Republicans Vacating Washington Have To Sell Homes In Terrible Market

Democrats, don't put away the celebratory booze just yet. One of the world's greatest opportunities for schadenfreude is about to present itself, as an exiting army of Republican foot-soldiers tries to sell its Washington-area homes in the worst housing bust since the Great Depression.

Think about it: Many of today's exiting Republican-appointed officials in Washington arrived near the height of the housing bubble, particularly those who came after George W. Bush was re-elected in 2004. Then, it must have seemed as if Republicans had a permanent stranglehold on Washington, and thus it must have also seemed like the appropriate time for conservative migrants to the capital to settle down and buy a home.

Many of these Republican officials nested in northern Virginia, a corner of what had long been a reliable red state. And what a time to buy in northern Virginia it was.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[indypete]

Hoist by their own petard!

[Susej]

There is an upside to this story:
As the republicans leave Northern Virginia, Democrats move in making, in the process, Virginia bluer for the mid-term and the 2012 re-election.
Another upside, there will be fewer over sized pickup trucks with TX license plates roaming our streets.

[medici]

IRONY!!

[gabbinjane]

Just wait until the Obamanistas have to sell theirs in 2012!! They'll have to hold raffles!

[indypete]

I don't think the American public are stupid enough to vote the dems out before the mess is cleared up and the repubs have created a hell of a mess that will take a lot of clearing.... 2012 won't even be the break even point and the public will still remember who put us in this shape. 2016, maybe, the right wing smear machine will have had plenty of time to rev up again and take credit for all the work the dems did while blaming the dems for the 2000-2008 fiasco. On th upside, the budget might be balanced by then and houses will be worth something again so the dems will make a tidy profit on the way out, selling their houses to the next generation of the repub crime family.

[Earl]

You don't have to be an economic genius to know when a market is down, you sell low then turn around and buy low somewhere else. So what's the diff? Bush administration workers didn't buy in late 05 to early 06. They've been in DC since before the runup in prices, so they'll still sell at a profit over purchase price in 2000 and even 2004. Besides, the top neighborhoods around DC have proven to be recession resistant to even recession proof. Comps in some DC metro area neighborhoods have continued to go up through much of the housing market tank.

[imusintheevening]

Welcome to the receiving end of 'trickle down'.

[levi501]

Republicans get hurt by the economy and Barak supporters react with glee. It's good to see the unity and love on this board. How much should our fellow American's suffer before we accept them into our new America?

Levi

[montemalone]

As much as the rest of us.

[gabbinjane]

Saw a great cartoon yesterday - upper left, a newspaper with the headline "Bush 51%"; sub-headline "Nation divided"! Lower right, a newspaper with the headline "Obama 52%; sub-headline "Nation Unified"! Tells the whole media story, right there.

[Torita]

you reap what you sow. you can't spend eight years accusing the opposition of being traitorous, "socialist," and "not real Americans" and then whine when you don't get the sympathy from them that you think you deserve when the shoe is on the other foot and your own side is struggling. i feel sorry for anyone who loses their home, but any anger that exists toward them, republicans have brought down upon themselves.

[BeefJerky]

As Nelson would say, "Ha-Ha!"

[HBD]

Karma, baby, karma!

[Ningnang]

What comes around goes around....

Sounds like Karma to me!

[publanski]

Karma?

[texanna]

Oooops! How's that Trickle Down Stuff working for you now, Repubs? Welcome to the world you've created for the rest of us!

[leatherneck1971]

Republicans are going to face some reality they have not wished to face, that all that glee they expressed in 2004 election win that their party would usher in 40 years of dominance in american politics was mere self delusion! They stole via trickery, fraud, disenfranchisement, dirty tricks the 2000/2004 elections, and to ad insult to injury with these stolen elections/power they proved themselves failures, inept in government, economics, world affairs, ruined the economy, ruined americas good name abroad, collapsed the dollar, brought us the housing collapse, recession by the way which they denied until the stock market melt down, then it was admitted only since the alternative is to admit we are not in a recession but a depression, which I for one think depression is here, just not admitted, yes they will slink back under the rocks they came from out under, and I can have one wit of sympathy for them, since they proved the republican motto, greed, avrice, abuse of power is their party platform!

[bellabeach]

Payback is hell!

[Wilbur]

...or, karma is a bitch! Either or...or BOTH!

Wilbur

[Earl]

We're not in a depression. We might be in one soon but we're not in one now.

[ribe8g]

Yeah, there's a bummer.....

[likeicare]

What absolutely delicious irony! Shakespeare couldn't have written it better!!!

I hope they all lose their asses -- just like the hit the rest of us have had to take on our 401K's, etc.