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It just doesn't make any sense to dig your heels in and think you will get "your price" when selling a house.
I am in contract to sell a small house in CLT. It has been in contract for 2 months. All is OK with buyer, financing, term etc. We were due to sell this past Fri. Wed nite FHA produces an appraisal $5000 below the agreeded upon selling price. Both selling agent and buyer's agent submit a dozen comps for support of the higher price. Rejected by FHA. AND, FHA will not accept a new appraisal for SIX months. Take it or leave it.
So yesterday, I took the $5000 hit and will move on instead of the risk of hanging out for a higher market. Hope I close on Tues.
My point is that it doesn't really matter what you think your house is "worth" and if you want to move on, and not wait for some recovery that is not going to happen, you have to go with the conditions of the market.
I havent read all the posts but I was intrigued by this. My DH always says that something is only worth what someone is willing to pay but, in this case, that doesn't seem to apply. This is scary.
There are always some bad companies in the stock market (along w/good ones), that's why its important like i said to be diversified and invest for the long term. I've made money over the past 10 years w/o investing in INDIVIDUAL stocks. All this talk about cajones of steel or gambling doesn't affect people who understand how to invest correctly. Those are just scare tactics (along w/sayings like "no one made money over the past 10yrs....pure rubbish....)....People who have gotten in trouble weren't properly diversified or were weighted too heavily in one sector (ie people who have 5 or so yrs till retirement were 65% or more invested in stocks....very bad.)......Again, the stock market can help you achieve your goals, you just have to be a wise investor.
Sure Coupon. I did not say no-one made money, go back and read what I posted again. Aside from that, personal anecdotes used as some sort of proof can't challenged or verified by anyone else. It's easy enough to check up on what I have posted if one is really interested in knowing. Nobody, I would assume, is much interested in your bank statement.
One more time. The stock market of today, is not the one you keep describing. It's no skin off my back but I'm willing to bet there are going to be a lot more that are going to be eaten by the sharks because they think they know the formula (properly diversified, hah) for winning at today's stock market. Anyone else reading this, go read up on high frequency trading.
Yes. It is scary. The bulk of the buyers left out there have or are being backed stopped by the federal government. Either they are getting a FHA loan, which should be cut out, or going into a deal with some sort of mortgage relief being tossed in.
Given that not one single thing as been fixed that caused this mess in the first place, there are a lot fewer people working and the numbers continue to decline by the 1000s each month, and there is a vast over supply of housing, there is a lot of carnage yet to come. How bad and how fast is now solely dependant upon the US government, the Treasury and the actions of the Federal Reserve. The free market has long since left the housing market.
Non-farm payroll expanded by 162,000 in March and 290,000 in April. Since December, employment has expanded by 573,000, with most of that in the private sector. A small sliver of the number that have been lost in this downturn, but jobs are not being lost by the thousands.
If you are able to buy a house with the goal of paying it off (20 to 30 years), do it now. The lower end of the market has corrected and everyone is missing the fact you can lock in a 30 year rate at 4.5%.
I bought my first home at 9%, my dad bought one at 18% when Jimmy Carter was Pres.
We've made it public knowledge to the folks we're meeting that we're renting this year to "get a feel for the exact area we want to buy in" / etc... A few of them have been so nice pointing out "steals" in their neighborhood, wishing we'd become their neighbors - which I think is awesome. I'd be proud to live next to these people, but I don't know how to explain nicely about what we're seeing in this market.
Perfect example is a house a woman took a picture of with her mobile phone and showed my wife last week... It was a 500k house in a neighborhood you'd normally be shocked to see available. "This is such a steal, you guys have to come live in our community!". Believe me, it's an awesome community... Well, 2 days ago a short sale hit MLS with more sqft under the roof down the street from it - for 447k. Scary.
OK, so a 53k different is pretty big, but there can be more to consider. In situations that the difference is less drastic, some people would prefer to pay more to avoid the hassle of a short sale. That was our decision when we were shopping - we wouldn't even consider a short sale.
A short sale down the street from us is on a prime lot and in excellent condition. It is listed for $10k less than the same floorplan for sale on other streets, and it is now the only one left. A friend who tried to buy that house found the whole process so frustrating she was willing to pay a little more so her family could go ahead and get settled.
On another housing topic, we also rented and got to know the area before buying. I have yet to see a house I like better than what we bought! If someone can do it, renting in an area is a smart choice before making a long term purchase.
OK, so a 53k different is pretty big, but there can be more to consider. In situations that the difference is less drastic, some people would prefer to pay more to avoid the hassle of a short sale. That was our decision when we were shopping - we wouldn't even consider a short sale.
A short sale down the street from us is on a prime lot and in excellent condition. It is listed for $10k less than the same floorplan for sale on other streets, and it is now the only one left. A friend who tried to buy that house found the whole process so frustrating she was willing to pay a little more so her family could go ahead and get settled.
On another housing topic, we also rented and got to know the area before buying. I have yet to see a house I like better than what we bought! If someone can do it, renting in an area is a smart choice before making a long term purchase.
I'm sorry - but money is money. If I can save $10k, $20k, upwards of $50k by buying a short sale - and we're talking the same neighborhood - same schools - same comparable statistics - and similar finish. Bring on the pain!
I understand that my situation may not be typical as some folks need to get into a house quickly and smoothly. But, paying extra for convenience in a declining market is very risky IMO.
Non-farm payroll expanded by 162,000 in March and 290,000 in April. ....
I will speak to these numbers. In regards to the 290K number. The BLS counted ~60K census workers. These were not added by the economy and will soon disappear. More interesting however is that another 188K of these jobs were not counted by the BLS but rather "assumed" to have been created by the Birth/Death model. In other words they took the birth rate, subtracted the death rate, and then made the conclusion that 188K jobs had been created to support this increase in population. I kid you not, this is what they did.
When you subtract out this amount, and the amount added by government spending, the true number is about 15K jobs added instead of 290K. Keep in mind that Obama borrowed a trillion dollars and dumped it into the economy. These are not very good results for that kind of borrowing.
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