Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Boy o BOY. OP, I realized some of these ppl in the real-estate forum can be pretty bitter. Falling prices, while a boon for many, seem to cause some of the posters in this forum serious heartburn! Some of the responses listed seemed rude, judgmental and excessive.
My family is in the upper 50 and we still can’t afford a house. I also process credit apps and I see the amount of debt that most people have. I believe your numbers are pretty accurate. They’re actually better than some of the stuff I have seen. Student loans in particular seem to have gotten WAY out of hand.
Nevertheless, I don’t feel sorry for the people who have student loan debt. I know too many loan recipients who “party” with the loans, take trips to foreign countries and use the money for living expenses in lieu of working. I guess they figure they never have to pay it back(?) Surprise!
Who said “homeownership” is not for everyone? That was so rude. Just because you may have overpaid for a house or you have overpriced homes in your area, that’s no reason to judge ½ of the people in this country as unfit for homeownership!
How many people in America “own” their homes, anyway?
You can try to fool yourself, but unless you paid off the lien, the BANK owns your home. Try not paying the mortgage for a few months. Actually OP, my ddh said something strange to me the other day: “Why are you so gung-ho to borrow money from a bank?”
He said I should just save the money I want before buying a new house (I had been considering a few places). I thought about it. I actually have mortgages for other property now. It’s pretty eye-opening when you get the bill every month and see only ¼ of the payment goes to principal. Even at a low APR, the banks make a KILLING on mortgages.
Realistically, I CAN save up for a house I want in about 10 years. That means I will have to wait, and I risk missing some low prices, but I stand to save over two hundred thousand dollars. My husband has proven to be pretty savvy about money and saving.
OP, even if prices come down, you and your family can probably do the same thing. Granted, our currency could be worthless in a decade, but I try to be an optimist. I hope wholeheartedly that home prices fall much more and you and your family can afford to buy a nice house in an area that you like.
I also hope interest rates come down so responsible people can refinance and get some of that “low” interest that the Alt-A and “interest-only” and “ARM” people have enjoyed for the past several years.
FMV only argues through the prism of how he'd like to think housing should work, not in the reality. He only exists in the Matrix.
"Just work harder" doesn't cut it against the hard numbers. 2.5 - 3x income is the benchmark, and we're likely to fall to 1.5-2x income before recovery given the pendulum effect and all this government intervention, IMO. We'll just get to that ratio a lot slower, meaning a whole lot of fruitless hoping by folks on Dec. 31 of 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and probably 2012 that "I'm glad this year is over and hope next year will be the turnaround".
Not hardly. I argue through actual "steak" in the market and the ownership of 5 homes over the last 20 years. I have seen all types of markets, all variations of interest rates, and only argue how it is and has been, throughout time, regardless of "income to affordability" data. Housing has always been and always will be, unaffordable to some. ViewFromThe Peak- your analysis of North Carolina is really innacurate. The "Matrix" is a very real place with real people living normal lives as they were in past. And not that it matters to you but that house that sold just recently I spoke of a few months ago (early NOV.) and all wondered what the "real price" would show up as in compairison to list price? It was listed for 589,000 and sold for 575,000- hardly a 10-15% DROP that everyone keeps insisting we will and are seeing. Now, as I always have argued, this of course, is aobut 10% less than it could have sold for at the "peak" you all keep talking about but NOT 30-40% below "peak". And it was listed for nearly a year but as mentioned, takes a long time but the right buyer did come along. the people who bought it finally sold their home and are now moving "up". Matix? This is how a typical housing market works and makes the cycle go around. And again, as said by many, over and over and over- it's local, and in areas that are established, sought after communities/neighborhoods with not huge amounts of turn over, are still selling.
And kinky, indeed NOT everyone is or should be homeowners. There is nothing rude about that. Many will argue that renting is the only sensible thing to do, forever, and have argued to such on this forum. Again, What do you think would happen to the multi million dollar rental industry if that were so? And those that buy with money down and pay their mortages and taxes, and insurance, and have a title deed that says "it's theirs"? DO OWN their homes!!
Depend on where you are: Montgomery County close to 100K-house prices 500K and up. Condos not much less.
Where I am, and where those sale price numbers I used are, around 58K. I know that nationally median is around 38K or so, again depends on location. Those townhouse examples are from the same developer, in the same development and the same product. He had a waiting list at 500K, about 1/2 of those are in some phase of foreclosure, and the 300K ones now he's building on spec.
I thnik we need to see what congress is working on now from reports starting to be made by econonmist on the more direct bailout for the home market first.
I thnik we need to see what congress is working on now from reports starting to be made by econonmist on the more direct bailout for the home market first.
Nice, so when does the bailout come for savers who did not take on unreasonable debt and lived within their means? I won't hold my breathe...
Everyone seems to have forgotten that we had a huge bubble in the price of housing.
Goat,
What part of the Triangle NC area are you in that saw a bubble? The homes in my neighborhood in North Raleigh were sold for around $140K in 2001-2002 and now sell for around $160K in 2008-2009. Is that a bubble? Should people in "the lower 50" looking to buy into my neighborhood sit around and wait for a $50K price reduction to pick up the homes for a cool $110K?
I'm not a real estate pro, but I follow the local market. I fully expect to see price drops in the upper price ranges in this area, but if you are expecting across the board $50K reductions at all price ranges I think you may be waiting around a long time.
[quote=AsherLevi;6793293]Nice, so when does the bailout come for savers who did not take on unreasonable debt and lived within their means? I won't hold my breathe...[/quote
No bailout is fair to everyone. Any tax program aimed at homeowners has never benefited those that rent either.If you saved and want to buy a home it is likely to benefit you.The more you have saved the more likely that you will quailfy to buy if you want to. if you don't its like anyhting else that you don't want to do. I myself own my home outright and have no debt except on a car. But that doen't mean I am against homeownership for others. There are all kind of tax benefits that target certain groups and leave out others.The natio0n as a whole will benefit if the people in trouble are helped and only then can this crisis start to be solved.
There's homes in that price range with much bigger square footage where I live in Central Texas. You must live in a high priced city to only get 800 sq ft for $135K. Here you can find a 1700 sq ft home (late 80's) 3/2 for around that price with a nice yard and trees.
Texas has great prices for homes, but then you have the high property tax so it evens it. My son lives in Houston, bought a house for 120,000 two years ago and pays 4,500 a year property tax
I thnik we need to see what congress is working on now from reports starting to be made by econonmist on the more direct bailout for the home market first.
Oh puh-lease....there's already been rock bottom interest rates, intererst free "gifts" for first time homebuyers, and mortgage principal rewriting. None of these stopping the downward spiral of prices. The government just isn't powerful enough to combat the free market. The sooner folks like yourself are convinced of this, the sooner prices can stabilize and not slowly descend to the bottom.
This is even assuming that government has any money to offer homeowners "help". They don't.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I hope wholeheartedly that home prices fall much more and you and your family can afford to buy a nice house in an area that you like. 
