[cripplecreek]

I’ve got an area of empty farms just south of me in Hillsdale county. The houses and outbuildings are still standing but they’re obviously empty and the lawns and fields are becoming overgrown with brush.

15 or 20 years ago they were thriving farms. I happened to get down that way a year ago and got kind of lost because it was so different and all the landmarks hidden by new growth.

I’ve been looking around in cities all across the nation in google street view and I’m finding areas like that in pretty much all medium to large cities.

[Steve_Seattle]

"I’ve been looking around in cities all across the nation in google street view and I’m finding areas like that in pretty much all medium to large cities."

There are places in Seattle where I get lost because of all the NEW construction; I've lost all my old landmarks. But this is business development for companies like amazon.com. However, a lot of the old middle-class neighborhoods are deteriorating because people can't afford to properly maintain the property (or don't want to). These neighborhoods will probably become multi-unit neighborhoods instead of single family. Twenty years later, they might look like some of those Detroit neighborhoods.

[RegulatorCountry]

In cities with a growing population and healthy job market, you’ll only find it in high crime areas or areas slated for demolition to accommodate highway expansion. In cities losing population it starts in the same high crime areas but takes root everywhere but the most desirable neighborhoods because houses are so hard to sell when there are no new residents to support demand. Then, it spreads like a cancer. Detroit takes a beating for this and it is the prime example, but as you point out it’s far from the only example. Toledo, Ohio is bad. Dayton too. Cleveland. Pittsburgh. St. Louis. Baltimore. On and on.

[edh]

“I’ve been looking around in cities all across the nation in google street view and I’m finding areas like that in pretty much all medium to large cities.”

There were many areas in Pittsburgh that resembled typical Detroit photos after the steel industry collapsed. Some are still like that to this day. Pittsburgh’s South Side suffered terribly and featured hundreds of dilapidated mill homes that weren’t selling for squat throughout the 80s and early 90s.

These days, those same mill homes, nominally restored, can fetch you $250K or more :-). The area has been totally revitalized.

I’d never live in South Side myself, but I’m also quite ticked for not taking some risk back then as I don’t hate the area that much :-). If I knew more about Detroit, I’d certainly invest something ... you’d be amazed how quickly things can turn around.

Having said that, I love that “Hiroshima” comparison :-).