Quite simply, I've become more reluctant to buy right now. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say, more willing to wait.
I expect to buy in an expensive neighborhood. (La Jolla) I have cash in treasuries. While I make crummy interest on my principle, I haven't lost principle in the last year. But during the course of that year, other potential buyers have seen things get much rougher for them. Loans are much harder to get, more expensive (we're talking jumbo here, not conforming) and if they had money in the stock market, more than likely they've lost money. So why not wait? I figure things are going my way, and most likely will continue to go my way. Or put another way, I suspect that many buyers of high end housing in San Diego are slowly getting pushed out of their price range. Plus some of those retires who just had their retirement funds vaporize might need to sell their houses now! Thus I expect significant price drops in the coming year for high end areas. So why not get comfortable and wait?
As of today, the sofware company I'm working for is trading below book value. That's despite the fact that we're sitting on a big pile of cash and investments and we have good cash flow (our market cap is less than 2x our annual revenue streams).
So I'm starting to wonder whether I'll still be employed in 3 months' time, what company I'll be working for, and whether it will be in San Diego or somewhere further north.
Let's see. Does your company match money that you put into 401k? Up until this March, ours didn't. Main reason why I didn't lose any money in 401k (I simply don't have one). I did lose a lot in stock options. But that was free money to begin with.
Quite simply, I've become more reluctant to buy right now. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say, more willing to wait.
I expect to buy in an expensive neighborhood. (La Jolla) I have cash in treasuries. While I make crummy interest on my principle, I haven't lost principle in the last year. But during the course of that year, other potential buyers have seen things get much rougher for them. Loans are much harder to get, more expensive (we're talking jumbo here, not conforming) and if they had money in the stock market, more than likely they've lost money. So why not wait? I figure things are going my way, and most likely will continue to go my way. Or put another way, I suspect that many buyers of high end housing in San Diego are slowly getting pushed out of their price range. Plus some of those retires who just had their retirement funds vaporize might need to sell their houses now! Thus I expect significant price drops in the coming year for high end areas. So why not get comfortable and wait?
Just my two cents
XBoxBoy
As of today, the sofware company I'm working for is trading below book value. That's despite the fact that we're sitting on a big pile of cash and investments and we have good cash flow (our market cap is less than 2x our annual revenue streams).
So I'm starting to wonder whether I'll still be employed in 3 months' time, what company I'll be working for, and whether it will be in San Diego or somewhere further north.
Naturally, buying plans are on hold for now ...
Hahaha, I think we both work for the same company, although I don't know who you are. LOL
Let's see. Does your company match money that you put into 401k? Up until this March, ours didn't. Main reason why I didn't lose any money in 401k (I simply don't have one). I did lose a lot in stock options. But that was free money to begin with.