First-Time-Buyer in San Bernardino County- Wisdom (Fontana, Yucaipa: insurance, first time home buyer, neighborhood)

[jvazjr]

'Who would pass their home more than quadrupling? '

I don't mean to be rude but the reason it quadrupled, as thousands of other people's home by the way, was because of the abnormal bubble appreciation. This last boom was *not* normal appreciation. And If you are insinuating home prices will return to those prices, you are seriously in denial. Your parents home, as well as many other homes in SoCal will continue to correct itself in price. And if the home is in the IE part of SOcal..'over-correct' itself. I dont care how much a person loves being a home owner, it doesnt really matter if they overpaid for it or even worse, bought in a depreciating market. It just doesnt make sense right now. But of course, I dont expect anyone in the RE industry to accept that. It's your bread and butter, sales of homes. Good luck to all.

[KabawL]

Originally Posted by Century21superstars

Livinglikeagradstudent is completely right, as is jvazjr, with the quantifiable figures. You won't have much appreciation in 5 years. It's just funny because my 25 yr old cousin bought 9 months ago and has watched her home value depreciate. You wanna know what though? She glows when you ask her about it. She installed the tile and hardwood herself, and had new carpet installed. She loves having people over, touring her townhome, and she enjoys deducting it on her taxes. She could afford the payments and got sick of her rent increasing, so it was the right time for her.
People will always be buying and selling. My parents could've listened to the news and not bought right before the 80s recession with rates creeping near 20%. They had three kids and needed a larger place since I was on the way. But they bought it for a steep $165,000. Now it is worth around $700,000 even with the drop in the market. Could they have bought it for less? Of course, but they new that they would be there for a while (not 25 years, but they did). Who would pass their home more than quadrupling? If they sold in 2005 it would've been $820,000, but they're not crying about it. They raised a family, shared memories, and have had 1000s of people drop by.
I don't mean to discredit the previous posts one bit. I just want to shed light on the positives of homeownership. I commend KabawL for researching so much as that is the key to this market. Keep it up. Buy soon, or even feel free to wait 3 years if that's what it takes. The market will be better by then. Just do your homework (no pun intended) and buy when you are ready to buy. If it does happen to be this year, take advantage of the economic stimulus package for FHA and GSE loans. Good luck

What exactly is the GSE loan?

Thank you all for insights.

[KabawL]

Originally Posted by jvazjr

'Who would pass their home more than quadrupling? '

I don't mean to be rude but the reason it quadrupled, as thousands of other people's home by the way, was because of the abnormal bubble appreciation. This last boom was *not* normal appreciation. And If you are insinuating home prices will return to those prices, you are seriously in denial. Your parents home, as well as many other homes in SoCal will continue to correct itself in price. And if the home is in the IE part of SOcal..'over-correct' itself. I dont care how much a person loves being a home owner, it doesnt really matter if they overpaid for it or even worse, bought in a depreciating market. It just doesnt make sense right now. But of course, I dont expect anyone in the RE industry to accept that. It's your bread and butter, sales of homes. Good luck to all.

The house I am trying to get is going for 220,990. 3 Bedrooms, 3 baths, den, dining, family room, and kitchen. 3 car garage. Big back yard. Kitchen has granite countertops, house has large slabbed tile and carpet throughout. All appliances are included. Family room has gas fireplace. Lot is 7400sqft, while the house is 2300 sqft. Brand new single story. The house is located in Victorville off Mohave dr. before you hit the 395.(D.R.Horton homes) Neighborhood looks quiet.

I dont like crime, but I dont think it can be any worse than where I was living before. Southside of Los Angeles. Houses are correcting themselves, but whens the right time? I might end up waiting 6 months and regret it.

[Unkllars]

GSE's are money sources for mortgage liquidity, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. FHA is a traditional loan that is much less risky than all those no-traditional loans. If you don't want the house (which sounds amazing, especially for a young couple) to pass you by, but you feel it will drop a little more, there are ways around that. One way is to submit an offer with a longer escrow time period. Your lender will send an appraiser out to make sure the loan isn't more than the home value. If you try to negotiate a 60 or even 90 day escrow and hope they allow it, then when the appraiser goes out, you may end up getting a value lower than the original loan amount and you must negotiate more. If its the same, then it should be comforting to know. You sound like you really want it and can afford it. That's awesome, but don't take my word for it. Apparently I, by default of profession, am in denial and a cheat just trying to sell a home that I'm not actually selling. Abnormal bubble or not, no one who bought and /or sold at the right time is complaining. My cousin loves her place and is not in denial. That's what happens to people who buy what they can afford, not claim they can afford it with a junk loan that reset to a rate that they knew was coming, but were in denial. KabawL, we are all looking forward to hearing from you when you do eventually but the place. Be sure to make a post for all to read and compare situations!!

[jvazjr]

Pay no attention to the realtors, the just want their comissions. Anyway, you said 'I might end up waiting 6 months and regret it.' Regret what? Losing the home to other buyers? have you seen the glut of unsold inventory lately? And getting bigger by the way. Have you see how they are cutting the prices every 3-6 months? Prices will drop even firther out here. You will have no problem finding an even better deal later, trust me. I know it's tempting now but it will even get better for you if you wait. You are living at home right? I would say save up as much cash as possible for a DP and get that credit score in line. Patience will pay off big time.

[da jammer]

Originally Posted by jvazjr

Pay no attention to the realtors, the just want their comissions. ....<snip>....

As long as they stay within the Terms of Service real estate agents have every right to state their opinions in these forums just like anybody else. By the very nature of this site people in this profession are drawn here and their postings are watched very carefully for advertising and solicitations. By and large they are a valuable contribution to the members of City Data and for the most part play by the rules and regs around here. Those that don't we deal with.

Thank you and please carry on with the discussion......

[jvazjr]

No one is contesting RE agents cant post their opinions. They have every right to post whatever advice they want, even if it's bad. So is it wrong to disagree with them by giving the OP a non salesman point of view?

[da jammer]

Originally Posted by jvazjr

Pay no attention to the realtors, the just want their comissions. ...<snip>...

Originally Posted by jvazjr

No one is contesting RE agents cant post their opinions. They have every right to post whatever advice they want, even if it's bad. So is it wrong to disagree with them by giving the OP a non salesman point of view?

....the word dichotomy comes quickly to mind.

Where in my post was it said you cannot disagree with what a real estate agent has to say? Correct, I didn't.

Now back to the topic at hand please........

[frozennortherner]

We are considering selling here in PA where the market for our small ranch house is still very good (being that they built a highway that makes it easier to get to NJ and NYC and many have moved here from NJ and drove up the prices in our area. Our home almost doubled since we bought in 99 (I did put money into it though). A neighbor put his house up just before I left for Orlando and I came home after 2 weeks and it was sold already. Another neighbor about 6 month ago sold a little to low someone from NJ bought it in 2 days others still would of bid for it)

My wife is an RN and we are considering Orlando FL and Southern California where there seems to be a flooded market where houses are dropping in price monthly. Of course a realtor I talked to in CA is trying to tell me I have to spend at least 300000 now to get a nice home or I will get stuck in an undesirable area. After reading through the posts here it seems the best thing to do is sell here and then either go to FL or CA and rent for a while until the prices get close to the bottom and at that point I can think of buying.

[Unkllars]

Originally Posted by frozennortherner

We are considering selling here in PA where the market for our small ranch house is still very good (being that they built a highway that makes it easier to get to NJ and NYC and many have moved here from NJ and drove up the prices in our area. Our home almost doubled since we bought in 99 (I did put money into it though). A neighbor put his house up just before I left for Orlando and I came home after 2 weeks and it was sold already. Another neighbor about 6 month ago sold a little to low someone from NJ bought it in 2 days others still would of bid for it)

My wife is an RN and we are considering Orlando FL and Southern California where there seems to be a flooded market where houses are dropping in price monthly. Of course a realtor I talked to in CA is trying to tell me I have to spend at least 300000 now to get a nice home or I will get stuck in an undesirable area. After reading through the posts here it seems the best thing to do is sell here and then either go to FL or CA and rent for a while until the prices get close to the bottom and at that point I can think of buying.

In your situation, a good idea would be to rent for a few months. It's not so much because of the market, but because your wife should send her resume to a nurse staffing company to see what the best offer would be. Nurses are in demand, so she should get a few offers. Look into San Diego as well. Scripps was ranked #1 in 2006. What do you do for work?