Sorry, Readers...more Lufkin-ness

Now, in case you haven't noticed by now, I'm a bit fond of where I'm from.

As a result, I knew exactly where I was going with my hypothetical purchase of property.  Since you should be somewhat familiar with the dynamic of Lufkin already, I'll incorporate the reasonings for my purchase as we go.  The type of property I'm gunning for back home is large-scale industrial property.

Now, here me out before you write this off.  I am aware that plants and manufacturing centers have become either obsolete or relocated to metropolitan areas.  I've seen the ghost structures in towns all throughout the state that directly reflect the direction their hometowns have gone in.  I know that little fish cannot survive for long on their own in the modern corporate climate.

And those are the exact reasons I'm hypothetically purchasing these properties.

If you'll recall, we previously discussed the economic misfortunes of my hometown over the years (2009 median household income ~$12,000 below Texas avg.).  One of the direct causes of these turns is the closing/buying out of, now, all of our major manufacturing giants in town.  With the Monday sale of Lufkin Industries to GE, all four of the industrial titans that built the town have either closed or sold.  And, although no decisions have been made on the future of Lufkin Industries in GE's business plan, most Lufkinites can tell you that it won't take long for LI to disappear from its namesake town.

Casualties of these turnovers are the MASSIVE plants they leave behind after discontinuing operations.  Among the empty steel towers are two huge paper mills (Southland Paper and Champion, Inc.), a fully functional compound that can produce anything possibly produced from timber (Temple Inland), and (potentially) two massive plants that serve as the world leader in pumping units & their replacement parts (Lufkin Industries).

Although all of these businesses have fallen prey to corporate giants, none of their potential products are even close to obsolete.  Combine the potential to produce useful products with the certainly severely discounted "ghostplants" that can produce them...you might be on to something.

Oh, but there's more.

Lufkin is currently at its highest unemployment rate this millennium, sports a staggering 80% of 25+ year olds without college educations, and has risen in low-income housing demands every year seemingly ever.  What can unemployed, uneducated, and unfortunate individuals do?  They can work in manufacturing (currently 22% of jobs in Lufkin).  I'd even incorporate a co-op plan at Lufkin High School that trains seniors in said jobs, automatically places them upon graduation, and fast tracks them for advancement.  It's a seemingly great way to pump money and jobs back into the town I love so much.

The lone issue?  What company is going to actually enact my plan?  If these plants aren't good/convenient enough for the corporations that acquired them, why would they be good enough for someone who has the means to acquire them themselves?

The answer isn't quite clear to me yet, as my reasonings tend to turn subjective.  However, I've been working on figuring it out for three years now, and I would love nothing more than to enact these plans one day.

Until then, those empty metal graveyards serve as a personal reminder of what was and what I believe still can be.

Figures in this entry are courtesy of city-data.com.

Foreclosures

One night recently, as I was mindlessly browsing the wide world of the sports inter webs, I stumbled across the story of Robert Swift, a former high school phenom turned top NBA draft pick. Swift's career was less than memorable which, coincidentally enough, ended up foreshadowing his fortunes in real estate.

As you can see here, Swift, as many newly wealthy, young athletes do, spent a significant amount of his rookie contract money on a lavish new home in his new city.  Swift's new, 1.3 million dollar home outside Seattle, purchased in 2006, was representative of Swift himself: shiny and new, rare and valuable, and...short-lived and financially burdening.

You see, poor Robert flamed out in 2008, just four years after being drafted and, more importantly, at the conclusion of his one and only NBA contract.  After hanging on for several years, Swift finally lost his home to foreclosure.  The combination of his loss of income and the irresponsibility of the original purchase serving as dual knock-out punches.

Here's where the story gets interesting: 

After the home was foreclosed on, Swift refused to leave it.  Even after the bank resold the property (for about half the price Swift paid), Big Rob would not leave.  The new owners reportedly sent him letters, visited the home, and even went to the door on multiple occasions, all to be completely ignored by the owner-turned-squatter.

After a threat of judicial foreclosure, Robert Swift finally left the home he no longer owned.  Unfortunately for the new owners, Robert didn't take everything with him.  Reports from the initial entry into the home cited "pizza boxes and beer bottles in the kitchen, walls punched in around the house, piles of animal feces and rounds of live ammunition" strewn throughout the house.

As for Robert Swift, his career never amounted to much more than his belongings in his former home.