"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...

and on houses with "Starting from $550,000..."

Residential construction is the bottom of the barrel.

We've got plenty of developments like that here. One of them was involved in
an interesting scandal a few years back. It involved the builder, the bank
he used to offer financing to the buyers, and the bank's assessor. They
arranged for the homes to be valued at $500-700K in an area where similar
homes were $200 or so. Somehow, they managed to convince not only the
buyers, but the town, that it would be the next up-and-coming neighborhood.
It was similar to the tulip madness in Europe in the 16th century.

The best part is that so many of these homes were built that it affected the
town's property tax planning. When the bottom fell out....you know the rest.
Besides THAT mess, the owners are stuck with homes that they'll NEVER get
their money out of when they retire and move to NOYB-land. And, the houses
are built like crap. In one of my son's friends' homes, trim sections of
sheetrock were glued to the beams. No screws at all. The mom said she was
cooking one day and a 1x4 foot strip fell into the pot of spaghetti water.
:-)