As regular readers of Marathon Pundit know, I spent some time in Michigan in August and September. My earlier trip was on the Upper Peninsula, and during Labor Day weekend I outside of Three Rivers, near Kalamazoo. You've certainly noticed that I encountered a lot of fascinating things in my Upper Peninsula series, but one depressing sight was the number of "For Sale" signs. I had never been to the U.P., but "For Sale" signs were a dominant feature on roadsides--letting me know that the house behind the pine trees was available for purchase. There were a lot of them. For instance, on Whitefish Point road, north of the town of Paradise to the point itself, I saw at least a half-dozen "For Sale" signs every mile. Yes, the Upper Peninsula is remote, but taking that into account, these are ideally located homes--Lake Superior beachfront properties.
Over on the Lake Huron side, a Facebook friend commented on a thread that when she was in the small town of Lexington a couple of years ago, two out of three homes were on the block.
Things were a little better outside of Three Rivers, an area I'm very familiar with. However, I saw dramatically more "For Sale" signs than the last time I was there, which was in 2006.
Why are so many homes for sale? I don't know for certain. Some are investor properties that didn't pan out, others might be second homes that Michiganders--and some people from other states, are being forced to sell because they've lost their jobs.
The Great Lake State has the nation's highest unemployment rate.
One thing is for sure--It's going to be a slow turnaround for Michigan.
Related post:
Michigan anti-mining referendum: Next year's news today
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