[vpcats]

I am sad. As you all say, it's been a bad situation for many, in both directions.

My personal thing...I bought this house in Dec. 02, not cheap considering everything that had to be done to it. I had sold two previous ones, one after 2.5 yrs., the other after 1.5 yrs. First one because of a suicidal commute, the 2nd was smaller and I was single as in ONE, and then I met my dear SO and we had to get a bigger place.

I made a little money on the first two houses, not totally intentional, but I paid off some bills and between that and some other investments, I put 20% down on this house and have a regular 30 yr. mortgage.

My problem... we remodeled A LOT. Mucho $$$$$. My intention was to SELL no more than two years later. Yep, I wanted to take advantage of the market but my SO adores this house. I hate it and never meant for it to be forever. Why? I knew the quick high sales were going to end and I wanted to make enough $$$ on this one so that I could rent for a while and then buy low again, cash. No more mortgage. Why? Because I can't afford to pay mortgage for another 25 years. That will make me 80 y.o. I might be dead and the house still won't be paid up.

I was hoping to have a nice mortgage free retirement in about 15 years and be able to enjoy leisure life, travel a bit, do some other things besides paying bills and fixing stuff. Last week alone, the over the range microwave broke (2 yrs. old) and last Thursday, the A/C broke. So.....while I will have a nice chunk of equity whenever I do sell, it will not be sufficient to buy anything else for cash.

I guess I'll have to stick it out here for a while longer and make lemonade.

[shedav]

It is kinda a double edge sword dont you think? While it is awful that people are going to lose money when trying to sell it is nice that the golddiggers are getting hit. It is also nice to know that perhaps your average Joe is actually going to be able to purchase instead of the rich.

[chisoxfan]

I am happy that real estate speculators are losing their shirts.

I am sad for hard-working, everyday people who would like to move but are unable to sell. Some of my neighbors are suffering through this.

Many hard lessons are being learned right now. It's a lot like the stock market was a few years ago when dot-com stocks in companies with no earnings were being bid up to stratospheric levels; anything that goes up in a straight line is going to fall hard.

If any good is coming out of this (besides the fact that speculators are being punished), it is that perhaps future homebuyers will think twice about risky, gimmicky, exotic loans pushed by the lending industry's marketing machinery.

[vpcats]

Originally Posted by shedav

It is kinda a double edge sword dont you think? While it is awful that people are going to lose money when trying to sell it is nice that the golddiggers are getting hit. It is also nice to know that perhaps your average Joe is actually going to be able to purchase instead of the rich.

It is a double-edged sword. I do feel for those who can't sell, who have ARMs, who bought too high, who can't afford it, who can't buy, etc. But everybody has to look out for their best interest. For me, I should have just listened to me last year, or the year before, but I listened to someone else who doesn't have a clue about how money works, went with the heart instead, so now I will listen only to me and just try to do the best I can, when the time comes.

[Arrgh]

Originally Posted by SKB

What do you mean exactly?

That web site is far too unbalanced, biased or whatever term you might want to use. It's the same thing as in a divorce. There is her side and his side with the truth being somewhere in the middle. THe same holds true with the current RE market. There are the doomsayers and those who believe the correction was overdue and others who say this is agood time to buy. SOmewhere in the middle is the truth.

"truth in posting" I have many rental houses I bought before the boom. Some for as low as 60K. They all more than doubled in 2005 and are now worth about 25 - 30% less from 2005 value. I was not speculating, investing, I still have them and plan to have them for many years to come. Even considering the boom and bust, they have given a substantial return on investment over the last few years averaging over 12% per year tax deferred.

My crystal ball is still foggy however, there are alot of forces at play here. Those who bought a HOME ( primary residence) at the peak and plan to live there for a few years will not get hurt re appreciation. They will get crucified with property taxes but a home buyer is not a speculator or investor.

There is much talk about foreclosures on many of these threads. Speculators who went in at 100% or even 110% LTV will get hammered on their short term anticipations and will either rent or go under. But bare in mind that it is VERY expensive for a bank to foreclose and there are no winners when it happens. Bankers are starting to wake up to this reality. As an example. Bank of America, Wells Fargo, GMAC and other major lending institutions are contacting their customers prior to any trouble signs and are offering to re-cast or re-structure mortgages. Amoung the offerings, no mort. payments for a year so that the borrower can catch up,the deferred payment is added to the principal, reduced rates, interest only for 24 mos, extended terms etc etc. These plans were mentioned in the WSJ and our local rag.

The state legislature will come up with some sort of tax reform, will it be elimination of taxes??? I doubt it but there is some reform coming in the near future.

Has the real estate market hit "the end of the world scenario" no. Have we reached the bottom, if not, we are very close. Is it boom town USA, No. Is the RE market ugly right now, yes for sellers, no for buyers. An indication of value is what someone is willing to pay for something. A recent foreclosure, 1200SF 3-2-2 built 1998 just sold for 140K in SW fl. In 2005 that house would have brought over 200K

There are ALOT of buyers who are waiting in the sidelines for what they percieve will be the bottom. Some will time it perfectly others will get on board a little too early or late. Overall I believe that the end of the bust will be about the 3rd or 4th quater of this year with appreciation rates of 8 - 12%in 2008 and continuing in a saner manner from there.

This is just my opinion

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by chisoxfan

I am happy that real estate speculators are losing their shirts.

Again though, are the speculators who did the most damage REALLLLY losing their shirts?

Any smart speculator and investor would have formed a limited liability company or S Corp with which to buy and sell property through. It costs like 200 bucks online to do so, and will shield the speculator from both bankruptcy and liability should they foreclose or have to "dump" their properties.


Assuming they put up no personal collateral, I don't see them losing TOO much, other than their companies....

But who knows, maybe some peopel DID gamble with the housing market without taking such precautions and are getting a right whooping right now!

[floridamove2]

Originally Posted by TriMT7

Again though, are the speculators who did the most damage REALLLLY losing their shirts?

Any smart speculator and investor would have formed a limited liability company or S Corp with which to buy and sell property through. It costs like 200 bucks online to do so, and will shield the speculator from both bankruptcy and liability should they foreclose or have to "dump" their properties.


Assuming they put up no personal collateral, I don't see them losing TOO much, other than their companies....

But who knows, maybe some peopel DID gamble with the housing market without taking such precautions and are getting a right whooping right now!

Its too early to know if the old system will shield a speculator, Under the new law the CEO or CFO could be charged.