San Antonio is the 4th Busiest Housing Market in the U.S. Today (Cuero: sale, renter)

[Proffer]

i'm with you, too, blaircedarbank. your general message is spot on, and i thank you for injecting balance and good sense into this discussion.

[Azure110]

Originally Posted by Proffer

i'm with you, too, blaircedarbank. your general message is spot on, and i thank you for injecting balance and good sense into this discussion.

I agree! He has made some really good points.

[ItsTheTruth]

Another in agreement with blaircedarbank. Anybody suggesting that somebody should be buying for only a 3-4 year stretch is just comical. You will lose money in that time period. Closing costs, mortgage interest, home insurance, repairs. You can't simply look at house price and think you've made money. That type of fifth grade math is what got this country into a housing crisis.

[TXStrat]

Originally Posted by ItsTheTruth

That type of fifth grade math is what got this country into a housing crisis.

Well, that amd writing loans for people that clearly did not qualify for them, then passing around the bad debt like Hantavirus in Yellowstone, then having the folks in Congress charged with oversight of the two major GSEs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac constantly assuring their peers that all was fine...

[Merovee]

Originally Posted by blaircedarbank

Moderator cut: see note

I have absolutely NO reason to make SA's housing market look "bad", but I will not watch people Moderator cut: see note post such ridiculous "facts". This reasoning is excactly why housing tanked. People should be in a house to LIVE, not flip, and not reside in for a few years- hoping to make a buck.

We have four military rentals on our street just from this past spring. I can tell you of streets FULL of them in Westcreek, Alamo Ranch, Amherst, Redbird Ranch, Bella Vista, and so on. We can be thankful that at least military folks will rent them out instead of mailing keys in, like so many others did. Call around to local property managers and ask them if the rental business has picked up. I hate seeing the folks serving our country be left to worry, long-distance about real estate matters.

My own house has lost since 2005. I don't want anyone else to make bad decisions. Unless you are almost positive you can and want to stay put with a good job, it does not make sense to purchase a home. You almost sound like the lenders of the boom times. This town, in particular, had lots of issues that I blame on HUD. I won't get into specifics, because you will accuse me of all sorts of false things.

I'm glad you put all kinds of faith in realtors; that's wonderful. I'm not out for myself or I could push through a lot more loans. And I do disagree with you and will work to PROTECT my fellow military members/spouses and stand by what I said: Buying a home for a few years these days is very risky. It's amusing to me that everyone was so quick to blame the banks when housing tanked; but when one is trying to educate, advise, and protect potential borrowers, we get flamed.

Didn't housing tank because of giving loans to people who could not repay? Yet when you state, "People should be in a house to LIVE, not flip, and not reside in for a few years- hoping to make a buck," do you mean you would refuse a loan these people? And those people can indeed pay the loan but being deployed and leaving an empty home in a buyers market would hurt some neighborhoods, maybe your own. But is that a reason to reject a loan to a member of our military?

A few more empty houses is not enough reason to hurt our servicemen and women by being selfish especially when the market will eventually turn around which should be right about now: Upward trend continues for San Antonio?s housing market - San Antonio Business Journal

In either case should not a banker approve loans if the customer qualifies? I don't like the idea of a banker refusing loans, or discouraging those of certain groups, that he feels would be bad fit for certain neighborhoods. Who made that type of banker the gatekeeper?

In either case I am just asking, not accusing, if this is the case?

[Proffer]

Merovee. Nowhere did blaircedarbank suggest that one not make loans to military personnel.

[Merovee]

Originally Posted by Proffer

Merovee. Nowhere did blaircedarbank suggest that one not make loans to military personnel.

No one said it which is why I am asking what was meant. Besides refusing loans I also mentioned discouraging others not to take loans. Why would someone whose work is to give loans to those who qualify turn around and discourage as in the example below?

Originally Posted by blaircedarbank

Good! I hope they ARE scared- people are no longer making knee-jerk decisions. Let me tell you something. I met with a great couple yesterday. They have a VERY good income, one small car payment, a good start at savings, and a downpayment. BUT they are only going to be here 3-4 years and cannot say this is a place they would retire. We went over everything (remember I make loans), and they are going to rent for now.

Look, I'm ok with you tooting your own horn about how much you sell; I really am. BUT if I can keep people from making the same mistakes that got us in this mess, I feel I am doing a good job- it makes me confident I am making loans that will actually get PAID BACK. Not EVERYONE needs to be a homeowner. I don't care if I can give them a 1% loan; sometimes it just doesn't pay and housing will never go back to what it was before the bursting of the bubble.

Moderator cut: Off-Topic

I am asking to be certain the couple above were not discouraged just because they are military if they even were military. Also it would be interesting to know how exactly they were discouraged, did the couple even know they were being steered away from a loan because the loan officer thought they would be a bad fit? I am just asking and if that is not the case then so be it.

[Azure110]

Because the loan officer was trying to help them out.

1) they will only be here 3-4 years and...
2) they have no plans to retire locally.

Two good reasons NOT to buy in SA from the couples perspective. (I know some disagree with this part but I agree)

I know I wouldn't personally buy a house if I was here less than 5 years in today's market.

[Proffer]

And, just because the couple qualified for a loan did not mean it was in their best interest to buy.

[TrapperL]

The reason for the fall of the housing market was folks attitude. For decades we've seen where people can move into a home, live in it for 5-8 years and then sell it for a dandy profit. They've also watched their wages go up in relation to the cost of living. Folks were taking the attitude that they would buy the most house they could qualify for, live in it, sell it for more while their take home pay went up. This allowed them to be able to own a very nice home that they otherwise couldn't afford. Where it fell apart was when gas went outa sight. As the fuel price to produce and distribute food went up, so did the price of feeding the family. Everything went up in price due to fuel prices. The paycheck that was stretched before, now it doesn't cover all the bases and folks couldn't pay their bills. As folks couldn't afford to do the things they were accustomed to doing and spending less, some of the companies sales also suffered which means folks were being laid off. The unemployed were now having to just pick up and leave their mortgages as they had no other choice. Yeah, at one time if your body was warm you could get a home loan and there were lots of B and C class notes written that maybe shouldn't have but it was fueling an almost absurd economy. At the time I was framing 6-8 houses a week and was behind by months of work. So were all of the other subs and there was no one to hire. Now finding any experienced help is near impossible as those folks that were in the industry have left for other jobs outside of the building industry. Any recovery is going to be slow as there is little expertise left to do the jobs. A lot of the builders are now wanting supers with a degree in building but the folks getting these degrees are near clueless. Makes an old veteran like me wonder what are they teaching these folks as most wouldn't know good construction from bad. But the reason for this entire debacle is folks attitude and fuel prices along with elected officials in DC that have totally lost touch with reality.....but that's getting political.