Post by Darren Dahl at RecessionWire.com: Darren, thanks for the shout-out.
Now, however, “for sale” signs seem to be increasingly cropping up everywhere, including tracts of deforested land and denuded mountaintops where developers simply ran out of money to finish the work (which may not have been the worst outcome, anyway). According to statistics published by the MLS, home sales in several of the counties surrounding Asheville are off up to 50% compared to last year. The ripple effect of the housing downturn has meant not only a loss of jobs – everything from construction to real estate agent – but also a significant drop in tax revenue for the city. Other than the persistent drought that continues to plague local farmers and well owners, the thing that surely keeps city planners up at night is wondering what would happen if all those tourists stopped coming. Last summer’s record gas prices, which kept people off the roads, gave them a clue: big trouble.
With spring right around the corner, and no economic upturn in sight, one wonders what the coming months will mean to the future of Asheville and all of Western North Carolina. Maybe folks will still head to the mountains to “get away from it all” – if they can afford it. We’ll see soon enough. It’s no wonder that even the city’s best-known blogger, Jason Sandford of Ashvegas.com, tried to skip town for greener pastures in Australia.
For me, I’m happy to have a different perspective these days. When we first moved to Asheville, my wife and I lived downtown which allowed us to roam around sans car, which, coming from NYC, came naturally to us. Then, we got a dog and a hankering to experience what it might be like to not just look at the mountains that surround downtown, but live on one. So, a few months ago, we rented a cabin up on the side of Spivey Mountain, elevation 3,200 feet. While I still access the real work via my trusty DSL line, I have to admit that the day-to-day affects of the recession look differently from my new vantage point.
1 Comment
If our economy is doing so bad here, why are the restaurants still packed. I think people are just not being risk takers anymore with real estate and that’s a good thing. People are still traveling by car and since we are close to Atlanta and Charlotte we are absorbing their masses.