Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Housing crisis

No, this is not a rant on the nation's housing crisis yet is primarily focused on the fact that starting June 1 I will officially be homeless...kind of. 

I move out of my apartment on May 31 and did not renew, primarily because I will be gone the entire month of June and do not want to pay for rent and bills when I absolutely will not be here for 29 days. That said...I don't know where I will live starting July 1. Kinda scary. I was really hoping to nail down some big decisions on downtown housing for purchase before heading to Europe but I kept noticing a trend, I am not rich enough to afford 95% of the downtown housing and I'm not ashamed to say that.

How can I be ashamed of the fact that I'm 26 and can't afford a $250,000 condo? I'm not saying that the prices are too high or even implying that the facilities are sub-par...because I really like them. I would move into any of them tomorrow if I could. What I am saying is...."Why do developers in OKC not want to have people in their 20's living downtown?"

Sure, I know about as well as any that there are three or four condos that around $150,000 but that's it. There may be even one or two that reach the $130,000 mark...but with something near 100+ condos coming online in the downtown area how are there less than 10 condos for under $165,000?

Is that space really that expensive? Is $190+ per sf the lowest a developer can go? I understand the basic business model of supply and demand, but right now the demand is being yelled by many young professionals...the supply is where? 

I am actually thinking I won't get to buy a downtown condo and find myself begrudingly living a few miles outside downtown. My generation cares about the environment surrounding them ...not baseboards or high ceilings...they care about walking to the grocery store or park, not about chandeliers and fancy rugs...The surrounding environment is already there AND growing. Please oh please don't force my generation into the suburbs too.

This blog is to hopefully to get the word out that yes, there are plenty of downtown housing options...but almost none for the generation that thrives to live there. All this talk on prices and development is not meant to knock all the develments themselves yet merely to point out the fact that there are way tooooo many developments for the upper class and not nearly enough for (cough cough) young professionals.

I have looked into The Leslie at Maywood and applaud their efforts of offering 8 of their 24 units at $99,000. Pretty interesting although it won't be developed for another couple years I am interested to see the finished product. (the other 16 units are no cheaper than $230,000)http://theleslieatmaywoodpark.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7&Itemid=8


Here are links to the Web sites of many downtown housing option developments. Enjoy.

3 comments:

  1. Well said - same sentiments my wife and I have.

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  2. agreed.

    i would be curious on how much developers are marking those prices up. land can't be that expensive. when i was looking this past year at downtown okc they were alittle too comparable to chicago prices which is just not right. now hands down the coolest place seems to be http://www.garageloftokc.com. although they just rent. boo...

    good luck.

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  3. Awesome and well timed post. I was looking for housing downtown also. My current lease is up at the end of May.

    Going to check out your links and hopefulyl find something that looks good.

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