How the Great Recession Created Ghost Towns
Some markets such as Cleveland and Stockton, CA a recovery could be many years out as populations are moving out faster than the homes they vacate can either be resold or even destroyed.
Palm Coast, FL – January 7, 2011
By: Jon Prior
In Detroit, bulldozers crumple vacant homes left behind during foreclosure by the thousands. Las Vegas developments sit abandoned, and the rapid growth of Stockton, Calif., has screeched to a halt in the wake of the Great Recession.
As some markets such as San Diego and Washington, D.C., lead the recovery out of the housing crisis, others are becoming ghost towns. A study from James Follain of the Research Institute for Housing America showed in some markets such as Cleveland and Stockton, a recovery could be many years out as populations are moving out faster than the homes they vacate can either be resold or even destroyed.
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Palm Coast– The next ghost town!!!
If you read the entire article and apply the same calculatioins to Palm Coast as the author applied to Stockton, CA, Detroit, MI and Cleveland, OH, you’ll see that Palm Coast is worse than any of those 3. We are different in some respects, in that we aren’t a large city, nor are we a business hub. Unfortunately, neither are Detroit and Cleveland any more. If the powers that be, both in the City and County, don’t think this couldn’t happen to us, they are sorely mistaken!!! If we don’t promote business development and make it priority one, then there won’t be any reason for anyone to come to Flagler County. There will be new and better places to go (have you seen the condition of the alphabet neighborhoods lately or what is happening to, of all places, Island Estates in Hammock Dunes???) and Flagler County will be a ghost town, AGAIN!! This may be what some want, but, not me, and I’d venture to speak for the vast majority of home/property owners that they don’t want that either. We need to promote this County as a place to live, WORK and play. We have the natural beauty and surroundings, we need to attract young families to move here for jobs an d lifestyle, we need to attract tourists to come here and experience the great bounty that we have.
Speaking of tourists, the only thing that we have of size and substance to draw significant numbers of tourists is Hammock Beach. It is a fabulous facility and experienced a great year in 2010 in attracting
‘first-time" resortists (much of it at the expense of the Panhandle) who couldn’t believe how great a place it was. Many will be coming back again, if it continues to be run well. That leads me to the subject of our County Commissioners playing politics and not approving the request for the expansion at Hammock Beach. With an oceanfront upscale hotel run by a bigtime resort operator, we would have a real prize and great tourist draw for Flagler County. It would be at the forefront in the recovery and growth of the County. The homeowners’ associations that are fighting this have their perceived rights and personal agendas at stake. However, for the better good of the many in this County, the County Commissioners should have voted for the expansion requests rather than counting the votes represented by the homeowners’ associations. Priority one, needs to be keeping Hammock Beach vibrant and growing and keeping Reynolds Group here and involved in owning and managing!!!
Reynolds Employee
This guy must with for Reynolds.I can tell he is not a Homeowner at Hammock
Palm Coast
The majority of people who come to Palm Coast to live (primary or second homes) are retired or if working, work from their homes. The rest, with a few exceptions, are service people — teachers, police, firemen, small business ownerns/workers. We cannot be compared to Detroit & Cleveland.
Hammock Beach Resort is already a very large enterprise. The Towers operates like a hotel even though the units are owned individually. According to the C&R’s every property in the Resort area can be rented like a hotel — nightly, weekly, monthly etc. Until we get the water situation under control, I believe we shouldn’t build large scale projects on the beachside. It is environmentally not sound. Hammock Beach/Ocean Hammock is doing well not with rentals because they have lowered their prices and offer so many great specials attracting vacationers. And they have good management.
And, Dave, can you please explain what you are implying about "what is happening in Island Estates"?