House Eleven

FTLComm - Tisdale - Friday, October 26, 2001

Yesterday's project to catalogue the houses for sale in Tisdale seemed like a good idea at the time but it surprised me to discover that it would take the whole day. Right after breakfast I set out to work my way across town photographing and noting the location on a map each house with a sign advertising its place on the market. I worked my way across town and found number forty-nine on Valecrest Place near noon then drove over to the other side of highway three if there was anything for sale South of the tourist booth. That's when I discovered this beautiful new house on this treed site. This is a very attractive site, secluded and protrected with a somewhat sprawling appearance. Processing forty-nine house pictures and setting up the map with the pop up pictures took all afternoon but I think it is worth it as it gives us a picture of the community and helps usunderstand something about all those signs. It looks like the recession of 2001 took hold of Tisdale sometime late this summer. People with older revenue homes put them on the market while others decided to turn older homes into cash,. The usual buyers reluctant to wade into any investment when things look tough have been holding on to their cash and hence we have forty-nine houses on the market. However, if you look closely at those homes you will discover that in actual fact there are really only about eight mid to premium homes on the market and the rest would have to be classed as "affordable housing." Eleven new dwellings in a community of Tisdale's size is significant especially when you consider the low income levels in agriculture over the past few years. Of those eleven new homes four are vacant and for sale which suggests that though there is a positive attitude and interest rates are the best ever people are cautious with new purchases at this time.