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. The faster my ignorant peers go out there and load up on debt, the faster we'll all figure out that there aren't enough buyers to support current prices.
I think that it's clear that most "pro-buy" posters assume that the buyer would put down a good downpayment.
Not all buyers are" ignorant", are they? And in-fact, buyers are not your "peers" as you are a renter. Therefore renters are your "peers".
I don't think there is one stat out there that will support your statement "there aren't enough buyers to support current prices". If there were concrete crystal balls with that in the forecast, then in-fact you would be 100% correct.
In summary, I think it has been agreed that buying is not for everyone, and renting is not for everyone.
Doesn't months of inventory give you a crystal ball, albeit not concrete?
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Originally Posted by johne482
I think that it's clear that most "pro-buy" posters assume that the buyer would put down a good downpayment.
Not all buyers are" ignorant", are they? And in-fact, buyers are not your "peers" as you are a renter. Therefore renters are your "peers".
I don't think there is one stat out there that will support your statement "there aren't enough buyers to support current prices". If there were concrete crystal balls with that in the forecast, then in-fact you would be 100% correct.
In summary, I think it has been agreed that buying is not for everyone, and renting is not for everyone.
I think that it's clear that most "pro-buy" posters assume that the buyer would put down a good downpayment.
Well, that's a pretty poor assumption, since about half of mortgages these days are FHA loans. That's what, 3% down?
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Not all buyers are" ignorant", are they? And in-fact, buyers are not your "peers" as you are a renter. Therefore renters are your "peers".
My peers are young people with money to spend.
Some of them buy houses for good reasons: they have a family, or they never want to move, and they don't care how much equity they stand to lose.
Some of them buy houses for bad reasons: they think they're investing
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In summary, I think it has been agreed that buying is not for everyone, and renting is not for everyone.
After 4 pages, surely this thread has produced something more insightful than that.
Home sales and prices are supported by goverment policy right now. Expansion of FHA, $8k tax credit, quantitative easing, mark-to-myth accounting rules, gov't throwing cash at GSE's, et cetera. Are these going to last forever?
Look, I don't want anyone to take my statement as saying I'm against owning a home. I'm not. It was the best thing for my family to do (purchasing a home). However, just because rates are low and prices have fallen, it still might not be the best time for certain situations. Heck, last year we had people on here screaming that back then was the best time to buy.....
Let me repeat, it depends on your INDIVIDUAL situation...
I did not think you where against owning a home, I agree once again with your statement that it depends on your situation.
Despite all the claims, the economy has not gotten better. So what has been changed to give people this belief? Ans: The govt. has borrowed $2T and given $1T to the banks, and is dumping the other $T into the economy (i.e. cash for clunkers, $8000 home credit, etc)
Nobody is addressing real economy problem The reason they don't, is the fix will cause pain by all. Right now pain is only felt by some.
So instead of irresponsible borrowing by individuals and businesses, the government is doing it for us now. Sad thing is, same end result when runs out. Chinese are starting to get tired of sending this money to USA except for maybe this is their plan. however this is different topic.
People buy homes for two reasons: To Live In and Invest.
If your purpose is to invest, then I would recommend don't do it. Of course it is up to you, but you could probably do better with odds at Vegas crap table. Nobody knows where house prices are going but I expect they are headed down, especially the higher the price. 1/2 million people getting laid off/month won't be buying your investment.
Remember a year ago, one of the presidential candidates was saying economy fundamentals were fine (majority of country believed it at time), bankers were telling us to buy their stock because of wonderful future, nobody in Charlotte would have expected what we see now. You Wachovia workers were thinking about taking over world due to discussion to take over Morgan Stanley. The point is that nobody can tell you things are going to get better. This proves it.
So that leaves purpose of home as place to live in. If your plan is to buy a place that you intend to keep because you like it and can't imagine living elsewhere, then do it. Resale price doesn't matter to you.
Do your homework. Resale price does matter to neighbors and you might not like living in dream home in neighborhood full of foreclosures.
One more time, if you want to buy a home now to live in, do your homework. The biggest risk will be in tract home development because you have no idea how the neighborhood will turn out, and these will be the least attractive homes from an economic standpoint. i.e. If you really want to buy, then go do it in an established neighborhood. Less surprises that way.
Finally one more time, do your own homework. No real estate agent will tell you that it is a bad time to buy so don't take your advice from them. They are not impartial. There are a whole host of others that will give you advice too. Remember, it is you who have to live in it, who will be paying all the bills for it, and will be living with the consequences of not doing research. (oh you mean there is a freeway going in back there?)
Stay away from starter home development. These have turned out to be an incredibly bad deal.
If it was me, I would probably wait for a while, a long while. Prices have not come down enough to reflect were we are in this economy. There is still a big river called "de nial" flowing through Charlotte that has been buoyed greatly by BofA and Wells getting tens of billions of dollars from the federal government. Imagine what it would be like in the CLT real estate market if these two are allowed to go down.
When they are finally forced to deal with the US economy to address what is really wrong, then it might be time to buy. We are a long way from there as nobody yet even admits to what is truly wrong.
Crap I hated homework in school, but I do love sleeping with my 8,000 dollars in one dollar bills each night. Though that might have more to do with the article saying 90% of US currency has traces of cocaine then anything else.
All and all it still just boils down to whether you are in a position to buy, have a home in mind that you like, and can rationalize that you'll have a steady source of income.
There are always gonna be risk, if you're always waiting for the sure thing then be prepared to miss out on other opportunities. I'm young, have no family, and outside of my new mortgage have zero debt so taking a move that would be more risky for a person with a family was something I could rationalize back in the Springtime.
I would buy if you are able to, but only what you can afford not what the bank thinks you can afford. They are always two different amounts! It is tougher but not impossible to get a loan if you have good credit.
In my opinion, the market has bottomed out and has nowhere to go but up.
This is of course my opinion, and there are probably ten other people who will post as to why we are still falling .
Thanks everyone! We are first time home buyers and thats why v r nervous. We were looking to buy in dillworth within 350k but havent really found anything? The realtors tell us we can get abt 95% funding frm some banks ....is tat a good idea? We are so confused....!!!!
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