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In Phoenix area prices are rising dramatically. Had my house listed a couple months ago, took it off, and now the realtor says put it on for 20000 more. Yippee !!!
That is great news, PhxBarb! I run an ad on Craig's List for my house, and lowered the price last week. I had a few inquiries (where I had none last year) and an offer within a week. I didn't accept the offer, as it was about $8k less than what I owe, but it's a very encouraging sign. A realtor wanted me to list it for $15k less than the offer! I am hoping to hang in another year and maybe exit without needing to do a short sale. Good luck to you!
Lets see...a rat hole will give us 1/4 to 1 percent C.D and our house/real estate gives us a tad over 5. percent. We think we will hold on to the house for a bit longer.
Nope -- mortgage payment is 450 bucks, I can't rent anything nice for less than 2K....
The answer to the OP's question is a no-brainer in your case - that's for sure. But to have a mortgage payment that low, I am assuming you took out that mortgage quite some time ago. Your case illustrates that people who bought before the big run-up in real estate values and who didn't tap their equity for other things are sitting pretty right now; quite a bit of their loan has been paid off and the value of their homes, even if a lot less than the insane peak of 2007(?), is still substantially above their purchase price. People like you and I represent the counter-point to the popular stereotype of "homeowners in trouble". The ones in trouble are actually a minority of all homeowners, according to statistics I have read, but I can't remember the percentages or the source.
Anyone thinking of selling their home, rat holing the money and renting until everything of uncertainty sorts itself out?
Worst case scenario is buy again later, since prices really aren't going up, get in for about what you got out at.
Today I heard on the NPR broadcast Timothy Geithner, speaking at the Commonwealth Club of CA, saying that the housing situation is going to be flat for very, very long time...and rentals are really in demand now and for the forseeable future. Whether you sell now depends on whether your home is underwater or about to be, and whether you plan to stay in your place a very long time. Yes your owned home is no longer an investment, but renting will be much higher cost, so why bother to move? The return on the house, though low, does still beat other forms of investment.
The answer to the OP's question is a no-brainer in your case - that's for sure. But to have a mortgage payment that low, I am assuming you took out that mortgage quite some time ago. Your case illustrates that people who bought before the big run-up in real estate values and who didn't tap their equity for other things are sitting pretty right now; quite a bit of their loan has been paid off and the value of their homes, even if a lot less than the insane peak of 2007(?), is still substantially above their purchase price. People like you and I represent the counter-point to the popular stereotype of "homeowners in trouble". The ones in trouble are actually a minority of all homeowners, according to statistics I have read, but I can't remember the percentages or the source.
I recently read that an increasing number of seniors are losing their homes (foreclosures). This isn't reported much; I'd like to see the numbers and %, and where. The % could rise over coming years.
Thanks for those links, Ariadne. We have to be careful about interpreting the statistics of underwater mortgages. You expressed it correctly ("23% of mortgages"), or as the first article says, "23.1 % of all mortgaged homes". I just want to point out that this figure does not take into account the homes which are owned free and clear. In order to know the percentage of homeowners who are underwater, we would first have to know the percentage of homes owned free and clear, and there are a lot of them, expecially among seniors.
Still, I concede that even 23% of mortgages is pretty awful - a very sad statistic. And the variation among states was enormous. Real estate remains a local phenomenon.
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Perspective among the statistics
