Foreclosure Meadows

I live in a tract of homes in southeast Reno, Nevada that was, perhaps five or ten years ago, the place to live. Homes in the area ranged from $250k up to well over $600k. In the real estate meltdown that has taken place, these same homes are fetching anywhere from the low $100's to maybe $300k if the place is 5,000 square feet and in perfect condition with every conceivable upgrade. Virtually every home with a real estate sign in the front yard is a short sale.

The newest addition to the list of houses up for short sale is my own personal home. My wife and I bought the non-descript 1,840 square foot, four-bedroom "home" that was and is bereft of any sort of personality. If there was any merit to the place, it was the end of the court location that allows our kids to play outside without the constant threat of being mowed down by a Fed Ex truck or a hooligan in a lowered Kia Rio.

Fast-forward four years since we moved in and we find ourselves at a crossroads of economic peril combined with the grim reality that Reno, Nevada is possibly one of the worst places to be at this point in history, and has likely been that way for quite some time; we just haven't noticed it because things were humming along at an insanely unsustainable rate. The only things underpinning the Nevada economy over the last twenty years involved tourism and construction. Both have dried up and we are left with the abandoned shells of already-decimated schools, neighborhoods, and businesses. That we graduate less than 50% of our high schoolers says to me that this state has set itself up to become a third world country within the borders of the good old USA.

Welcome Home

Back to my neighborhood. The house right next to mine has been abandoned for six months. The back yard is strewn with the detritus of the seemingly semi-normal folk that lived there for a while, at least until the primary owner of the joint allowed her late-teens niece and her Marlboro smoking friends to move in when she jumped ship to Las Vegas. One would think that some other destination would have beckoned in this grim economy. Regardless, all of them eventually left. There are still pots, pans, clothing, and various piles of housewares stacked up in every room in the house.

Foreclosure Meadows, the future of Reno, Nevada.