Loan's for Buying a House (Dallas, San Antonio: apartment, renter, insurance)

[HillCountryHotRodMan]

Originally Posted by NSPeachtree81

You're absolutely right... I was looking at your sales and listings. You do deal with the "wealthy", so maybe you're not in touch with the average buyer/seller/neighborhood-- like me, a 25- year Naval officer, who just got snagged in the mess of past years. I love how you like to toot your own horn and list all of your stats... classy.

Survey says.... it's getting too personal, now, bub. Do us a favor and let it go so we can get it back on track before it gets shut down.

Thanks!

By the way, I live in a neighborhood that was probably 80% military homeowners many many years ago when the economy and markets were good... and they turned their homes into rental properties when they COULD have sold them. The neighborhood is now a ****box, so I have my own opinion of how good it is to have active duty military in a new-ish neighborhood. As a veteran, I earned the right to say that most of you in the military move in and then leave and don't care one iota what happens to your former neighborhoods. With all due respect....

[sshurgot]

Originally Posted by NSPeachtree81

where are the buyers???

Within the past 30 days I've had one closing and have five houses under contract (one closing today), spread around the city. Three are my listings and for the other two I'm representing the buyers.

I'm working with a couple of other buyers, looking for the perfect home for them. I'm starting to lose count of the number of closings I will have had this year by mid-October, but I can tell you we've had no difficulties with mortgage or appraisals. Buyers are out there, sometimes it's a matter of having the right real estate agent. (Just to give you an example, one of the listings I have under contract was "listed" by another agent, one from a large famous brokerage. After 3 weeks of having the listing he still had no lock-box on the house, no sign in the yard, and nothing on MLS. The seller lost patience and had him terminate the listing. I listed the house and had it under contract in about 10 days.)

[sshurgot]

Originally Posted by NSPeachtree81

I would like to know how many of these sales are short-sales and foreclosures. I keep an eye on the map each month and look at CMAs for many neighborhoods. Yes, if the price is low enough, anything will sell. What sellers who bought in recent years are able to accept that? Not many... the best you can hope for is they will rent it out instead of walking.

Out of the 6 contracts I've had in the past 30 days, one was bank-owned - but that was a different situation from yours (and many others'). Some investor (from California) had bought this house to turn it into a rental. The problem is that he had paid twice what the house was worth at the time (before the mortgage/real estate crisis that came later). They did manage to hold on to it for several years. My buyer client already closed on that one.

The other five, which are currently under contract, were listed by regular folks wanting to sell. Nobody's losing money, nobody's disappointed with the contract price, everything's moving along smoothly. It looks like one's going to close about 10 days early.

I'm not saying there aren't terribly sad situations out there, but it's really not all bleak. As Kevin and one of his sellers were saying in a different conversation a couple of months ago, who the agent is can make a huge difference.

Some agents like to go after the short sale commissions. I don't get involved with short sales and, when I come across them, I send them to other agents. I focus on sellers who have a property I can reasonably expect to sell and on buyers who are ready, willing, and able.

With that, I'm off to a closing

[HillCountryHotRodMan]

Originally Posted by NSPeachtree81

I would like to know how many of these sales are short-sales and foreclosures. I keep an eye on the map each month and look at CMAs for many neighborhoods. Yes, if the price is low enough, anything will sell. What sellers who bought in recent years are able to accept that? Not many... the best you can hope for is they will rent it out instead of walking.

As I've mentioned previously, I am currently looking at buying a pre-owned home vs. moving into a new one. If you want to share, send me a DM with the MLS# and I'll give it a look if it's in my range. I'm just not interested in moving into a heavily populated active duty neighborhood, been there done that.

[sapphire]

Am I the only one who noticed that TexasRedneck AND simple-life both have the same status set? Creepy. Not the words, just that they're the exact same.

[HillCountryHotRodMan]

Originally Posted by sapphire

Am I the only one who noticed that TexasRedneck AND simple-life both have the same status set? Creepy. Not the words, just that they're the exact same.

Who is simple-life?

[sapphire]

Originally Posted by simple-life

That's rude. If you don't have anything constructive to add, then don't reply.

Originally Posted by HillCountryHotRodMan

Who is simple-life?

This guy. Post #7.

[TexasRedneck]

Originally Posted by sapphire

Am I the only one who noticed that TexasRedneck AND simple-life both have the same status set? Creepy. Not the words, just that they're the exact same.

I hadn't until you mentioned it....geez, you'd think folks could be a LITTLE original....

[dvlpr]

Originally Posted by NSPeachtree81

TRN, I did not ATTACK anyone; I defended myself... AFTER I apologized, KC had to get on here and scold me. Secondly, from what you wrote, I can tell you do not understand what has happened in this market. Let me try AGAIN: I did not "over-pay" for my house... everyone on this street paid within the same $5,000-6,000 for their Highland Homes... we have all talked about this openly. All the houses appraised slightly above selling price. Were the appraisers in on the mess? Who knows. Here is what has happened... many of the people who were "qualified" (some like the OP of this thread) have walked away or are doing short-sales. Those of us who actually bought responsibly are left with homes that lose value with every one of the foreclosures or short-sales. People seem to not realize that perhaps they are, indeed, underwater...if you don't want/need to sell, OR your house is paid for, maybe you don't care that it's worth less. What I am talking about is when you do want/need to sell... which includes many, many military people who have to move--we discuss this at work often. The difference I am seeing is that military people (like us) will go ahead and rent out the house. Then you have nice neighborhoods full of rentals. Look, I know the reality of it; I've seen the CMAs for several neighborhoods from our property manager-to-be. We are moving on; I hope it works out for everybody else. TX has been behind the curve and it's just now catching us. It might not be as bad as CA or AZ, but our homes were not priced that high in the first place. Also, just for the record, our whole street is immaculate except for the three renters-- go figure-- and now, sadly, I'll be contributing to the rentals.

First, if the only people who could buy houses were people who have better-than-middle-school spelling abilities, we wouldn't have a very dynamic housing market. Sad, but true.

A big part of your issue is where you decided to purchase: everyone in your subdivision paid roughly the same for their house; this is how it works in the sprawl-burbs, where subdivisions are segmented by relatively narrow price points. You bought a production home in a production subdivision. These new subdivisions typically see VERY slow appreciation, as buyers can get new homes in a new subdivisions just a little further out. Why would they buy your "used" house when they can get a new one for the same price?

With respect to valuation, there simply aren't many barriers-to-entry for future competition in sprawl. That keeps prices low. Ironically, the major factor that drives sprawl is it's "affordability", but that also creates big problems for people who need to sell their house in the short-term.

[TexasRedneck]

Sounds to me it's more an issue of knowing what/where to buy than having been "duped". LOTS of us have made similar mistakes in judgement, I know - the thing is, rather than blaming everyone else, you've got to realize that it is what it is, and get on with your life. Anyone that's been around RE any length of time (and that should include buyers - both new and experienced) knows that buying in a new subdivision typically means a minimum of 5 years will pass before you can expect any kind of "uptick" in prices.
This isn't a "shot" at anyone - and frankly, some tend to read more into the comments that have been made in this string far beyond what has been intended. But the bottom line is that it is ultimately up to a buyer to know the market and historical trends - not the realtor or builder.