Over the last few weeks I had the opportunity to visit with   friends in Maple Heights, Ohio.  Driving into Maple Heights there were a lot of real estate for sale signs on the lawns of the many small 1950’s  post WWII era houses.

 

I spoke with one person who lived in Town who told me that 2,000 houses of the almost 10,000 total houses in Maple Heights were vacant. I have tried to confirm this with internet resources like AOL RealEstate but these sites suggest a total vacancy of about 5% of total or 500 houses vacant.   

 

Not every for sale house is vacant – nor is every vacant house for sale.   Houses like those in the photo above, in this same neighborhood, can not be sold for $20,000.00 right now.  

 

What did these houses cost new in the 1950’s?   Probably not much more (maybe less) than $20,000.00.

 

With houses this cheap, clearly there are other reasons that people are not migrating into NEO.  And I am talking about BEFORE last October when the global economy slipped.    No jobs in NEO is one of those reasons.   The bad Karma from our public corruption is another big reason.   Our poor, corrupt governance is striping away our equity in our property.

 

I'd like to write more about this but the Indians Game is about to start.....