American Dream up for Rent?

According to a story from today's Wall Street Journal, the American dream is up for rent. It is a sad story, but a good one. The article talks about people across the country who moved out of cities, past the suburbs, to the exurbs, to buy a decent sized home with backyard. Now, these same people, are forced to give up these homes and rent again, but this time in the exurbs. The article is worth reading.

One item I found particularly interesting in the articles is Christopher B. Leinberger's (a real-estate developer and visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution) comments: "What is happening on the urban fringe is similar to the urban decay that plagued cities after World War II...Single-family homes and townhouses in cities were broken into rental units. Now, we're seeing that phenomenon move out to the fringe."

This article clearly indicates that the outer suburbs are getting hit a lot harder than the urban cities....Philadelphia is a great example. The best investments are always in the core neighborhoods (a la Rittenhouse Square, Washington Square, Society Hill)!