My folks have been trying to sell their home near Detroit for over a year now - with no luck. There are at least 4 homes on the market in their block. The town just turned down a millage to fund their local schools.
Go figure - families don't want to raise their children in a community that won't support the schools.
More on the flip side...
Mom's realtor said she's working with a couple looking for a home in a pretty well-off community - Bloomfield Hills. So far, they've looked at over 40 homes and
half of them were empty - ie they were lost to the banks in foreclosure because the family couldn't make the mortgage payments / were laid off from their job(s). (These aren't factory jobs either - Bloomfield Hills is a pretty white collar area).
My husband & I live in Maryland with our two small kids and neither of us have relatives here in the area. We both grew up with extended family around and were close with our grandparents. It breaks our hearts that our kids won't get to know their grandparents the way we knew ours. We've always dreamed about moving home to Michigan (I could maybe get a job with a law firm in Ann Arbor or Detroit) but with the state of the economy back home - there's no chance of that happening now.
It made me wonder what the economy's like in other parts of the country...
Are you working?
Is one job enough to get by on?
Are people finding work near you?
Is the real estate market strong - are homes selling in fairly quick fashion?
Or are they on the market for 6, 12 or 18 months?
Longer?
How are the schools in your area?
Can you get health insurance? Is it affordable?