Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
To say that someone should not buy real estate, regardless of the circumstances, is a stretch; especially considering home ownership is supposed to be a long-term investment.
And as I always like to say, everything is relative. So if someone was going to buy a home somewhere in the US last year, Charlotte would have been a good market to buy in…
Article from today: Local home prices rise, best among 20 markets | CharlotteObserver.com (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/597/story/746293.html - broken link)
Relative to the rest of the country; given our price declines, and considering our regions current unemployment rate; one could argue we’re still waiting on the catastrophic collapse the OP forecast to happen.
"home ownership is supposed to be a long-term investment".
Home ownership is NOT supposed to be a long-term investment. It is SUPPOSED to be a place to lay one's head out of the cold; a place to live in and call one's own. We got in this sordid mess because "they" even saw something as critically needed as shelter as a way to rip off people for every penny they could by making it a speculative venture.
Incidentally, having a mortgage is not home ownership. You own the home only when you hold the title.
The only way Reagan's sordid global credit market (and the banks and Wall Street) could survive is if the drop in housing prices was temporary. The reality is that purported house values have far, far, far surpassed the ability of the average American to afford them. So now the Obama administration is trying to invent creative ways for people to continue to pay mortgages on housing that aren't (and never were) worth a fraction of the original selling price.
I am not suggesting that people shouldn't buy houses. I am advising people not to buy a house built during the scandal (built after 2000). They have little intrinsic value.
Always great to hear from you, John! I always wondered who would be the last person to buy copies of those house flipping manuals.
Always a pleasure to hear from you my man. I'v stopped buying those manuals a while back and now concentrate on how to pick your pockets.
We (about15 people ) brought your name up tonite at a CD reunion . I must say, please take no offense, most people think your're.... well there's good news and bad news.
The good news is_. The bad news is the consensus believe you're a class A *******. Sorry. I tried to defend you but you know when the crowd gets out of hand. . . ba bing!
messageman put a lot of time into a post.
Most of you other people have managed to type out a line or two that makes no sense at all. Like 'lovesMountains'...what's YOUR point? If you're wondering about the trolls today, go look in the mirror.
Hey 'InSouthPark'...where is the value in your post? This is a forum for people to express their opinions. Don't you have one?
And on and on.
Do you people read your posts before sending them? I clicked on messageman's post as part of a thread titled 'don't buy in Charlotte'. And I found out a lot; not everything, of course, but a lot.
What I found out from most of the rest of you is that you sit at your computers and toss pointless barbs at each other. Does your post have any context to the message thread?
Is the TV broken? Pray that the global cooling isn't as severe as expected, and the snow thaws so you can all get away from your computers!
messageman put a lot of time into a post.
Most of you other people have managed to type out a line or two that makes no sense at all. Like 'lovesMountains'...what's YOUR point? If you're wondering about the trolls today, go look in the mirror.
Hey 'InSouthPark'...where is the value in your post? This is a forum for people to express their opinions. Don't you have one?
And on and on.
Do you people read your posts before sending them? I clicked on messageman's post as part of a thread titled 'don't buy in Charlotte'. And I found out a lot; not everything, of course, but a lot.
What I found out from most of the rest of you is that you sit at your computers and toss pointless barbs at each other. Does your post have any context to the message thread?
Is the TV broken? Pray that the global cooling isn't as severe as expected, and the snow thaws so you can all get away from your computers!
Great post, will no doubt be deleted, but great post... Exactly how I feel about most of the threads around here. I'm not naming names, you probably shouldn't have either... but damn good to hear someone say what I've been thinking...
messageman put a lot of time into a post.
Most of you other people have managed to type out a line or two that makes no sense at all. Like 'lovesMountains'...what's YOUR point? If you're wondering about the trolls today, go look in the mirror.
Hey 'InSouthPark'...where is the value in your post? This is a forum for people to express their opinions. Don't you have one?
And on and on.
Do you people read your posts before sending them? I clicked on messageman's post as part of a thread titled 'don't buy in Charlotte'. And I found out a lot; not everything, of course, but a lot.
What I found out from most of the rest of you is that you sit at your computers and toss pointless barbs at each other. Does your post have any context to the message thread?
Is the TV broken? Pray that the global cooling isn't as severe as expected, and the snow thaws so you can all get away from your computers!
The problem with your post is that you are doing the same thing you are accusing the other posters of doing. Insulting people. If you don't like it, don't read it. It's a free country.
Why is the "If you don't like it, don't read it" directed at the poster and those who agree with poster and not those who expressed a dissenting opinion to begin with?
It seems as though this attitude does nothing but validate what xcellr8r was trying to point out.
The poster has a right to his opinion. So why not direct that statement at those disagreeing. If they don't like it, they don't have to read it. There seems to be a growing mob mentatlity on this forum.
Why is the "If you don't like it, don't read it" directed at the poster and those who agree with poster and not those who expressed a dissenting opinion to begin with?
It seems as though this attitude does nothing but validate what xcellr8r was trying to point out.
The poster has a right to his opinion. So why not direct that statement at those disagreeing. If they don't like it, they don't have to read it. There seems to be a growing mob mentatlity on this forum.
It was directed at the poster because as I said, he was doing the same thing he was upset about-insulting people and I was responding to his post. No problem with his disagreement with many posts but he could have stated his position in a different manner. It's a free country for everyone. Including me.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.