I’ve been thinking about this the past few weeks and find it pretty neat. I’d like to see what other ways things are changing around the world.
Waikiki - In the 60s and 70s condos sprung up and people who’s children had moved out and no longer needed the large house moved in. They liked the easy access to shopping and bus lines. But now they’re dieing off pretty quickly. On my floor the occupants of the other 7 apartments all died off or moved to nursing homes long ago. The only one remaining is my grandmother who’s 90 years old. Kinda like 15 out of 16 are gone. So it looks like the shift is very far along.
The people who are moving in aren’t the same type of people. Instead those moving in are young single people, often with roommates, young couples probably just moved in together, and occasionally people with very young infants. They seem to like the centralness of the place for going out. The clubs and bars, the live music, the ability to stumble home drunk rather then taking a taxi. The average age of the residents here must be falling like a rock.
So, what kinda changes are you seeing in your neighborhood?
Most of the changes in my town are well race and income based …
Most of the housing tracts are geting to be around 20 years or older … and some are on their 4th or 5th owner which means there being rented out for any and all comers and the quality of the neighbor hood is going down
Instead of say the immigrants and families trying to make a good start you get the dead end types who dont care cuase thell have the place destroyed in 6 months and move on until its such a slum
it seems ever y 5 or 10 years a neighborhood and its members slides down a hill until its just trash and someone buys it for cheap and cleans it up buids new houses
Our Chicago suburb (Glen Ellyn) is always near the very top in the area in terms of tear-downs. Any time an older bungalow or ranch goes up for sale, prospective buyers are competing against developers. Buildable lots within walking distance of the train start around $300G - the house on a large-ish lot immediately behind me sold last year for $480G.
Just about everything being built is for a million or more. A couple of years ago, we considered upgrading to new construction in the area of $800G - we had a heck of a time trying to find anyone who would build anything decent on a decent lot for that price. Very glad we stayed where we are. Right now, I would be surprised if you could find much - if any - new construction for $800G or less.
What this means is that a lot of folk are moving in who seen to have plenty of $$$. Many older folks are cashing in on their homes and moving - either to condos in the area, less expensive neighboring burbs, or warmer climes. They are being replaced by younger families, with young kids. We have been here 9 years, are in our 40s, and our kids are in 7th through 10th grades. But we often feel old compared to our neighbors. So my impression is our town is becoming younger and wealthier.
We sold my folks’ home on the NW side of Chicago (Belmont/Central) about 5 years ago. When I was young, the neighborhood was solidly Polish and Italian. North Avenue (2 miles south) had long been the northern border for the black and hispanic communities. That changed at some time after I moved out of the house, and now my old neighborhood is predominantly hispanic.
My neighborhood is aging. We’re on a cul-de-sac of 12 homes, and we used to have (12 years ago) about 8-10 elementary kids at our school bus stop. They’ve dwindled over the years, and last year my daughter was alone at the bus stop. This year, she’s in middle school so there isn’t a single elementary school aged child any more and the bus no longer stops.
It’s been interesting to see: the battle of the incomes.
As the downtown area heats up again as a place to see and be seen, there’s a growing number of people who are becoming more interested in the older neighborhoods nearby, for convience. Easy access to downtown, easy access to the outlying areas, and you’d normally be going against the traffic flow to boot, making rush hour easier to deal with.
The larger houses tend to be a bit pricy, so what I’ve seen happening is that they’ll buy the smaller homes that showing their age (and then some), re-hab them, then sell them at a profit. (With the intent of using the profits to buy a larger and/or better house. ) However, the re-habbing drives the prices of the homes up, which starts dragging the prices of the nearby homes up… which starts driving those with lower incomes out.
The process isn’t quick, but even in the roughly two years I’ve been here I’ve noticed a definate shift occouring.
<< Wheee. >>