Javier Martinez, 46, a construction worker who lives in Manassas, said that a year ago he was able to send up to $1,500 a month to his wife and two children in the Mexican state of Zacatecas. Now he can only send about $500 a month. His work laying tiles has slowed down, and he can no longer find renters for the three houses he owns as immigrants have left Prince William County because of the ongoing crackdown on illegal immigrants.
(emphasis added)
In a nutshell there it is. The core of citizen outrage over illegal immigration in Northern Virginia is that the illegals are gaming the system to get away with stuff that law abiding residents would be penalized for. You can’t fight city hall – unless you happen to be facilitating the presence of illegal aliens, in which case city hall gives you a stack of get out of jail free cards, when you actually should be thrown in jail.
Buying single family homes, subdividing them into boarding houses and renting out floor space is a pretty fantastic investment arrangement which has also been against the law long before any Mexican entrepreneurs started doing it here. But our local government has decided to allow it to happen with the surge of illegal aliens into our communities.
In case you are new to the area, here is a basic primer: Boarding houses in neighborhoods are considered a bad thing because the boarders tend to behave badly.
And as the Washington Post geniuses did so elegantly and unwittingly for us two years ago, they once again document how foreign nationals have been allowed to thumb their noses at our local laws and proceed to degrade our neighborhoods.
Multiply this tile worker by a few hundred and you will suddenly understand exactly what has happened in eastern Loudoun County. You will also understand why Sterling Park residents are not only asking “where is our Board of Supervisors?” but also where the hell are our Sheriff’s Office and County Prosecutor, and why the hell Terry Wharton and his entire department are still employed.
Tags: Loudoun County, Zoning
Joe,
This tirade you’re on will only make you bitter. And you may end up not having Laurie V(ixen) as an allie. I don’t think that Linda B. has ever seen her in a catsuit, smoking a cigar! Hubba-hubba!
“The amount of money sent home by Mexican migrants declined 2.2 percent during the first six months of 2008″
There is another dynamic here. I heard a report yesterday that the economy actually grew by 1.9% in Q1.
Don’t know about where you live, but near me, the foreclosed homes were former boarding houses. 6 out of 6 makes a trend..
Dan, that is an important point which I should not have glossed over: If market conditions are ameliorating the problem – such as seems to be the case with the gentleman featured in the article, who we can hope will soon be losing his various boarding houses – then what’s not to like? In my immediate neighborhood, three very serious problem houses have gone vacant just within the past 5 weeks. If this trend continues and normal law-abiding people end up moving into all these houses, I think there will be a whole lot less bitching about illegal aliens in eastern Loudoun.
Joe, What did you think of the county program that was proposed to help first time homebuyers that are LoCo employees, with grant money and financing, to buy foreclosed properties?
What happened to this proposal? I remember reading it was shot down initially because there was disagreement about it being offered only in Eastern Loudoun, and then there were price restrictions on the houses, but I lost it from there.
Yeah, I think that is why it was shot down.
The way things are going, pretty soon prices will be low enough that county employees should be able to move in and buy houses without any additional help.
The starting salary for teachers and Sheriffs is in the low 40’s so unless they are married they aren’t even buying a condo in Loco. Obviously there are county employees that make more but I would guess they are not 1st time homebuyers, but that is just a guess.
You can thank the feminists for that, Cathy. They sued to force banks to consider the wife’s income in approving a home loan, and won. The influx of money into the housing market drove up the prices. Since then, two incomes are generally necessary to buy a house.
Thanks a lot, feminist wackos.
Last thing I heard was they couldn’t get a consensus among the BOS. York initially suggested a cap of a couple of hundred k, someone suggested bumping this up to cover homes of more than half a million in price.
Our friend, the Honorable Stevens Miller wanted to dilute it by including more areas.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1423805~Loudoun_to_help_workers_buy_foreclosures.html
You too, Jack? I haven’t seen your shorts bunched like this in a while. Does this article really incense the people who read it? This has been “normal state of affairs” for so long it is hardly noticable to me anymore. The only way these articles affect me is when they are so previlant in the news (every friggin’ day) but no actions are forthcoming from the county or state. I guess there is not enough substancial evidence yet.
Loudoun BOS-are you paying attention? We are doing your work for you finding facts and trends. Do we have to build you a new train before you hop aboard?
Jack, I can’t stand the feminist wackos as much as you, but I’ve never heard this before.
This law suit must have happened decades ago. Hasn’t much of the inflated market been in the past 10-15 years? When was this law suit?
The lawsuit caused the run-up in the early 70’s, after which two-incomes became a necessity.
This latest run-up had several causes:
1) Low interest rates. People buy houses based on their monthly payments, not on the sales price. Lower interest rates lowered the true prices of the houses. When rates went back up, the idiots who took variable rate mortgages… Well, the fools and their money were soon parted.
2) The relaxation of lending standards allowed more fools to buy houses.
3) Maniacal speculation. “I have to buy a house now before the prices go up even more!” (Fear) “I’m going to buy a house and flip it in a year or two!” (Greed) When both fear and greed are driving the prices, hold onto your hat.
How can you tell if a house is “easonably” priced? Compare the monthly payment to renting a similar house.
Example: A $400,000 house, with 10% down, at 6% interest (0.5% per month), is a monthly payment of $1800 just to cover the interest. Put in principal, insurance, and maintenance, and you’re probably close to $3000. Assuming a 10% vacancy rate, and if you want a reasonable (10%) ROI on the $40k you invested, that’s about another $500 per month. Can you rent out a $400k house for $3500 per month?
I think housing prices are still a bit lofty.
Joe, yes I agree..
but I remain, impatient..
JAck, I agree on the current housing run up, I just have never heard of this law suit. Since I was in elementary school in the 70’s I didn’t grasp the market as well as I do now;)
Even to a semi-feminist, I would have to agree with Mr. York:
“If you haven’t had the chance to go through the Sterling Park district, it’s horrifying.”
I say we ask Mr. Miller to spread some of the blight around the districts too so his constituents aren’t again upset that they will be left out.
I have actually seen the drop in housing prices, especially because of short-sales, bear some good fruit in Loudoun. An LCSO deputy recently bought a house in our community and now parks his patrol car on one of our streets when he is not on duty. It’s beautiful!
Wolverine, yes, if there is a silver lining this it it. We are seeing many young families putting down roots. This would not have been possible before the bubble burst.
Joe,
Let me tell you all a little story. My wife is a 3rd shift (11pm to 7:30am) nurse at NIH. Now I have to caveat this by stating I was not a witness, but her drawing and pictures(more on that later) would tend to corroborate her account.
So, the boss was on 495 coming from The People’s Republic of Maryland and in the left hand of the two exit lanes from 495 South to the toll road. If you’re familiar with that exit, you know that there are two exit lanes. The right hand lane is an exit only, and the left hand exit lane is an exit or straight lane. Across the two exit lanes are a series of water barrels to decelerate a car that misses the exit before plowing into the end of the guard rail.
A vehicle which turned out to be a Texas-based Verizon subcontractor who provides cell tower maintenenance was in the far right, exit only lane. Rather than exit, that vehicle went straight, crossed two lanes of traffic, collected my wife’s car, and carried them to within a few short feet from both vehicles slamming into the water barrels. I know this because the boss had the presence of mind to take out the digital camera from the glove compartment and snapped several dozen pictures. The pictures show both vehicles heading south on 495, clearly across the exit lanes to the toll road, and 3-5 feet from the water barrels.
So, the pictures clearly show where the vehicles ended, shows all license plates involved, and the occupants of the other vehicle. There are even pictures of the VDOT Roadside assistance guy who showed up just a few minutes later.
Anyone want to take wild guess as to whose insurance is taking the hit? Give yourself a Gold Star if you guessed mine. The fine upstanding Verizon sub is claiming that the wreck is my wife’s fault, despite his inability to explain why he turned INTO the wreck which is counterintuitive. And the VDOT guy claims not to remember even responding, despite pictures of him at the scene. (I have letters and visits into the local VDOT office armed with the pictures.)
So, the upshot is that both the Boss and I had to take a day off to do mortal combat with insurance companies and rental agencies. In the end our insurance agent got more than a tad outraged, offered to take care of us, and go after the the other insurance company. One look at the pictures was about all she needed.
My warning to you all is three-fold. First, put a camera in the glove box. Second, under no circumstance leave the scene of the accident until the police show up. It doesn’t matter how much of a rush you are in, or how bad the weather is, or even of the other person leaves. Especially if the other person leaves. It is a felony to leave the scene of an accident where more than $1000 damage is done. Third, if you’re in traffic near a Verizon sub-contractor, give them wide berth. Chances are they’re not from here, and their driving skills may leave more than a tad to be desired.
Herndongeezer
Unfortunately this is a very common problem and Herndongeezer is not alone. Illegals that are caught speeding, traffic accidents, or other lawless behavior typically just get thrown back into the water. Legal residents are the ones whose insurance go up when they get into accidents, regardless of who is at fault. The police are often unable for legal or other reasons to pursue the undocumented.
Illegal immigration hurts the US and it hurts Mexico, it’s a lose lose situation. Mexico thinks that it can turn the US into a garbage bin for its unwanted poor, ciphering some money off of them in the process. In the long run, they are only getting rid of those citizens that are spirited and entrepreneurial; the very ones who would help fix Mexico’s corruption.
Liberal hypocrites in the US think that they can fool people into thinking that they actually care about the poor when what they are really doing is buying votes. They are only fighting for their own cultural demise.
The US needs to look after itself and its own citizens first and let Mexico worry about its own citizens.
Hey, remember “Lebensraum”? “Nach Osten” was the word back then. – That’s what the Mexicans are looking for.
Except they go “norte”.
Lovisa,
So the Mexicans are Nazis now?
Who said they are Nazis?
I stated that they need more “Lebensraum” and they have no place to go except north, and north from Mexico is where the United States of America is located.
Please, don’t try to be a mind reader.
I used the word “Lebensraum” because there’s no good English word for it, unless you want to call it “living room”.
“Elbow Room” is the phrase from Schoolhouse Rock.
I’d be careful using the Nazi term with an imperfect understanding of it; Maybe the reason there is no English or American term for lebensraum is because there is no English or American concept yet enshrined in government of a master race needing that “room” to “live” and prosper in.
The closest government program we actually have for lebensraum is “smart growth”.
Agreed! It was not a good choice of words. I know that anything connected to the Nazi era is sensitive, as well it should be. (I’ve seen Auschwitz and I lived in Europe during WWII) Sorry!
Lovisa,
Noted. Elbow Room … OK. For a people living in a country whose population density is in the bottom 1/4 of worlds nations based on population density, do you really think they need more land? The US is not far behind so lets balance the books!?
The reason they are leaving is not “Lebensraum” it is instead “Korruptregierung” the place is a cesspool of corruption, violence and the Oligarchy is pushing the Indians ‘norte’.
Okay. The question is: How many Mexicans of the world can you fit in Mexico? Answer: ALL OF THEM…..WITH ROOM TO SPARE!