Corvallis Housing Market About Ready To Wake Up To Reality?

Oh god, we can only hope.

For months now, I've been noticing a trend on craigslist. Homes for rent and for sale sitting empty, month after month, being readvertised repeatedly. It's as though property owners in this area think they can escape the economic collapse. I've got news for them: You can't.

Think it's shaky now? Wait until HP leaves town.

I've noticed homes for sale by big real estate firms only to be switched to those FSBO signs. I've seen homes with for sale signs only to switch to the for rent signs.

I've seen homes for rent for ridiculous amounts, even miles outside of town. Month after month they remain vacant. A couple of times I've tried speaking with such folks, saying hey we'll give you X amount for a year. Nope. They won't budge. They'd rather hold on to their greedy little pipe dreams that Corvallis can escape the housing crash.

Catch a clue folks. Or let me toss one at you. Most (advertised) jobs in this area don't pay enough to cover a mortgage payment let alone rental on a single family home. This city chants the "sustainable" horn a lot and yet then it comes to money and housing, they bail out of their sustainable ship and land right back in the capitalistic/money-based yacht. And frankly, the idea of a "sustainable" system doesn't exist. No matter what the system is, eventually, either the system cannot support itself or the people realize it doesn't work for them. In short, sustainable does NOT equate to forever.

I'm not necessarily against making a profit (accepting the reality of this singular monetary based economy). But I am certainly bothered by all of this supposed enlightened sustainable speak in this community (and elsewhere) while home prices continue to be grossly inflated, while retail space continues to sit empty whilst new (often high end) retail sites are built, while homes continue to sit empty whilst we have homeless people on the streets and people leaving because they can no longer afford to live here, whilst business owners won't adopt a sliding scale fee and while "progressive label wearing" home owners suck as much of a profit out of their homes as they can, even if it means they only help perpetuate the very things of which they speak against.

Enough already. Let it all crash. At least then maybe we can drop the damn ego's we have wrapped around money, acknowledge our air of pretentiousness and self-entitlement, see the value in everybody, take a good hard look in the mirror at our own actions and set out to create something that works for everybody, even if this means the embracing of a variety of systems.