Are you affected by the home foreclosure crisis? (states, federal, rates)

[texdav]

Not directly since homes have risen since the economy is booming here with alot of new peole moving in.That said the markets declining because of teh crisis have effected me but i have made adjustmants to get thru easily. I went thru the same thign in the 70's and learened that sometimes you just have to get rid of debt and sit tight.Even losing money on a home to move to a better job is reality sometimes.Wait too long and that move can become impossible.

[HubbleRules]

Originally Posted by KarlaT2

Yes I have been personally affected. My husband and I have excellent credit, and we bought a house we could afford with a large down payment in 2004 thinking we would be here for awhile - not as an investment. The values around here have tanked, and I doubt I could even sell at all right now, or if I could I'd lose a large amount of my down payment. I lost my job and need to relocate to where I've had job offers, but can't unless we sell at a huge loss.

KarlaT2,

I didn't mean to imply that everyone was buying houses as a get-rich-quick investment. But I guess even those who were responsible like you are being affected by the downturn.

What area are you from by the way?

Did you consider renting your place out for a while - so you could move to better employment areas, and then sell it later when the market comes back?

HubbleRules

[KarlaT2]

Originally Posted by HubbleRules

KarlaT2,

I didn't mean to imply that everyone was buying houses as a get-rich-quick investment. But I guess even those who were responsible like you are being affected by the downturn.

What area are you from by the way?

Did you consider renting your place out for a while - so you could move to better employment areas, and then sell it later when the market comes back?

HubbleRules

Well it is true there were many buyers who were doing it for flipping or investments, but not all of us. I just had bad timing.
We're in southern California - Palm Springs area. A local realtor told me the only thing she has seen selling are short sales and foreclosures for last year at least - with exception of higher end 2nd homes for more well off people here.
We did consider renting it out. Still an option, but we are going to see what it looks like in a year before we decide. In the meantime I'm doing temp work until I can move.

[HubbleRules]

Originally Posted by KarlaT2

Well it is true there were many buyers who were doing it for flipping or investments, but not all of us. I just had bad timing.
We're in southern California - Palm Springs area. A local realtor told me the only thing she has seen selling are short sales and foreclosures for last year at least - with exception of higher end 2nd homes for more well off people here.
We did consider renting it out. Still an option, but we are going to see what it looks like in a year before we decide. In the meantime I'm doing temp work until I can move.

Bad timing can happen to anyone - I was affected by bad timing during the Dot Com bubble and lost a nice chunk of change.... In my case though, I got swept up in the frenzy and didn't think about the downside risk. My own fault.

I think that your market has probably bottomed out, or is close to it.

Once credit loosens up a little, and mortgages are a little easier to get, you should see some improvement.

Good luck!

HubbleRules

[sbd78]

Its affecting me because we bought a new construction house (closed on it last Sept.) and a month after we closed, our builder filed for bankruptcy. (Neumann Homes, one of the high profile, big builder bankruptcy cases going on right now.) So our 1-year builder warranty was gone with the bankruptcy (luckily, no major problems with our house), we had tons of liens filed against our house (thank god for title insurance), and our subdivision is now a ghost town. All the houses that were under construction at the time of the bankruptcy are sitting around boarded up. I'm sure eventually, once the market picks up, another builder will take over, but who knows how long that will be? But hey, at least our subdivision is somewhat "secluded" until that happens, lol!

[Lincolnian]

The biggest affect that that the forclosure/mortgage crisis has had on me is killing my 401k because financials make up 1/3 of the DOW and have caused the market to turn to bear territory.

Our Treasury Secretary Paulson and Fed Chairman Bernanke have wrecked havoc on our financial system by irresponsible contradictory comments in the case of the former and bad strategy of keeping interest rates too low in the case of the latter.

[GregW]

We bought our condo 26 years ago and don't really care what it would sell for because we intend to stay there for at least another five years. We did, with relatives, buy a cheap house a couple of years ago with the intent of 'flipping" it. Needless to say we still own the property but are covering expenses with a good tenant. Ya win some, ya loose some. Nothing new there.

[Wendell Phillips]

The housing market will get substantially worse before it gets better. It is not likely that credit will loosen up in the wake of the subprime mortgage meltdown, and many people will not be able to obtain loans even with the best credit. In nonrecourse states, in particular, money will be very hard to borrow due to the declining market and a record number of foreclosures; and for new construction, it will be even worse. (Nationwide, over fifty percent of all construction loans are in default.) And now with bank failures, there will be much tighter controls over lending practices. It is going to be very, very ugly.

[GregW]

Just maybe saving money will be worthwhile again?

[MamaBee]

The lending industry has to feel the pains of the irresponsible business practices it engaged in, and the market needs to correct itself. If a homeowner was responsible when purchasing their home it shouldn't affect them much unless they want to sell.