Home prices - Check out todays paper (Orange, Newport Beach: days on market, sales)

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by denverian

I feel sorry for the people who bought my condo in OC in 2005. I got the highest price ever for that unit in the complex - $395K for 2 bdr., 1000 sq. feet. Now I see they're as low as $235K! They're going to have to stay in that condo for a long time just to get back to where they started.

Most likely they're so far under water they'll just stop paying the mortgage and live for free until the man throws them out.

[Donn2390]

[quote=Humanoid; Why someone would buy a 4000 sq ft house to retire in whether its in the desert or not is something I personally do not understand though.[/QUOTE]

That is why they make different flavors of ice cream, not everone has the same taste..! I love all of the room, six bedrooms, four bathrooms and an oversized four car garage for the two of us. What could be better..?
Perhaps in five or ten years, as we grow older, we will downsize, but I sure don't look forward to that.
Now let's find a new topic to argue about.

[thomasfromdenmark]

Hi Guys

I just want you to know what the opinion is in Europe.

The market is dropping fast here, and if you are buying anything in this market, you either have to drunk and you hav'nt read a single newspaper in the past 12 months. People here rent untill the market have stopped dropping. It does'nt mather if you are going to live there for the next 30 years or not, you DON'T BUY, why buy something now, that you can buy for 100.000K$ less in 1 year. when it will cost you 12k to rent in that periode. If you buy you are simply STUPID that's the word for it.

No one is buying in Denmark where i live, I work in a bank and we see the bad things first, and it looks horrible. Interest rates are as high as 7% in fixed mortages now and 5.5% on the 1 year rate- We used to have a 3 % fixed just 3 years ago, that tells you something about the development. Houses are exspected to decresse with 30-50% here

[killer2021]

Originally Posted by denverian

I feel sorry for the people who bought my condo in OC in 2005. I got the highest price ever for that unit in the complex - $395K for 2 bdr., 1000 sq. feet. Now I see they're as low as $235K! They're going to have to stay in that condo for a long time just to get back to where they started.

lol yea. I remember looking at realtor.com and seeing how much condos were going for. I was looking at only 1bed/1bath units and the lowest I could find was around 300k. Now I see several units going for under 200k.

Also another thing you have to remember is that you need to adjust for inflation. House prices didn't just decline 25% from a year ago in reality they declined 25% + the rate of inflation so that is probably more a long the lines of 30%.

[pegasus2005]

I understood the Euro is strengthening against the US$ Are falling prices in Denmark in any way connected to the US declining housing market? or to mortgage securities? or to lack of investor confidence? What is the likely cause of dropping prices there?
Sandra

[thomasfromdenmark]

Sandra the u.s real estate market and the danish are almost 99% alike, the way the financing works are the same, we are some of the only contries that have bonds issued loans. however the european market seams to follow the u.s markets with a 1-2 year delay. Prices here has dropped severe due to investor lack, all investors cashed or at least tried to cash out 1 year ago. Every single day dropping prices makes frontpages, the intrest rate is a hight as 7% now which makes people save rather than spend. The economy in europe has a very black forecast thoug the euro is strong.

[Charles]

I talked to a woman from Norway on Sunday who said realtor fees are capped there at something like 2%. Not sure about the validity of this though.

[5FLgirls]

We've been renting for a year and I hate it. My husband thinks we'd be crazy to buy right now. We've had so many people tell us that this is the time. Subdivisions we looked at last year at $1M (for the low end) are now selling at $750k (for the low end but topping out at $1M). My husband said that an OC economist wrote in the Register that the market is still going to go down for the next two years and remain stagnant until 2012. So, why do people feel we should jump into it right now -- especially when we can't commit to the long haul??

[BRinSM]

Originally Posted by 5FLgirls

So, why do people feel we should jump into it right now -- especially when we can't commit to the long haul??

They probably work in the real estate business

Seriously though, with the loss of jobs in the OC due to the subprime ordeal and the current price to income ratios, I think your husband is correct in keeping you guys from buying a home.

[k374]

Originally Posted by 5FLgirls

We've been renting for a year and I hate it. My husband thinks we'd be crazy to buy right now. We've had so many people tell us that this is the time.

IMO, your husband is right. When you know the trend is downward what is the harm in waiting, why expose yourself to the risk that prices will go down bigtime. Given the current inventories and fundamentals of our economy (layoffs, inflation, credit crunch, oil crisis, foreclosure crisis) it is almost impossible that prices will go up so just wait!