Bill Whittle: China's GHOST-CITY economy

 

[VIDEO] Whole cities built in China where the buildings are unoccupied and unfinished. Why are the Chinese doing this? Who is funding this? Bill Whittle discusses this.

Want a free apartment in NYC???

[VIDEO] I posted earlier as a bit of a mistake a video from one of my more recent YouTube must sees Daily Dose of Internet which you can also see at Shedd School. Right now you get to see another YouTube must see, Casey Neistat.

Although Neistat is now a resident of California instead of the long time setting of his formerly daily weekly vlogs in New York City, he still visits from time to time. In his studio during his latest vid is a man named Ryan Serhant and if you want to live in NYC for a year here's an opportunity.

Free rent, free transportation (does this mean a free vehicle with unlimited gas or paid for NYC subway passes), and wow free food. I'm sure this is geared towards those who want to get into the entertainment scene of NYC or into some major industry that has a home there. Perhaps you want to work on Wall Street or find a broadcast outlet or perhaps you dream of making it on Broadway for example. I wonder if they'd give it to someone who just wants to live in NYC for a year.

Well go find out. Go to this site Free Year NYC and find out. If you dare, apply you might be lucky! 

Building a $58 Million NYC Apartment

[VIDEO] Amazing, simply amazing. Casey Neistat visits an under construction penthouse high above NYC. You can be above it all for a whopping $58 million, and that's money I can only dream about!

If I could even make that much, my mind can't wrap itself around the idea of buildings so tall. I could never envision going all the way up in the former Sears Tower or even the former Hancock Building. Ironically when I was younger and not so adverse to heights I was at the top of the Washington Monument.

All the same, if I could afford that penthouse Neistat visits I'll just spend some of that fortune on a smaller residence closer to the ground. However, real estate especially of this expensive type can be fascinating.

WSJ: California Home Prices Are Soaring

[VIDEO] Why are housing prices in California rising? So you mean it's not only the use of zoning in some municipalities that limit supply? Or even an attempt at this "green dream" of mandating expensive and higher quality materials to insure energy efficiency?

Well I had better hold off on that Golden State dream. One issue (housing prices) among others (rising homeless population) why living out there will remain a dream.

Illinois Governor's mansion is reopened

[VIDEO] Over the weekend I've learned that Illinois' Governor's mansion has been reopened to the public. Referred to as the people's house by current Governor Bruce Rauner I do admire the work they have put into the 19th century home. It is one of the three oldest continuously used governor's mansion in the nation. Also it was formerly known at the "executive mansion" until an executive order by none other than Gov. Rauner.

I'm very glad about the work put into this residence which has suffered from neglect over the past decade. For the most part many of Illinois' recent governors have either stayed in Springfield part-time especially with the state legislature in session or they commuted by air to Illinois' capital as former governor Rod Blagojevich had done during his time in office.

Hopefully it will continue to get the "TLC" is deserves. I would credit Gov. Rauner for this, however, he's an unpopular politician at this moment. He did put up some funds and the restoration used private funding.

Now I recognize that it's time to pay Springfield a visit. I've toured Washington even was on a tour of the White House. I've never seen a session of the US Congress, of the Illinois General Assembly, or even of Chicago's City Council. But Springfield I've only passed through on occasion towards other destinations. Perhaps it's time to see how historic that city is, and besides this is the town the 16th POTUS called home before his 1860 election.

Sloopin: What's Going on With the House Being Built at Dearborn and Polk?

Now if only I knew more about real estate. This structure represents a single family home to be built at Polk & Dearborn with ground floor retail space. Well now we have one way to generate some revenue in a big ole home that's bound to be expensive.

Find an old building on a main thorofare and attach a home to it. It almost reminds me of this set up I found at Curbed Chicago, an old grocery store with apartments for a family attached. The ingenuity of people and their real estate!

Marathon Pundit: The abandoned stores of Gary, Indiana

John Ruberry describes the former "city of the century" in the first paragraph of his recent post:

Gary is Indiana's reply to Detroit. After its population peaked at 175,000 in 1960, now only about 75,000 people live in what was once the Hoosier State's second largest city.

Palace Theater, Gary, IN

 In November 2017, when Ruberry returned from Motown - for those of you who don't know Detroit, Michigan - he made a stop in Gary. This post takes a look at the old commercial buildings along Broadway in Gary.  One of his pics shows the Palace Theater which are one of the buildings on Broadway that Ruberry documents:

Probably every town in America in the 1920s with 50,000 or more residents had a movie palace that doubled as a vaudeville theater. Gary's showplace was the Palace Theater, which opened in 1925. It closed in 1972. To be fair, many, perhaps most of these theaters went dark after television sets became the focal point of most living rooms, so Gary shouldn't be clobbered over the demise of the Palace.

But hang in there, I'll start slapping Gary around soon.

Donald Trump, when he was a real estate mogul, also owned the Miss USA pageant, which amazingly was held in Gary at the Genesis Convention Center in 2001 and 2002. For the latter beauty display, the future president fixed up the front of the Palace and placed "Jackson Five Tonite" on the marquee. The Jacksons of course were from Gary but moved away shortly after signing with Motown in the late 1960s. After Michael Jackson's death in 2009, according to Wikipedia, new placards declaring "Jackson Five Forever" were placed on the marquee. As you can see none of those signs remain.

I didn't know about our current President's forays into Gary in the early 2000s. He even tried to dress up Gary for one of his pageants.

As I've said Gary could be a very wonderful opportunity for someone with deep pockets and a good plan. If I was such a person my first concern would be issues with bad gov't. For example, would I get heavily taxed for my real estate  or would someone come out the woodworks and say I must hire from within Gary. I'm sure there are other roadblocks so to speak that could be contrived by a politician or an uscrupulous activist. Bottom line is Gary is a blank slate waiting for investment.

The future investment of Gary, Indiana could begin not only with the revitalization of Broadway it could certainly begin with capitalizing on it's connect with the Michael Jackson and the Jackson family. Of course in light of the "King of Pop" untimely demise this was the plan though it's hard to say what has come of those plans since then.

A few days ago I posted a documentary about Gary from 2013, if you're curious about what happened with Gary give it a watch. Certainly go read Ruberry's post about Gary's Broadway.

What can $65K buy you in Detroit, Michigan?

It's been quite a while since covering the great American city of Detroit aka Motor City. As has been advertised in the news over the years Motown has suffered from population loss. Not only that there are a lot of foreclosed homes and vacant lands which have also been turned into urban farms.

Of course for the purpose of today's post Curbed Detroit looks at those homes which cost at least $65K. One home shown on their post costs about $60K two of the homes show in that post cost $69.9K.

If you can get through the many issues of Detroit which probably could amount to taxes and crime, a good deal could be had. Of course the basic rule of real estate is get in before the prices increase. Detroit may be a city in decline, however, nothing is forever! Detroit may rise from its decline.

Here’s what $65K can buy in Detroit right now https://t.co/8Pflhyhrac pic.twitter.com/7qAmi0xtjk

— Curbed Detroit (@CurbedDetroit) February 26, 2018

The Wrigley Mansion

The family known for the chewing gum and the namesake of the Chicago Cubs home Wrigley Field - and the family formerly owned the north side MLB franchise until the early 80s also has a namesake home which has recently been sold. It's strange to me to say that this mansion on the north side  - specifically 2466 North Lakeview Avenue - was a foreclosure. And looking at the selling price $4.65 million it's still very much out of my reach.

Regardless I'll say when I'm finally ready to build my own house I have found the model. Perhaps scale it down and hopefully resembling a style of mid-century architecture. Just think perhaps as close to a Pill Hill style home as one could get built in the 21st century.

Here's another article by Curbed Chicago

Lincoln Park’s famous—and foreclosed—Wrigley Mansion sells for $4.65M https://t.co/MFU8lCudVK pic.twitter.com/hNjKG7PGLP

— Curbed Chicago (@curbedchicago) January 29, 2018

A man can dream can he?

Because of the McMansion Hell blog...

8459 South Michigan - Eric Allix Rogers

I've grown to appreciate mid-century modern architecture. There are plenty examples of these buildings on the south side. Not just Hyde Park/Kenwood, but further south. Perhaps here I will share my own observations with you.

Meanwhile you should read McMansion Hell to see what they have against these McMansions. We've seen them out there around the country. Surely you've seen them in the Chicago area and I know I've seen them in the suburbs of ATL.

BTW, if you've got the cash there is a mid-century modern revival. If you already own such a home this is what you can do to keep it maintained.

FTR, I'm posting this to lighten the mood just change subjects for a bit from the new administration in Washington. Perhaps the good times will roll again we shall see.

The abandoned Lincoln Mall

[VIDEO] I don't remember the last time being at this Matteson, IL mall before it's closing. Perhaps it was within the last decade and it look largely vacant at the time. In 2015 it was closed and Matteson is charged with finding a new use for the property.

In the meanwhile, this recent video shows us the inside of the mall. The video has an eerie soundtrack to it. The still pics you see at the end makes this abandoned place look even more creepy. I thought they were in there at almost dawn and that would make it more creepy.

Either way seems like a shame this mall lost business to the point where it is now closed.

Trump

In light of the tragic incident in Orlando, Florida over the past weekend with comments made by GOP nominee for President Donald Trump and comments to a federal judge I found a meme online. Not a meme as much as it appears to be a screencap with comments.

Georgia Supreme Court sides with Clark Atlanta in property dispute

Fountain Hall Morris Brown College

An interesting court ruling regarding sale of property from the troubled Morris Brown College:

The Georgia Supreme Court gave the green light to Clark Atlanta University Monday to pursue a lawsuit claiming ownership of three properties from the bankruptcy of Morris Brown College.

In a unanimous decision, the justices ruled a 1940 deed conveying the three properties owned by Morris Brown to Clark Atlanta for $1 as a charitable gift was “valid and enforceable.” Morris Brown drew up the deed at a time the historically black college was in financial trouble and facing the loss of its campus to foreclosure.

In 2014, again facing bankruptcy, Morris Brown sold the property to Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development agency, for $10.8 million. Clark Atlanta sued, claiming the sale violated the deed’s requirement that the land be used for educational purposes and, thus, the properties should revert to Clark Atlanta.

In Monday’s ruling, the Supreme Court agreed with a lower court decision that selling the properties to Invest Atlanta would not fulfill the deed’s requirements.

The Big Short

[VIDEO] The clip above shows Dr. Burry being confronted by one of his investors for going against the mortgage market. An example of what you would see in The Big Short.

I saw this film recently at River East and it's a serious movie about the mortgage crisis. A number of individuals in this movie portrayed by actors Christian Bale, Steve Carell, and Ryan Gosling had the foresight to bet against the subprime mortgage market.

There are some hilarious aspects of the movie to explain the mumbo jumbo explained during the course of the movie. Many of us likely won't understand the Wall Street language as far as this mortgages it needs to be put in layman's terms.

Either way we do get the message about how these mortgages have made many of these players wealthy and how far down it went until some of the players on Wall Street began to suffer for their mistakes. Bad terms for these loans and not only the people who took up these loans suffer, also those who either invested in this market or who sold these loans.

As we saw in the movie and in real life about 2008-09 two investment houses eventually closed up shop because of this collapse. Lehman Bros. and Bear Stearns essentially no longer exist.

Now I only wish I had the ability of Dr. Michael Burry who owned his own fund and although not trained or educated in finance knew enough to dig and found a reason to bet against the subprime mortgages. People thought he was nuts but in time figured out he was right and got their rewards to.

99 homes

Finally took the opportunity to see this film recently. Basically it reminds me of Wall Street with Gordon Gecko essentially mentoring a young stock broker only to see them both on the radar of the federal government for insider trading.

Lately I seem to be watching movies that prove to be somewhat depressing. For example I saw the biopic Black Mass of gangster Whitey Bulger - thank goodness he's off the streets although he's still a senior citizen at this point. Another time I saw Sicario which I recently wrote about. Those films involved criminal figures and the things they do to maintain their criminal activities.

On this occasion, we see a film that easily was set during the course of the housing crisis earlier in this decade. Unfortunately someone has to put people out of their homes because of their inability to pay their mortgage or any loans borrowed against their homes. And of course someone is profiting from this and this could make people angry.

One tagline from this film is "don't get emotional about real estate". So we see a guy named Nash (Andrew Garfield) struggling to make ends meet and keep the family home for his mother and son. Ultimately Carver (Michael Shannon) kicks them out only to give Nash a job later and besides he's down on this luck anyway.

Suddenly Nash goes from the go to handyman to doing various jobs which also includes kicking people out of their homes in addition to essentially sabotaging homes so they won't attract interest from rival real estate agents. While Nash finally gets into the groove of his new found career he hasn't lost his conscious and it shows at the end of the movie.

Carver well somehow I like him while also recognizing him as a snake. Another tagline he utters during the film is "America doesn't bail out losers, America bails out winners". He proves a point about how his father worked hard and had very little to show of it other than a major injury which he was unable to get treated because insurance wouldn't cover it. And then noting how Nash worked very hard and lost his family home.

Carver is insensitive, greedy, and definitely unethical but somehow I could connect with him. Just as easily as I could connect with Nash. However, this film is a reminder not only to not get emotional about real estate but to also take care of our financial houses before we see someone like Carver serving us eviction notices.

Wishing I can get into real estate

Photo via Curbed Chicago

If only I had enough money to get into real estate. I would like to do rehab a house the way this greystone on the north side of Chicago had been. It's either that or build a house exactly the way this greystone was rehabbed.

As the "blogmaster" for The Sixth Ward I've followed real estate in the often beleaguered south side neighborhood of Englewood. Recently there were information on a vacant lot program which allowed Englewood neighbors in a pilot program to purchase and close on vacant lots there. The cost wasn't entirely cost prohibitive.

It's certainly cost prohibitive to build on those lots if that's what you chose to do with them. At the same time it's not necessary to build on those lots although if I was able to purchase a lot that's exactly what I would like to do. If nothing else until one gets the capital to build anything it's OK to turn these lots into oases instead of lots where weeds would grow and trash would collect.

Of course Englewood isn't the only neighborhood in Chicago where such a program is necessary. And who knows perhaps I'll have the luxury of buying a lot in the future and hopefully build the house I want to build. Or more likely have some property when a neighborhood turns around.

I mention Englewood because I'm starting to believe it's on the cusp. With a major CTA rail line and then a Whole Foods Market coming to such an impoverished neighborhood it seems very likely.

Now to start getting ready to get into real estate.

Detroit housing & gentrification...

Photo by Life Remodeled 2014/flickr

 Today we take another quick trip to the Motor City.

For years I've read about young Caucasian gentrifiers who are coming to Detroit to buy up the properties and spark a revival for the beleaguered Michigan city. Then there's a flip side, most cities that have properties that are delinquent on property taxes and you can buy them from the original owners. Sometimes that means you'd have to put the owners out.

That's what this Guardian article from last month says about these young gentrifiers in Detroit. Many of them realized that they have to put the owners out after buying their homes via an auction. In one case the new owner sold the house back although for a lot more than he paid for it while helping the original owners take care of some of their taxes.

As much as I want to own some real estate in the future, it would be difficult for me to have to consider something like this. It would be very difficult for me to want to put out the people who lived in their houses. It would be even more difficult to want to sell the property back to them.

Regardless this is a good article and I hope you give it a read.

Didn't I say this particular store would be a Whole Foods?

255 E. Grand Ave in early Feb. 2014

For some reason I liked going to this Dominick's store in the Streeterville neighborhood. Unfortunately like the many Dominick's stores in the Chicago area it was closed when parent company Safeway decided to close those stores. Many of these stores have been bought up by other grocery chains such as Jewel-Osco another local chain although owned by a not-so-local corporation.

In any event this particular store would be a great location for a Whole Foods Market and it's in the news that they indeed snatched this and other former Dominick's locations up recently. It was kind of alluded to in earlier reports that I blogged about. Still it's certainly good news.

Another thing I've considered however, is that it seems Whole Foods have been aggressively expanding - including a future store in the impoverished Englewood neigborhood -  to the point in which I would be concerned about over saturation. Perhaps I'm only exaggerating that in my mind, but in this part of town there's another Whole Foods store in the nearby Gold Coast neighborhood. Who knows perhaps that already established store may be closed at some point in the future.

In any case I do look forward to visiting this future Whole Foods especially if I'm strolling around in downtown Chicago or at least the area of the Magnificient Mile!

Detroit's Mayoral home rebranded

Manoogian Mansion Residence - Detroit by yrvelouria

Over at Curbed Detroit we've learned that the new Mayor of the Motor City - one Mike Duggan - has sold his home and is moving into the city's mayoral mansion. Not only that he's electing to rebrand the home.

While that move could be seen as PR move, as the writers of Curbed stated "the house simply isn't very big". The home is only about 4,000 square feet apparently big, but not mansion big. And at that Curbed further states Mayor Duggan would "lose a third of his living space compared to his old house".

In doing this post I also thought, how much is this residence worth to Detroit? Why isn't this one of those assets that could be sold to get Detroit out of bankruptcy? I'm sure it has been looked at as other city-owned assets were.

To become a developer, where does one start?

Sometimes I wish I can get into real estate. The thing is, my interest would not be in being a real estate agent having to sell property. It would be as much as developing as anything else.

If I was interested in developing, perhaps it's possible to start with "flipping" houses. That's as much about developing as in building on a vacant lot. And of course one could always progress to that level.

At least until that time Chicago magazine has an article about flipping houses. It's almost two years old, but surely it gives you an idea of what to do if this is what you want to do. Of course before one engages in such a venture every building isn't the same and of course it's all about the money. If it proves to cost more to fix than to sell it and you can see that upfront don't spend the cash.

Easy for me to say at this moment since well I'm not out flipping houses. ;)