I'm in Phoenix for a wedding this weekend and the article wasn't exaggerating. I saw a neighborhood with for-sale signs in almost every yard. Oh, and downtown PHX is the most underdeveloped downtown I've been to. I feels as if you stepped back into 1988 here.
I know what this city reminds me of! It's like a big Lloyd District mixed with Woodburn, Oregon (if you've been there you know what I'm talking about)