Originally Posted By magnet There already are good deals. I paid $40 per night on my trip a few days ago to stay along I-drive. I don't care so much about the room. I leave early in the morning and I don't come back until late at night. It's just a place to sleep and take a shower.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA I found a hotel in Anaheim for $69 p/night. It's right across from DCA on Harbor Blvd.
Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey <<The only week they might not be plentiful would be President's Week when many schools in the NE have vacation.>> We're arriving at the tail's end of President's Week - we get in that Friday night and will be there until the following Saturday (Mardi Gras week).
Originally Posted By kennect Yeah but this situation is very different than 9/11...I visited WDW right after that event and it was most interesting...This go round seems to be a different animal completely that might bite for a longer time down the road... It will be interesting to see how this plays out as compared to 9/11 and other times in the past...I just had a friend that visited San Antonio...Her comment was there was no sign of any economic problems there...Today I went to a local mall...My first visit to a mall in years...Well, there was no one there...The place was empty...Yet where I am my home value has not gone down one cent...Crazy world....
Originally Posted By fkurucz <<I just had a friend that visited San Antonio...Her comment was there was no sign of any economic problems there>> Probably because of the huge military presence there. Lots of bases in San Antonio.
Originally Posted By barboy ///Yet where I am my home value has not gone down one cent...Crazy world..../// hmmm? possible, I guess; but I am still most skeptical. Just curious here, but in which general region of the US do you live? Or better yet what is your closest major city? Actually, if your local mall is now a ghost town I can pretty much guarantee residential real estate values have dropped in your neck of the woods already or will be dropping very soon.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy ^^ There was a study done earlier this year on the perception that homeowner's had of the value of the home. In the study, homeowners were asked if the value of their home had increased or declined in the past year. 80% of the respondents said that the value had gone up. In fact, the data showed the opposite was the case -- 80% of actual home values had declined year-over-year. Psychologically, a declining home value is just something that people don't like to admit. That being said, there are some areas in the Midwest, particularly Texas, where home values have remained steady throughout the rest of the nation's housing decline. These areas also didn't experience the double-digit percentage run up the value of homes in the year of the housing boom, either.
Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey My home hasn't decreased in value, either. I just got my tax assessment in the mail.
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 It was in our newspaper yesterday that house values locally are decreasing. I'm an hour west of Boston, Ma. Tomorrow it will probably be in the paper that they're raising property taxes to offset the decreased value. We bought our house in '72, it's now worth 11.5 times what we paid. Nationwide, I've no idea if that is typical. Anybody know?
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << My home hasn't decreased in value, either. I just got my tax assessment in the mail. >> When the housing market was peaking in 2005, my home was assessed by the county at around $200K. I sold it for over $300K that same year. Tax assessments are particularly reliable indicators of market value. The assessments rise slower than the market appreciates and usually fall slower than the market declines.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy ^^ Should read tax assessments are NOT particularly reliable indicators of market value.
Originally Posted By barboy ///My home hasn't decreased in value, either. I just got my tax assessment in the mail./// It is very likely you are mistaken..... True real estate values, like just about anything and everything else, is based on what it could command in the open market. It's best not rely on tax assessments, official appraisals or outfits like Zillo. Tax assessments 19 out of 20 times are WRONG and do not represent true market value.
Originally Posted By barboy ///It is very likely you are mistaken...../// I should have written: it's not sound practice to rely on tax assessments to determine real estate values.
Originally Posted By sassystitch How do you guys get the 35% discount? Is it because you live in FL? I'm in MA & I'm an AP & I did not receive any postcard? What's the deal with that? I did, however, get the $49 rate for the 1st wk of November on the AP website. I was able to change my ressies to get the new rate as I am going the 1st week of Nov. Score!!! Now, tell me, how do I get that 35% discount off merchandise, please? Thanks!
Originally Posted By kennect Barboy, I am in Atlanta...I have a townhome in a small city east of Atlanta called Avondale Estates...I can be downtown Atlanta within ten minutes or less as long as I hit all green traffic lights...There are several units here right now that are for sale and the prices are right in line with what they have selling at over the last year or so...If you know anything about Atlanta, Avondale Estates butts up against Decatur...I am about thirty seconds from Ponce which is a straight shot to downtown Atlanta...Another huge plus here is the fact that our local transit system has a station that you could walk to in a few minutes...In fact the train runs through our backyard in a tunnel...These aren't the most fabulous townhomes you have ever seen but they do offer some interesting aspect for home ownership...My favorite bit is they are fee simple without any major rules or regulations...So we own our land and can do pretty much want we to do to some degree...The pro's greatly outweigh the con's considering....
Originally Posted By fkurucz ^^I think that its your proximity to downtown that has helped. I have read that the more distant burbs are not doing so well.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << My favorite bit is they are fee simple without any major rules or regulations...So we own our land and can do pretty much want we to do to some degree... >> In the long run, that is usually a bad plan for dense housing communities. You rarely get the perfect mix of residents who maintain their property to a standard that is beneficial to long-term property values. I've never seen a fee-simple attached housing development that kept up with property values over the long run. Attached housing just doesn't attract the same sort of homeowners that maintain their property of the long-term like owners of single family homes.
Originally Posted By barboy ///I think that its your proximity to downtown that has helped/// Generally, since '06 around the US housing has fallen first in suburbia or deep suburbia while regional epicenters and Central bus. district areas have held. But even epicenters/CBD's will most definitely start to feel the downturn: very strict lending parameters shrink the pool of propective buyers, aggregate job losses and high inventories of residential real estate spell out one thing.....price drops in real estate, pretty much everywhere in the US.
Originally Posted By kennect Sport, We can't get away here with just anything...We do have an executive comittee that does a pretty good job of enforcing the bylaws here...
