by Calculated Risk on 4/20/2008 03:06:00 PM

From the Star Tribune, start with this 1+ minute audio slide show: Development dreams dashed (hat tip dryfly)

Here is the article: Minnesota's new ghost towns

The roots of that financial crisis can be found in places like Wright County, where the combination of affordable land, cheap money and boundless optimism lured builders and families chasing big homes in the kind of brand-new subdivisions they thought were beyond their reach.
...
But the boom has unraveled as quickly as it began. While many established Wright County neighborhoods have avoided the worst of the housing market collapse, the county ranks as one of the state's worst areas hit by foreclosures. Pockets of this county, about 30 miles northwest of the Twin Cities, have seen home prices fall 30 percent or more in the past year.

See-through homes. Kind of like the see-through office buildings in the '80s.

And speaking of office buildings: I was driving along the 405 freeway in Orange County at sunset this week - the sun was shinning at the perfect angle through the buildings - and I was amazed at how many of the new office buildings have no tenants; See-through Buildings, The Sequel.