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Does anyone have a guess as to when the housing market here will rise enough to sell thier home. I have recently ( September 2008) bought a second home in Los Lunas, it is a very nice home, corner lot, views, big open floor plan on 1/2 of an acre mostly landscaped with beautiful plants and trees. I had been looking around for another home like this and hadnt seen anything quite like it mostly due to the large lot being developed and worked. Many homes have big dirt lots in the back. I have rented my other home for a year. I think I have good tenants although one never knows for sure.
I paid 152,000$ and put down 25%. We have painted the interior and will be doing some other small upgrades.
I loved the house when I bought it but now I just dont anymore. I cant seem to get settled here and I have serious home buyers regret. My life feels too cluttered up now with 2 homes and I worry about any things either home will need, and I dont want to get into deeper debt. I thought this was a smart decision, and feel foolish writing this, but now I just want out. I realize more about myself now, that I dont like any extra stress, and that it will take a bit of time to at least break even. So my question is both How to cope in the meantime and how long will it take for this rather unique property to sell and not at a loss.
Decide which house you want to live in and rent the other. Due to all the various factors the value of houses is down and probably going down even more. The tight mortgage market that is partially responsible has also increased the number of folks that cannot obtain a mortgage and have to rent. If you do not want the trouble of managing the property, I am certain there are business that will provide that service for a fee.
I am also an investor in a small house here in New Hampshire and even though the renter is having financial difficulty because his wife was severly injured, when her car was destroyed by a drunk driver, and cannot work, we are extending him credit because they are very good tenants that are taking good care of our property.
Decide which house you want to live in and rent the other.
Or if stress reduction is really important, maybe sell the one you don't want for whatever you can get.
I have no idea what you could sell your house for now, but If I had to guess about when the housing market will really turn around, I'd say it is several years away. In other words, prices might not be any better in 5 years than they are currently.
I find nothing more stressful than losing money on the sale of a home, so I'd recommend that you take a deep breath, relax, try to remember what you liked about your new purchase and focus on that. If you can fall back in love, or at least like, with it, then rent the other place out, but be very careful about being a landlord if you've never been one before.
There is potential stress there as well. I think you can probably find a book or two about being a landlord, and most lawyers can fill you in on the ins and outs particular to New Mexico. My rental properties are in Michigan, where most law is written to protect tenants, not landlords. This is ok if you know whats up going into it and protect yourself and your property as much as possible, which often includes telling some potential renters NO. Get references if you can.
My experience renting out properties is generally good, so I don't want to sound gloomy....just learn about it before you do it instead of while you're doing it. Much less expensive
Selling a home into falling prices and demand is guaranteed loser, unless something amazing and increasingly rare happens...someone with the dough falls in love with your property. You might also ask a qualified realtor (or two) which of the two places you own is more saleable. That might determine which house you live in and which you sell...when the time is right and conditions/prices improve. Best of luck to you!
With the falling housing market, there might be one glimmer of hope. While your market value of your property has probably fallen, odds are your tax assessment doesn't fully reflect this. So if you feel like fighting city hall, you might have a shot at saving some tax dollars. If your real estate agent had done a recent market assessment, backed up with active listings and (most importantly) actual sales of comparable properties, I'd bet money that your assessement is 10% to 20% high. Following that logic, you should be able to haul this information down to the assessors office and ask for a revaluation. If the assessor gives you a hassle, you can always offer to let them buy your property at the assessed value! After all, state law requires the assessor to valuate at current market levels, both up and down!
Quoting active listings will get you laughed out of the office, but comp. sales speak... that's one of the main things assessors use to determine, usually to raise, an assessment. It's a good point to use to demonstrate a decline in value, if you can find comp. sales that are similar enough and down enough to make much of a difference.
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A slight silver lining?
