Dreaming of Danville

Reading USA Today recently I saw a headline “Job losses lead to drop in home prices” [ August 16, 2006, Section B, by Noelle Knox ].

My first reaction was, “Wow, here’s another hit for San Diego or Palm Springs.” I’m so conditioned to hearing about these two over heated, over priced, bubble areas I automatically knew this was about southern California. It certainly couldn’t be anywhere else. I knew I should have invested in some of those areas in the Midwest that Money Magazine priced as “undervalued” — Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, etc.

I chose to peruse the article a bit further because I thought employment was increasing in our areas. This article was about Danville, Illinois … an area that I thought was undervalued. Now it must be REALLY undervalued.

The article says job losses among manufacturing, textiles and the auto industry is creating an exodus of residents. The median home price in Danville is $65,200, the cheapest in the U.S.

The number of sales may be falling in southern California but employment is increasing and falling prices are comparatively minimal.

Maybe I did make a good decision by not buying in the Midwest. Why invest anywhere else when the best opportunities are “in your own backyard?”