure or just scared, I’m not sure. There’s also a lot of commercial real-estate empty, most of it small storefronts in dying strip-malls.

19

I live in San Francisco and I actually found street parking Friday night; people aren’t eating out as much I guess. I also didn’t have to wait for a table at this really popular restaurant, even on a Sunday afternoon, when the wait used to be half an hour at least.

20

I’m the only one out of five siblings with a job. My husband’s hours have been cut to 32 instead of 40. We don’t go out to eat very much anymore, but when we do there is seldom any wait to get a table. It’s a lot faster to get a haircut now - not as many ladies are coloring their hair, or they’re waiting longer between visits. I haven’t had to wait much beyond 5 minutes for a long time now and this was a very popular place.

The local news is always about the economy now. For example, layoffs, budget problems in the school districts, programs that are cut or discontinued, festivals that are scaled back, more people going to the food pantries, job fairs that are overwhelmed with applicants.

Other then that, we’re just peachy.