On the road, driving to Chicago via Louisville. The coffee consumed to keep me awake behind the wheel worked! It's after 2:00, and I'm still buzzing! (Note to self: Moderation is a virtue.)
There is an abundance of warehouse and retail space going begging between Louisville and Indianapolis. A nice subdivision with a nine-hole golf course south of Indy with plenty vacant lots still available. All this not unexpected, nearly two years after the bubble popped.
However, the drive into an old neighborhood of Indy to visit a friend was pretty shocking. She has been one of those brave 'homesteader' types a bank took a chance on, and she has done an admirable job with her life and house on her corner of the 'hood. Sadly, her efforts were not emulated around her, and the supply of boarded-up houses around her has really ballooned. I fear for every boarded-up property, there probably is at least another on the 'extend and pretend' plan. The abandoned factory down the street doesn't help, and no dent has been made in the drug trade. I begin to fear for her safety a bit more now. Luckily, she knows every cop on the beat, and they are keeping an eye out for her. But she needs a shotgun. And likely, a plan to move out that doesn't involve her taking a huge haircut.
I'm not sure, given the situation, that this will be possible in the near term.
She has done all the right things. Fixed-term mortgage on a solidly-built house bought at a very reasonable price. The house has always been her only debt. She is entreprenurial, hard-working, generous with her time and talent to the obvious need around her. She has delayed marriage and motherhood to build her own responsible life, unlike many of her friends.
Virtue is its own reward, and she is a happy and confident young lady. Could I find a way to clone her, I could make Bill Gates look like a pauper from the proceeds.
Here's a doff of the cap to her. She will ride out the storm. What if the bank had found ten of her to install into that neighborhood, instead of just one? What if they could be found going forward?
Ahh, finally, I drowse...
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