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Real estate

The Gentrification of the ‘Hood

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Well… Truth to tell, the ‘Hood started out gentrified.

This has always been an upper-middle-class urban neighborhood. But of late?  HOLEE maquerel!

Young people are buying up our 1950s and ’60’s ranch houses and turning them into freaking palaces. Give this trend another ten years, and real estate here is gonna be not just through the roof but hovering in the stratosphere. 

And THAT is a primary reason why I want to stay out of an old-folkerie and in my home: all the way up to the moment I die. BECAUSE I want my son to inherit what will no doubt be a very hot, very pricey piece of centrally located real estate.

Yeah: my guess is that in ten years this place will be worth twice its current value…and houses here are already absurdly overpriced.

So, whenever M’hijito gets this place, he’ll be able to move into Fancy Danville here, or sell the shack and move wherever he wants: debt-free. Yeah: the Funny Farm was paid off some years ago, over my financial advisor’s vociferous objections.

Looks like Financial Dude was wrong and I was right. If the present trend continues, these houses — now on the edge of one of the most upscale districts in the Valley — will be worth TONS of money. He can occupy a stylishly antique pile in a neighborhood of overpriced 1950s tract houses (overpriced when new! outrageous now…), or he can sell this place and retire on the proceeds.

In any event, it now appears we’ll have something to leave to M’hijito that will be worth a sh!tload of money. One way or the ‘tother: no matter what he chooses to do with it.

Around the Swamp…uhm, Park

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Hot, soggy morning. Ruby and I: just back from circumambulating the big, green park that forms the centerpiece of the ‘Hood,

Handsome young parents roll their adorable toddlers around in strollers. Other old buzzards like me dodder around behind our dogs. Athletic middle-aged types stride or jog past us. Workmen shoveling out the house vacated by the couple who lost everything when their son was arrested on some absurd charge putter around the corner house. Early commuters zip past on the mini-arterial that runs up the center of the ‘Hood. Very pretty, very classy spot.

Briefly, I considered buying that house. But…well, no.

It just requires TOO much work. That crew of workmen have been there for a couple of weeks, and it sure doesn’t look like they’re gonna be finished soon. Plus the pool was allowed to stand in the sun and dry out, ruining the plaster and probably everything that runs the thing. And the traffic on the road that runs past it is fairly fierce. Nope. don’t think so!

Plus it’s too damn public The house backs onto the park. Even with a bank of oleanders running along the back fence, it’s too easy for passers-by and burglars to see into the yard and, if they look closely, through the French doors and into the house.

I do believe the place I’m in will be a much better investment to pass along to my son — assuming I can manage to stay here until I croak over. It’s in excellent shape: decently maintained inside and out; pool running well and also well maintained; a decent distance from busy (read “noisy”) roads… No: this is the place.

This is the place I need to hand along to my son!

Pant! Gasp!

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Four-thirty in the afternoon, and it’s 103 degrees in the shade of the back porch. Wunderground predicts temps as high as 109.

Credible. Highly credible. 😮

Yes. It IS seriously hotter than the hubs of Hades out there. Dawg and I are back in the house, after a brief circumnavigation of the neighborhood lane to the north of us.

LOL! Wunderground gives us an EXTREME HEAT WARNING extending from 10 a.m. tomorrow to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Well. Sure. OK.  “Extreme”?  Seriously?  105 to 109 degrees at the height of the afternoon?  Well. Whatever you say, dear Wunderground.

I’d call that an ordinary Summer afternoon in (un)lovely Phoenix.

Yeah: hotter than Hell. You expected a balmy spring afternoon (un)lovely Phoenix, come the first days of summertime?  Good grief!

Gosh, though….this IS a pretty neighborhood. Hotter than Hell or not, it’s an attractive place to live. Think Ruby and I will stay….  😀

And…that’s a serious threat…uhm…thought. Matter of fact, I’d sure like to be able to leave this house to my son. It’s a handsomely designed and well-built little castle. If and when he inherits it, he could easily sell it for half a million bucks. (Yeah: that’s only $500,000, which is about par for the neighborhood these days.)

Think o’that! He could sell this house and retire on the proceeds. Or sell his own pile and move in here for the duration. Both houses are worth about the same.

Mine is a decade or three newer than his..so this place is likely to cost him less to maintain. Plus it has a pool. Yeah, a PITA of sorts…but also mighty nice at this time of year.

😀

Report from the Hubs of Hades…

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EGAD, but it’s hot outside. 

Actually, it only seems so: Wunderground tells us the current temp is a balmy 95 degrees.

Brrrr!  Break out the jacket!

Actually, 95 isn’t all that hot for Arizona. I think it’s a little sticky out there, though: but…but…no!!!!  Only 4% chance of rain; Wunderground claims we have 6% humidity.

Right, guys. R-i-i-g-h-t…

Left Ruby home while I took a short hike around the ‘Hood, not wanting to fricasee the little pooch. Being only around 6 or 8 inches tall, her furry body would be one helluva lot closer to the frying pavement than my tall, thin, and unfurry one.

Came across a neighbor beating himself to exhaustion: Here in the middle of the afternoon, the guy had DUG UP HIS LAWN to pull out part of the irrigation system, which he was trying to repair. Lordie!!!  Beat me some more!!! 

All of which goes to show that some people are even crazier than I am.

Looked around the neighborhood just south of ours, wondering….would I like to move over there?

  • The houses are bigger, fancier, nicer.
  • It’s a slightly more upscale slab of the neighborhood.
  • Closer to the park: much to Ruby’s advantage.
  • Further from the ever-threatening Sunnyslope slum…

But…but…seriously?  What AM I smoking???

  • Yep: the houses are bigger, fancier…and commensurately more expensive to air-condition.
  • The lots are irrigated, meaning someone has to be paid to come around and mow the grass every week or two. (Mine is gravel: virtually maintenance-free.)
  • Close to the park means close to the traffic, close to crowds, close to noise.
  • Further from the slums means…nothing. Two or three blocks a difference in the crime rate does not make.
  • Rich people make me kuh-RAZY. No, I do not want to move into a more affluent slab of the ‘Hood.

Ahem! Okay, so much for THAT idea. 😀

Movin’ on…

Whew! Hotter than the Hubs!

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Well…no. Maybe not. It’s probably NOT hotter than the hubs of Hades out on the lovely streets of north Phoenix. No…it’s just hot and humid. Light overcast, 93 degrees, 0% chance of rain, 14% humidity….whatEVER! It surely feels hotter than the hubs, to say nothing of sticky-damp.

Not your standard Arizona springtime afternoon, that’s for sure.

Ruby and I strolled into Upper Richistan: the tony, fancy part of the ‘Hood. Ohhh, how we miss “The Ole Guy,” as SDXB used to call him. What a nice man he was!

The Ole Guy and his wife were deep into retirement, living in a handsome upscale home. Every day when SDXB and I would pass his house during our morning stroll, he would be out in front fiddling with something: whittling a piece of wood or repairing a gadget or whatever. We would say hello — sometimes chat a bit — and consider that encounter one of the high points of our daily stroll.

He’s gone now, presumably “late” or else hauled off to an old-folkery. And much missed.

The two of them lived in the more upscale section of the ‘Hood: custom or semi-custom houses, as opposed to our tract shacks. If that house were to come on the market, I’d surely want to look at it…maybe even consider buying it. But…what the hey! I surely couldn’t afford it. So on my part, that would be nothing more than an exercise in curiosity.

Meanwhile, the corner of the ‘Hood just to the south of my neighborhood is undergoing some mad gentrification. Good grief! New roofs, new plastering, new paint jobs, on and on. Dunno why a bunch of residents decided all at once to fancify the place…but if they put any of those houses on the market, you can be sure that antic will jack up our property values (and our taxes) some more.

{chortle!} I do feel exceptionally lucky to have stumbled across this corner of North Central Phoenix, guided here by a savvy Realtor. If I can hang onto this house until I croak over, my son will inherit a very nice asset, one worth more than most houses in this part of the Valley. If my son feels like moving — and likes taking on the care of a swimming pool(!) — he’ll be able to come right on in to this place. If not, though, he can either sell it for more than enough to pay off his own mortgage, or rent it for enough to let him retire!

Either way, it’ll be a nice gift to leave to him. 

Circumnavigating…

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Yea verily: another dog-and-human circumnavigation of our lovely North Central Phoenix ‘hood. This morning no sh!thead was holding forth in the park — too early for him, presumably. Whatever: it was a relief to walk around without having obscenities shouted at me.

A new (presumably) owner is re-renovating the handsome, classic home on the corner of the park and Main Drag Central. That place is gonna be worth about a zillion dollars by the time they get through with it.

Seriously: property values here in the ‘Hood are headed for the stratosphere. By the time M’hijito inherits this house (as I sincerely hope he will), he’ll be able to retire to Tahiti on whatever he can sell it for.

Meanwhile, directly behind that fancfiying house, the lovely green park stretches out in three directions — constrained by the presence of Main Drag Central. I personally wouldn’t want to be that close to MDC…or, for that matter, to a wide-open park that beckons to every pot-headed bum who staggers past. But still: get a little deeper into the neighborhood around it, and it’s pretty fine.

If I manage to stay out of an old-folkerie (big IF!), my son will inherit my house and its ever-inflating value. That will give him a juicy choice: he can either move in here and enjoy its classy construction, its lovely pool, and its outrageously central location; or he can sell it and move…just about anyplace he pleases.

Tahiti presumably would not be his first choice. His dad came from Grand Junction, Colorado, a mining town on the Western Slope which, over the years, has evolved into the largest town in Western Colorado. He has remarked that he’d like to move there…so I can imagine him making his escape to those climes, after his dad and I pass on to our furry fathers.

That, unfortunately for him, is likely to be quite a while. Longevity is a Thing in my family: women who didn’t smoke have lived into their mid-90s…and because they were Christian Scientists, they never saw a doctor or had an immunization, either. I do go to doctors and do take flu shots and tetanus shots and the like, so as long as I manage to stay off the local roads, chances are I’ll live nigh unto 100 years old.

He’s doing OK for himself, though…as a practical matter, he could sell his house and get himself into Grand Junction without undue suffering.

Hmmm… What would I do, if I were him and I inherited a pile of dough at just about the time I was ready to retire with a decent pension & Social Security?

Hmmmm…indeed! Y’know…probably not much. I’ve seen the world, having grown up in the Middle East and traveled all over those environs, Europe, and the United States. Absolutely ZERO interest in any further junketing.

Chances are, I’d simply stay right where I am, invest the money, and let it support me comfortably for the rest of my life. I might even get a job just to keep myself amused. Of course, adjunct teaching jobs are all over the place. A journalistic job would be more fun and more interesting — and a lot less work of the unpaid variety. Whatever…I figure money is for loafing.