QUOTE (kabuku @ Jun 15 2009, 06:42 PM)
I am finding myself tempted by some of the deals I am seeing in Oshawa lately.
Obviously the town has major problems.
My primary concerns are:
1 exodus of good jobs and along with that out migration of people.
2 eroding tax base leading to crumbling infastructure and the raising of residential tax rates.
3 rough tenant profile.
My questions are:
1 Is Oshawa destined to become a wasteland like detroit?
2 Is now a good time to take advantage of distress sales(they`re there) or should I wait for a lag effect from the GM layoffs to really kick in this winter as pogey runs out and peoples savings dry up(man that sounds predatory and nasty)?
3 Is the tenant profile as bad as I think?
Hi Brian. By no means am I an expert on Oshawa, as I don`t invest there at all. However, I did just finish listening to the CDs from the May REIN meeting, I think it was, where they had the economic development officer from there to talk about the state of the local economy.
Basically, it came down to the fact that although there is obviously some bad stuff happening there, there is still a lot of good things happening too. Of course, they`re not reported in the papers anywhere near the extent of the layoffs and such. I remember being surprised to hear that GM isn`t even the largest employer there, and I believe she said that the automotive industry was only responsible for about 20% of the economy. (I might be wrong on the numbers here, so you should probably call the EDO to find out for yourself.)
On top of the bad not being as bad as people always complain, there`s a lot of good there, too. She was talking about the growth of the (newish) university there, and the transportation improvements that have been taking place. It also sounds like the municipal government is pretty progressive, too, which is always a good thing.
So, just from listening to the material, it sounds like Oshawa is still destined to do well in the coming years.
Good luck there!
Johns
