Please - let us not get into a debate on whether or not buyers should have known better, should just pay-up, etc. The foreclosure crisis is here, and things were done (right or wrong) by a lot of people/institutions. It's just shows how this can decimate a community.
Alaska was "lucky" and mostly bypassed the whole thing, which makes it doubly striking to see the news accounts or to travel and see the impact. Of course, things are done a little differently here and the offending bankers can't really remain anonymous and continue living in a community. The towns are too small and the relationships are too personal.
And that's where I find the most important seeds of difference up here- personal accountability, both for buyers and bankers. Banks have advisory boards drawn from within the communities, and they recommend on loans so it's hard for the bank to let out risky loans in the first place. And if a bank gets out of line, word spreads FAST through the community. Does that sound like community banking? So far at least, it's not an idle concept in small town Alaska.
What a sad commentary. Florida has been hit especially hard, but it's a situation ocurring, of course, all over the US. There are many layers of "blame" and no one thing at fault.
I see the devastated lives every day in my nursing practice, as clients have lost homes and are living in shelters, huge unemployment, can't afford basic medications, depend on food Banks for minimal food, power and heat cut off for non-payment and kids/elderly coming in with pneumonia... it's just overwhelming to the few resouces we have left.
Sandy
Posted by Buck Ward on January 11, 2011 at 6:14 PM
That's a lot of sad video to watch. It hits very close to home for me. Lehigh Acres, the mega-subdivision in the video, is in the county where I live. (It's also in the same county as the Ding Darling NWR. I'm sure most of you have heard of it, and some of you have been there to photograph birds) My business as a consulting civil engineer relies on growth and construction. Unfortunately, there isn't any here anymore.
I'm converting a room in my engineering office into a photographic studio. I have no choice but to try to earn income from my hobby.
If you're contemplating studio work Buck, check into PPA. They've got incredible resources for studio types like us, right up to and including training, promotional assistance and more. They're "near" you in Atlanta, too, so you can probably take better advantage than we do.
Back to the regular programming, Buck has highlighted the impacts felt up here. No local foreclosures, but lots of "trickle down" economic effects from other regions spilling into the local economy. Is this the Trickle Down Economics congress promised us a few years back?
Posted by Buck Ward on January 11, 2011 at 9:34 PM
Crashing down economics is more like it, Hank
Thanks re PPA. I bookmarked the website. I'll look at it when I get a chance.
Posted by Buck Ward on January 12, 2011 at 7:41 PM
Hi Sandy, Hank, and David
Buck - if you have a room for rent, for all of us who go to Ding Darling, that would help pay the bills! !
My progeny have recently obtained their own abode and so we actually do have a couple of unclaimed bedrooms. Of course they are in a state of grand disarray. If I were to take in photo-tourists it would have to be on the sly, as such activities are verboten in my residential zoning district.
I bet you could sell a few workshops too, along with guide services. Local knowledge and resources have intrinsic value for visitors.
As far as workshops go, it seems presumptuous to me that I could play expert to the likes of the great photographers at NPN. But I do have local knowledge of nearby bird photo hot spots like Ding Darling, Estero Lagoon, Venice Rookery, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, and Cape Coral *ugh* (burrowing owls). (Cape Coral is cowed by an onslaught of foreclosures and shares a similar history with Lehigh Acres)
Sounds to me like Buck should be hosting the first annual NPN/Ding Darling shoot-out.
We actually did that several years ago, about 2001, I think. There was a Florida regional group that since has been absorbed into the SENP. Eight or ten of us NPNers went to Ding Darling on Saturday and Estero Lagoon on Sunday. A great time was had by all, but nobody stayed at my house. The idea of a second annual (a decade later) NPN/Ding Darling shoot-out sounds great to me. Everybody can sleep at my house - bring sleeping bags. (How many NPN photographers in full regalia can I fit in my Miata?)
I'll even throw in a photo tour of the wilds of Lehigh Acres. There actually is a place there that is good for snail kites, for those with really long lenses.
Posted by David Rogers on January 12, 2011 at 7:46 PM
Discussion
11 replieshttp://www.dreamsforsalemovie.com/full-version.html
Please - let us not get into a debate on whether or not buyers should have known better, should just pay-up, etc. The foreclosure crisis is here, and things were done (right or wrong) by a lot of people/institutions. It's just shows how this can decimate a community.
And that's where I find the most important seeds of difference up here- personal accountability, both for buyers and bankers. Banks have advisory boards drawn from within the communities, and they recommend on loans so it's hard for the bank to let out risky loans in the first place. And if a bank gets out of line, word spreads FAST through the community. Does that sound like community banking? So far at least, it's not an idle concept in small town Alaska.
I see the devastated lives every day in my nursing practice, as clients have lost homes and are living in shelters, huge unemployment, can't afford basic medications, depend on food Banks for minimal food, power and heat cut off for non-payment and kids/elderly coming in with pneumonia... it's just overwhelming to the few resouces we have left.
Sandy
I'm converting a room in my engineering office into a photographic studio. I have no choice but to try to earn income from my hobby.
Back to the regular programming, Buck has highlighted the impacts felt up here. No local foreclosures, but lots of "trickle down" economic effects from other regions spilling into the local economy. Is this the Trickle Down Economics congress promised us a few years back?
Thanks re PPA. I bookmarked the website. I'll look at it when I get a chance.
Sandy
No kidding! I bet you could sell a few workshops too, along with guide services. Local knowledge and resources have intrinsic value for visitors.
My progeny have recently obtained their own abode and so we actually do have a couple of unclaimed bedrooms. Of course they are in a state of grand disarray. If I were to take in photo-tourists it would have to be on the sly, as such activities are verboten in my residential zoning district.
As far as workshops go, it seems presumptuous to me that I could play expert to the likes of the great photographers at NPN. But I do have local knowledge of nearby bird photo hot spots like Ding Darling, Estero Lagoon, Venice Rookery, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, and Cape Coral *ugh* (burrowing owls). (Cape Coral is cowed by an onslaught of foreclosures and shares a similar history with Lehigh Acres)
We actually did that several years ago, about 2001, I think. There was a Florida regional group that since has been absorbed into the SENP. Eight or ten of us NPNers went to Ding Darling on Saturday and Estero Lagoon on Sunday. A great time was had by all, but nobody stayed at my house. The idea of a second annual (a decade later) NPN/Ding Darling shoot-out sounds great to me. Everybody can sleep at my house - bring sleeping bags.
I'll even throw in a photo tour of the wilds of Lehigh Acres. There actually is a place there that is good for snail kites, for those with really long lenses.