{"id":25,"date":"2005-12-11T09:26:00","date_gmt":"2005-12-11T16:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=25"},"modified":"2005-12-11T09:26:00","modified_gmt":"2005-12-11T16:26:00","slug":"antless-shrugged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/25\/antless-shrugged\/","title":{"rendered":"Antless Shrugged"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jonathan Higuera in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/arizonarepublic\/business\/articles\/1211housing11.html\">Arizona Republic<\/a> asks: &#8220;Are home costs scaring firms off?&#8221; The article consists of the dutiful transcription of the unfounded fears of &#8220;Barry Broome, president of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>If you are intrepid enough to read the article all the way to the penultimate paragraph, you will discover the answer to Higuera&#8217;s question: No.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>[N]o GPEC client has actually said they were not coming because of high housing costs[.]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It&#8217;s annoying to have to issue all the usual caveats, but not as annoying as all these sky-is-falling &#8216;news&#8217; stories.<\/p>\n<p>For the record:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Phoenix homes are very cheap in comparison to the real estate markets from which established businesses might move.<\/li>\n<li>The repeated incantation that Phoenix homes sell for 20% above the national median is meaningless; we&#8217;re not competing with Iowa.<\/li>\n<li>While potential home buyers might cast a wary eye at our recent appreciation boom, they are going to be much more interested in our future appreciation prospects in order to reap a windfall of unearned increment for themselves&#8211;an unlikely prospect in many real estate markets.<\/li>\n<li>Our future appreciation prospects are excellent: 1. It&#8217;s always snowing and freezing in the Great Lakes states, from which we draw thousands of newcomers every year. 2. Housing prices are between two and four times higher in California, from which we draw thousands of newcomers every year. 3. Hundreds of thousands of house-rich baby-boomers are looking for a warm place for their retirement homes. 4. The states along the Gulf of Mexico have proved themselves to be unacceptably hazardous.<\/li>\n<li>We have a large, educated, money-hungry work force.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The fact is that Phoenix is still the most affordable big city in the Western United States, and it is among the most affordable of the biggest cities in the United States as a whole.<\/p>\n<p>It seems likely to me that the best way to attract the kinds of businesses Mr. Broome might hope to entertain is to offer them the usual Christmas Tree packages of tax-abatements. The best way to attract real entrepreneurs, not corporate welfare cases, is to cut taxes, cut regulation, cut red tape, eliminate zoning and building-permit hassles, etc.<\/p>\n<p>For example, Higuera <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/25\/antless-shrugged\/#more-25\" class=\"more-link\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jonathan Higuera in the Arizona Republic asks: &#8220;Are home costs scaring firms off?&#8221; The article consists of the dutiful transcription of the unfounded fears of &#8220;Barry Broome, president of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council.&#8221; If you are intrepid enough to read the article all the way to the penultimate paragraph, you will discover the answer [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-25","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-general","8":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12085,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12085\/like-bugs-trapped-in-amber-take-a-close-look-at-rotarian-socialist-cockroaches-and-the-pusillanimous-pissants-who-make-them-possible\/","url_meta":{"origin":25,"position":0},"title":"Like bugs trapped in amber, take a close look at Rotarian Socialist cockroaches and the pusillanimous pissants who make them possible.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This is from today's Arizona Republic:Businesses that send employees door to door through Phoenix neighborhoods have jumped into the discussion over whether the city should require peddlers to be licensed before ringing doorbells. Phoenix is the only major city in the Valley that does not require some sort of business\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Big Mother&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3253,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3253\/investors-are-coming-back-to-the-phoenix-rental-home-market-and-with-the-right-business-plan-theyll-make-money\/","url_meta":{"origin":25,"position":1},"title":"Investors are coming back to the Phoenix rental home market &#8212; and with the right business plan they&#8217;ll make money","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link). \u00a0Investors are coming back to the Phoenix rental home market -- and with the right business plan they'll make money Rental home investors are coming back into the Phoenix real estate market, and this is a good\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Investment&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3952,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3952\/give-me-your-money-part-ii-emergent-investment-opportunities-in-the-recovering-real-estate-market\/","url_meta":{"origin":25,"position":2},"title":"Give me your money, Part II: Emergent investment opportunities in the recovering real estate market","author":"Greg Swann","date":"August 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Tuesday I met with a potential real estate investor. She's an investor because she's got the money, the credit and the will to dip her toe in the water. She's a potential investor because she has never yet been a landlord. That's okay. I've worked with many potential investors,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Investment&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":579,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/579\/should-you-trust-the-numbers-you-read-dig-deeper\/","url_meta":{"origin":25,"position":3},"title":"Should you trust the numbers you read? Dig deeper . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 27, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Republic is all atwitter today because \"Prices of new homes slip by largest amount in nearly 36 years\". What's the real news: Nationwide (a non-existent real estate market), year-over-year median prices for new homes were down 9.7%. Not great, not awful, and not really news at all. We need\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Marketing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4880,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/4880\/if-you-have-cash-or-can-qualify-for-a-mortgage-this-could-be-the-ideal-time-to-grab-a-bargain-priced-home-in-the-phoenix-area\/","url_meta":{"origin":25,"position":4},"title":"If you have cash or can qualify for a mortgage, this could be the ideal time to grab a bargain-priced home in the Phoenix area","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 11, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link). \u00a0If you have cash or can qualify for a mortgage, this could be the ideal time to grab a bargain-priced home in the Phoenix area The Phoenix area is hosting a wave of real estate investors like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Investment&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5778,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/5778\/the-bottom-of-the-phoenix-real-estate-market-may-be-in-sight-but-alas-the-end-is-not-near\/","url_meta":{"origin":25,"position":5},"title":"The bottom of the Phoenix real estate market may be in sight &#8212; but, alas, the end is not near","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link). \u00a0The bottom of the Phoenix real estate market may be in sight -- but, alas, the end is not near When will the Phoenix real estate market finally hit bottom? Believe it or not, I can answer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Investment&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}