any people here live in (or moved to) "hot" neighborhoods in gentrifying urban markets?

[datasuspect]

what's the market like?

i always thought the impulse to convert everything to condos was bad for neighborhoods, but does anyone notice very many for sale signs?

when i was in chicago, some formerly lower-middle/middle-middle class areas flipped seemingly overnight.

is the market starting to bottom out yet?

it couldn't be possible that most of the youngish people buying in got conventional mortgages.

also, where would you begin to look for foreclosure rates by zip code?

let me know when it's safe to move back to an urban area.

[ananda]

1. rent

I can't afford to buy anything anywhere, so I rent.

I like renting, though.. a lot.

Sue

[SoCalDem]

2. We did it accidentally.

We bought our house in 1981 and rode out the decline, and we're still here..as it is climbing back up in value :)
(only because these houses are big..with large lots and the new ones cost twice as much)

[Raven]

3. South Boston comes to mind. For generations this was a

community of owner occupied three deckers where you might have parents, grandparents and kids living together or within blocks of eachother. In the 90's this began to change. Three deckers were converted to condos, property values went up and so did property taxes. The children of the folks who had lived in "Southie" for generations could no longer afford to live there. So blue collar has been replaced by high earning white collar and I don't think the Southie boom is over yet.

[datasuspect]

7. the only upshot is that the transplants are leveraged heavily by credit

when that bubble bursts, and the crime rates start to rise, you might see an exodus.

BUT, if oil keeps rising and rising and it takes 150.00 to fill your tank, the suburbs might implode too.

[AndyTiedye]

8. It is Part Bubble, but Also Part People Moving Closer to Work

The overall real estate bubble may be deflating, but the demand for places to live in the city will not.
We can't all fit into the city. There isn't room.

A lot of these places are being occupied by relatively affluent people who are trying to "do the right thing"
by moving closer to work and reducing their energy footprints. But then someone else has to move out,
sometimes WAY out, and some of them will be forced into long commutes in old, gas-guzzling
smoke-spewing cars because they can't afford anything else and there's no transit.

[datasuspect]

9. one person's convenience is another's "economic cleansing"

i'm on the margins, i'm just kicking back and watching the shithouse implode.

[AndyTiedye]

10. Since I Telecommute Anyway, I Live Close to the Mountain Biking

I go mountain biking more often than I have to go to the office,
and I live closer to that.

[MNDemNY]

4. I'm in NYC's East Village. Very hot tons of new condo converts

Things sell fast. But NYC, I think is not comparable to other us cities. It's a whole different world here. (500 square foot condo: $560,000)

[datasuspect]

5. nyc is entirely different

i think the economic cleansing there can't be turned back until we have an out and out collapse of the economic system.

but from what i understand, you could get cheapISH rents and prices there until the mid 80s. i might be wrong though.

[MNDemNY]

6. You could, and many are

hanging on to those rentals as if their life depends on it.(it may) Interesting "Rent stabilization "laws here.

[Solo_in_MD]

11. Twice, but never planned

The joy of moving around a lot is occasionally you get lucky. We were just in sweat equity mode and were looking for a place to fix up and sell for more when we would be transfered.

There is a lot of emotionalism in gentrification. Was a blow up in Wash DC about 10 years ago or so about a older traditional black neighborhood going white/gentrified and recent issues in the Tenderloin.