Friday, April 29, 2005

Who Needs Dry Cleaning In Deep Ellum?

A reader sent in this promotional for "luxury" housing on Elm Street in Dallas. They are throwing in a few perks to spice up the deal.

"1 year membership to Club 48 at the Tower Club, $1,000.00 worth of Bibbentuckers dry cleaning through may 2006, HOA dues paid through 2005 & non-transferable rate guarantee throughout January 2007 of .39 cents a foot, American Home Shield warranty paid for one year, Free membership to the Adolphus Club."

The building has been complete for a while, I'm told, so the aim is to create a buzz in the buyers mind. Deep Ellum is a hip place to party nowadays, at least the police aren't afraid to go down there anymore.

6 Comments:

At 9:01 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nightmare on Elm Street?

Dallas has been trying to turn downtown into more than just a business district for years, but it's been an uphill battle. The sidewalks still get rolled up at 5 p.m. every night.

There's so much land in Texas that a bubble there is unlikely. It's still one of the most affordable places to live, housing-wise.

By the way, Elm Street is where JFK was shot.

 
At 9:30 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I live in Downtown Dallas and Deep Ellum is still scary (pan handlers and Hip Hop and Hispanic gangs cruising). The funny thing is is that the police seem to have a zero tolerance on the paying customer in the area.

As far as 1505 Elm, it is an ugly building that has been transformed into condos and marketed like it's a palace. I've looked at these places and I wasn't impressed - especially for the price.

As far as not having a bubble, while Dallas may be seen as affordable compared to other parts of the country, the land you speak of is far from my job in downtown (attorney). I can't afford to buy close to downtown because I refuse to pay $250,000 plus for a 2/1 1300 sf dump that's right next door to the guy who is going to rape and murder my wife when I'm out of town. These places have doubled or more in price over the last couple of years, so I see a bubble in town. Just because you add granite counters to a dump doesn't make it a nice house. I realize that the same house is "worth" nearly a million bucks in LA, but all that tells me is those folks do a lot more meth than the morons I live close to.

Besides, the schools are terrible and the police are known for arresting innocent people and planting fake drugs on them.

 
At 9:34 AM, Blogger Ben Jones said...

Sounds like Deep Ellum alright. You don't know who to fear the most.

Do they still have the bar that has no roof and you sit on car bumpers?

 
At 10:01 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sold my house last year and lock up $450K. Invested 40% into foreign currency because I perceived that the worst dilemma will be dollar crashed and the house prices will at least stagnant in that case.

Five months ago, when dollar went down 15 percent compared with other major currencies, I though it will be down another 15 percent, but now I realized that this might not be true anymore.

While Americans take advantage of refi boom, China, Japan and India will not allow Greenspan to refi America again. By way of keep buying Bond via GSE, this will keep dollar strong, and the only option Fed can take is to hike rate. This make AG harder to walk away with clean hands.

 
At 2:24 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't think the outside bar with the car bumpers is around anymore. In fact, a lot of the places that were around for years have moved elsewhere because of the crime. The Dallas Police are worthless and the infrastructure in this city is crumbling. I look out of my window and wonder why anyone would want to schedule a convention in this town, let alone move here. There's no water, no mountains, nothing but big hair and leveraged folks trying to one-up the next guy. The new mayor ran on a platform of fixing the potholes a couple of years ago, but my MINI Cooper can assure you that that was one promise that wasn't kept.

Yes, I'm renting and driving a MINI, while I'm surrounded by Hummers and Benz's owned by folks doing a little interest-only in a seven-figure McMansion. I've been running around the last couple of years screaming that the sky is falling, but prices continue to rise and I look like a paranoid fool.

I wish this thing would pop, if only for my sanity. I just can't see much good about the economy. We live in a country that produces very little by way of exports. I just can't rationally pay what folks are asking for homes that a few years ago were considered dumps. Now, all of a sudden they are good investments.

 
At 2:55 PM, Blogger Ben Jones said...

2:24 Anon,
Hang in there. I lived in Arlington while attending school. I never understood why people liked Dallas. Concrete and telephone poles. I agree about the one-up game. It is clearly what a lot of folks live for there. Good luck and thanks for the update on quality of life in big D!

 

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