Ring of death, please meet the donut hole of life
Andisheh Nouraee | June 9, 2011Kennesaw-based real estate information firm Smart Numbers has a catchy name for a struggling swath of Atlanta’s suburbs:
The Ring of Death is a J-shaped ring of land surrounding the west, south and east sides of Atlanta’s urban core. According to Smart Numbers, the real estate market in the Ring of Death will never recover.
Never.
It’s overbuilt and overloaded with foreclosures and distressed properties. The Ring includes Hall, Jackson, Barrow, Walton, Newton, Henry, Clayton, Fayette, Coweta, Carroll, Douglas, Paulding counties, and the parts of East Gwinnett and South Fulton.
Looking at the Ring prompts three Decaturcentric thoughts and questions:
1. Decatur isn’t in the ring. We’re smack dab in the middle of the non-dead area. Let’s call it the Donut Hole of Life.
2. Why isn’t Decatur in it? Is it density? Maybe. But Cherokee County is neither dense nor walkable and it’s not in the Ring. Is it mass transit? Perhaps, but Cobb voters hate transit almost as much as they hate science books that leave out the Old Testament. Cobb ain’t in the Ring. Is it schools? City of Atlanta’s school system is in shambles, but Atlanta’s not in the Ring.
It’s probably a combination of all those factors, plus proximity to Atlanta’s main office districts (Midtown, Buckhead, Central Perimeter, and Cumberland).
3. The last thing it reminds me of: Remember the May 31st Decatur Metro post highlighting anti-TSPLOST comments made by Fayette County Tea Partier Debbie Dooley? Yeah, well, maybe we should think twice before we take the advice of people with Ring of Death addresses.
Good job matching the incredibly obnoxious and pointless graphic with your commentary.
I think Davo needs a hug. Or a donut.
Or a donut cushion.
Are we missing a thought or did you mis-count?
Thank you for catching that, Siv. I had a fourth point, then forgot it after I got up to go do something else. Multitasking and copy-editing do not mix.
I think “never” is a bit too much but it will certainly be a long time. Faceless subdivisions (“PV Farms”) in the ‘burbs combined with high fuel and no transportation options will make selling these properties a tough proposition.
The original thought process that you get a lot of house for the money (cheap house note) is going to be replaced with auto costs (fuel, repair, insurance, etc…) that dwarf their housing costs.
Yeah, agreed. We’ll need to improve transportation options/commute times a heck of a lot within the inner-core before the death ring recovers, but it can be done if Atlanta transportation becomes more efficient and the city’s economy keeps growing.
That will be key.
And, i want to be clear that I’m not bashing the suburbs. If you’re job is in Roswell or Alpharetta by all means you should choose to live there. They are, among others, great areas. But, the days of 45 mile commutes each way are going to slowly (maybe quickly) come to an end.
“Ring of spots” and “cone of recovery” also figure in the linked story. But notice the viewpoint there: what’s not going to recover is developers’ ability to throw up cheap subdivisions in the woods for a quick profit. I have a hard time seeing this as completely bad.
I have a Decatur address and feel like I have a front row seat in the aforementioned ‘ring’. My county tax assessment which I received a couple weeks ago, devalued my property by 53%. Fortunately, I do not plan on going anywhere or selling any time soon so perhaps recovery will be imminent but what is the deal? Everyone on my street received similar devaluations. Maybe I am crying wolf but after this, how far behind is the sound of bulldozers so a single family residential area can be rezoned for several jillion apartments??