Flint Postcards: Bijou Theatre

Green Shoots for Michigan

To help temper the discouraging unemployment numbers, UM-Flint professor of economics and finance Mark J. Perry comes to the rescue with a statistical glimmer of hope for Michigan.

The Geography of a Recession

They don't call it the Great Recession for nothing.

If you'd like to get very depressed before the Super Bowl, check out The Decline: The Geography of a Recession by Latoya Egwuekwe, an interactive map that charts unemployment data. The saddest part is that the rest of the country basically turns into Michigan over the course of three years.

Thanks again Duane "Perfect Attendance" Gilles for cheering us up on a Sunday morning.

Flint Artifacts: Oliver Ford Matchbook

Powers Confirms Move

Here's a letter sent out from Powers High School Principal Tom Furnas on February 5th about relocation:

Dear Powers Parents and Friends;

We are acutely aware that there are rumors in the community surrounding the potential relocation of our school and that there is a fair amount of angst in the parent community about lack of communication from us. What we have communicated formerly remains true: we promised that we would give all effort to finding a feasible project and that we would then do our level best to bring that project to fruition.

Sometimes in the past we have allowed ourselves to get carried away in possibilities and hopes and we want this time to be different. At this point I can tell you that Bishop Boyea has signed a purchase agreement for the GM-SPO facility located in Grand Blanc Township off of I-475. The Township amended its zoning ordinances to allow for a high school to operate at that site with a special use permit. Their officials have also expressed a strong desire to work with us.

With this concrete reality in front of us and a short time frame within which to work, the next task is to approach people in the community who have the potential to provide lead cash gifts (as well as pledges) to ensure that we can make it all come together. To that end, a number of receptions are being hosted throughout the community to which we are inviting major donors who can provide a substantial portion of the funds necessary to make the move possible. We have a March 1 deadline to obtain significant support to ensure our success. After this March 1 deadline, we will broaden and continue our capital campaign. We will need the support of our entire community to get to the finish line and look forward to working with you in the near future. If you know of people that should be included in this first, critical phase or would like to discuss your own gift possibilities, please contact either Bill Milne or me.

Please understand that the order in which we are soliciting gifts is recommended protocol. It is not our intention to either exclude or to offend anyone. We will need every individual gift of time, treasure, and talent. It is together that we will achieve our success.

With the hope of opening a new facility in January of 2011, we will need the support of everyone. Please continue to pray that God may guide us in His will and bless us in our efforts.

Sincerely,

Tom Furnas
Principal

Powers Catholic Closes in on Grand Blanc Location

As Flint Expatriates reported* back in September, Powers seems poised to relocate to Grand Blanc.

Ron Fonger of The Flint Journal reports:

Powers Catholic High School wants to move into General Motors' Service and Parts Operations World Headquarters by the end of this year and has asked the township for permission to get started.

Just think, Powers wanted Flint Central first, but the Flint school board wasn't interested.

Thanks to Duane "Perfect Attendance" Gilles for alerting me to this.

* Okay, so I really just repeated an unsubstantiated rumor back in September, but since it turned out to be true, let's call it "reporting."

UPDATE:

A Model Memory

Many Flint Expatriates have an ongoing relationship with nostalgia, often struggling to reconcile the Flint of their youth with the Flint of today. Then there's the inevitable moment when you realize you may be burnishing the memory of Vehicle City a bit too much, turning it into a place that never existed in the first place. It's not always an easy process to work through.

So why not simply recreate a scale model of the Flint you remember — or the Flint you want to remember? Michael Paul Smith is not from Flint, but he did build a scale model of his hometown.

"What started out as an exercise in model building and photography, ended up as a dream-like reconstruction of the town I grew up in. It's not an exact recreation, but it does capture the mood of my memories," he writes on his Flickr page.

"And like a dream, many of the buildings show up in different configurations throughout the photos. Or sometimes, the buildings stay put and the backgrounds change.

"Visually, this is heading towards the realm of ART. NO PHOTOSHOP WAS USED IN THESE PICTURES. IT'S ALL STRAIGHT FROM THE CAMERA.

"It's the oldest trick in the special effects book:line up a model with an appropriate background and shoot. The buildings are 1/24th scale [ or 1/2 inch equals a foot ]. They are constructed of Gator board, styrene plastic, Sintra [ a light flexible plastic that can be carved, and painted ] plus numerous found objects; such as jewelery pieces, finishing washers and printed material."

Learn more about Smith from this interview at Man on the Move.

Flint Real Estate: To the Manor Born

The post on the remarkably low-priced house on Woodside Drive generated a lot of comments from readers. I asked Ryan Eashoo, a real estate agent I interviewed in Flint this summer, to offer his perspective on the house and the Flint market. Here's what he had to say:

The home at 1143 Woodside Dr., Flint, MI 48503 does indeed have an offer on it at this time due to the low list price. Unfortunately, the City of Flint has witnessed a steep decline in real estate market values over the past 3 years. In the news you hear of a price decline of approx. 10% in values, however, it has been my experience in the City of Flint that homes are worth 50% + less than what they were just 5 years prior. This is due to the high volume of foreclosure listings and sales in the area.

I find that the banks selling their foreclosure listings are pricing them under market value, making other homes around them worth less as well. The home on Woodside was a short sale (meaning the seller is working with the bank to sell for less than what the home is worth) and a majority of sales transactions in the College/Cultural neighborhood are short sales. Homes are no longer worth what they were purchased for originally. It is like putting good money after bad and many clients want to move from a home they owe tremendously more on than what it is worth. Right now, there are no homes in the college/cultural area listed over $179,500.

The home on Woodside is a beautiful home and is priced correctly for this market. Below are some additional homes in that neighborhood and what they are selling for as well as other properties in the City of Flint with similar sq. ft.:

www.RyanEashoo.com/07090591

www.RyanEashoo.com/12090329

www.RyanEashoo.com/12090064

www.RyanEashoo.com/02090347

I know it is sad, but this is how the market here is driven. We originally listed this home at $149,900 and progressively lowered the price throughout the months it was listed to get an offer. Many clients are moving away from the City of Flint as the prices of homes in the suburbs have declined as well and are just as affordable as the urban listings. The City of Flint school district does not have a good reputation and I find few clients with children moving to the City who are sending their children to city schools and this plays a major factor as well.

I could ramble on all day about real estate in Genesee County, but I won't. Like everything else in a market driven economy, price decline and incline are cyclical and this is typical. Right now, I do not believe we have hit the price bottom for real estate and experts are saying (and I agree) that it will take the next decade for home values to start rising again. Apart from all of the doom and gloom, homes are selling and now is an excellent time to buy. If one needs to sell their home, it can be done now as well, but it takes some creativity on the part of the seller and Realtor. I do believe the foreclosures will start to dry up in the next few years and the market will be less saturated with them and real estate in general will improve. Working in one of the toughest real estate markets in the county, I can definitely attest to this!

Here's the rest of the original post:

If four houses in Beecher for $4,000 isn't your style, how about 3,000 sq. ft. of Tudor splendor off East Court Street listed at $74,000, which is about three years rent for the average San Francisco couple. According to Zillow.com, it sold in 2001 for $225,000.

Thanks to Betsy for pointing this house out.

UPDATE: Mark J. Perry at the Carpe Diem blog estimates what a typical mortgage payment would be for this house on Woodside Drive: $326.44/month.

Flint Photos: Winter Scenes from the Seventies

The backyard of my grandparents' house at 1515 Illinois Avenue with Hubie the dog.

Hubie in action again on Illinois Avenue next to the Wilson's convertible. Remember when shoveling snow seemed fun?

Breaking out the plaid jacket and the Champion sled on a cold day at Kearsley Park.

Fighting for survival in frigid conditions on the East Side.

Flint Real Estate: Four for One

1042 Downey Avenue

Ebay is not a comforting place if you're looking for hopeful signs in the Flint-area real estate market. Here are four houses listed as a group. The opening bid is $4,000 and there are currently no takers. Taxes are approximately $1,375 per year for all four houses combined

1092 Kurtz Avenue

3027 Roanoke Street

1468 Tremont Avenue

UPDATE: Here's a group of eight houses up for auction by the same eBay seller.

Flint Artifacts: The Catcher in the Rye Circulation Card from Powers High School Library

Donate to Flint Expatriates

Flint Expatriates is obviously not a money making venture, but if you'd like to help offset the operating costs of the blog, feel free to donate any amount, however small. (We're talking $1-$5 here.) The goal is extremely modest — more profits than GM and Autoworld combined! Just click on the Paypal donation icon below.

If Paypal doesn't work for you, email me and I'll provide the mailing address of the Flint Expatriates World Headquarters, also known as my living room: gordieyoung(at)sbcglobal(dot)net

Toyota Quality Control

Hmmm, perhaps now is the time for G.M. to grab back some of its market share.

Ken Thomas of the Associated Press reports:

Toyota suspended U.S. sales of some of its most popular vehicles — including the best-selling car in America, the Camry — to fix sticking gas pedals that could make the cars accelerate without warning.

In another blow to the world's No. 1 automaker, Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it would halt some production at six assembly plants beginning the week of Feb. 1 "to assess and coordinate activities."

Here We Go Again...Saab Lives!

Nelson Schwartz of The New York Times reports:

"General Motors said Tuesday it had reached an agreement to sell its struggling Saab Automobile arm to the small Dutch luxury carmaker Spyker Cars, saving Saab from what seemed like certain extinction after earlier bids had collapsed."

Flint Photos: Cronin Downs Soap Box Derby Track

Photo courtesy of Jar With Most.

Photo courtesy of The DerbyTech Track Guide.

The Elusive Super Bowl

Matt Millen may have done more than any other man in history to ensure that the Lions remain one of the few NFL teams to never play on Super Bowl Sunday.

With the New Orleans Saints victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Sunday's NFC championship game, the Detroit Lions are now one of just four teams that has never made it to a Super Bowl.

• Cleveland Browns (Won 4 of 6 NFL championship appearances and went to 3 AFC championships in 1986, 1987 and 1989)
• Houston Texans (Expansion team still looking for its first playoff game)
• Jacksonville Jaguars (Expansion team that went to 2 AFC Championships in 1996 and 1999)
• Detroit Lions (Won 4 NFL championships and went to the NFC Championship in 1991)