Sprawl Reversal

I live for stories like this.

Home values have gotten so bad recently that a bank in Texas that acquired unsold and partially completed new houses in southern California tore them down. That's right, they razed houses that had just been raised! It was easier to do that than find buyers for them.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, sixteen houses had been for a tract on the fringes of Victorville, California, about 65 miles northeast of Los Angeles. The houses included "four finished homes with granite counter tops, whirlpool bathtubs and dual-pane windows."

High living, dude. And, in an indication of how cheap today's mass-produced tract housing really is (even the luxury units), it cost less to tear them down than to build them.

Good riddance. We have too many tract houses out in the suburbs anyway. In fact, if home values sink any more, maybe we can start tearing down not just uncompleted developments but also established subdivisions, and reclaim the land for farming. They can start with all the ugly housing developments near where I live. Let's make New Jersey the Garden State once again! :-D