Ghost City

April 26, 2007

Southwest Valley Sun

Bi-Weekly Real Estate Column

By: Kevin W. Johnson

Buckeye the “Ghost City”

Part One

Forecasted to be one of the fastest growing towns in the United States, Buckeye faces hurdles that may stunt our growth before it really gains momentum. As I sit through meeting after meeting listening to folks discuss how we will handle various issues facing us with the masses heading our way I internally ponder if that is truly the most important issue to be spending time on. While I refuse to insert any overused pre-school level analogies here (I’ll leave that to another columnist who must have a book of them in his desk) it does make one wonder if we are getting a bit ahead of ourselves in dealing with our growth. This is the first of a series of an indefinite number of columns.

First, I will take a few key issues that may have an effect on how rapidly the growth Buckeye is counting on may come to fruition. Then we’ll talk about the effects it could have on us in the near future. Finally we’ll look at the long term outcomes of these hypothetical dilemmas.

First is the current issue that impacts most of the people reading this column, homeowners, and what effect the housing market will have on us as individuals, Buckeye and the country as a whole. Why? We as Americans recently have placed our homes at the pinnacle of our financial worlds. The home is no longer thought of as a sacred space, instead it is currently posing as a piggybank, retirement plan, or leveraging tool. This is potentially problematic in that most people’s homes are losing value daily in a housing market which has yet to find its floor.

So, we can all see the obvious quiet storm forming within the homeowners balance sheet but let’s take a macro view of the potential wide spread consequences. If a homeowner if forced to sell while their home has negative equity it will set off a domino effect in their lives from where they chose to now live. A couple of questions here; if they do not live in Buckeye due to employment here (insert your own jab here) then will they want to live closer to work due to the time and money spent on the daily commute.

I’d like you to take a moment and think about the potential effects of just this one piece of the pie that is our current and future situation.

Do you feel the current housing situation could slow the long term pace of our growth? Please let us know by visiting our Reader Poll @ Buckeye411.com, Buckeye’s Home Page. Until next time…

Kevin Johnson is the owner of RE/MAX Assured in downtown Buckeye and can be reached @ 623.386.8181 or kj@Buckeye-Homes.com.