Oil Company for Sale
Not long after announcing the closing of their local office to join the Houston consolidation lemming herd, Anadarko is revealing its true hand: selling out. This has been rumored for a while, but it was confirmed by Reuters today, and the stock took a nice bump.
Look for another heartwarming story of corporate executives getting a windfall and the average employee getting, well, you know. I wonder about the fate of those Midland employees who have their houses on the market, and are looking for new homes in Houston even as I type this (my neighbor being one of them). Nothing like a little uncertainty to keep you on your toes.
Anadarko's CFO, Mike Rose, took a spin through Midland in the early 80s as a mid-level accounting guy working for ARCO. Even then, he had a rep as a "conspicuous consumer"...but then, who didn't, in Midland, in the early 80s? I suspect that he and his amigos are grinning ear-to-ear now, as that "Executive Severance Package" begins to materialize on the horizon.
Well, in defiance of all logic, I've never seen the housing market so robust, at least in Midland. I guess it's the combination of low interest rates, the anticipation of higher ones, and the relatively low starting prices, but houses are selling like the proverbial hotcakes. I do websites for a couple of local homebuilders, and not only are they selling everything they can build, they're raising their prices! Older homes don't stay on the market very long either. At least three new housing developments are underway... and they're not starter homes. It's really strange.
A usual line in any social gathering is: "Who is buying all these houses?!"
However, I suspect you're right about Monahans. This weird mini-boom probably doesn't extend to the outlying smaller towns. I think Fort Stockton has a similar dismal real estate market.
Posted by: Eric at August 13, 2003 05:58 PMAbout the publisher
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Man, I bet the housing market in M-O sucks right now. I couldn't imagine my grandparents trying to sell their house in Monahans. It would probably go for a song.
Posted by: bryan at August 13, 2003 05:49 PM