FLU, with that experience, why did you buy a personal residence Carmel Valley at the peak? I was around in the 90s too and I knew better. (Although I did buy some investment properties which I sold)
Honestly. None of the reasons were rationale decision in nature. If there was any "rationale", it would be
1) We didn't stretch too much for our current place of resident. It's not elaborate, but it "will do for now". We live within our means, fairly modestly, and if you saw me on the street, you would think I was a homeless bum and wonder what the heck is that woman doing hanging around him.
2) We sold one of our homes at peak, so it will cushion the sting for a bit, though we essential paid more for this "upgrade"…Property taxes bite in the trade up. If things get really bad, we'll ask for a reassessment, big deal.
3) The remaining balance on our mortgage can be covered, and most of it is in a low-no thrill interest account, which btw is depreciating fast as we speak. Plus being a d.i.n.c for a few years helped, though our status is now d.i.w.c.
4) If it makes Mrs. FLU happy, it makes me happy. Plus I like tinkering around a bit when our stucco box fall apart. Or the occasional mishaps I have when I close a garage door on a car.
5) I love hanging up Christmas lights and being the most annoying neighbor that has the most lights starting the day after thanksgiving until 1 week after new years.
6) Trying to capture gophers is always entertaining, especially ripping apart your lawn doing so. I love those gas charges you light up and stick in the ground. They're sooooo cool.
7) If i didn't take the loss on the home, I'd probably find a more creative way to loose our money. I find that while some people are good at saving for the next, I probably could also save a bit, but my efficiency wouldn't be that great. One needs to figure out how much savings "leakage" one has when one actually has money on hand. I find that among many people sometimes it's worse to have cash on hand rather to spend part of it on something that actually have value. Losing 20-25% in a year is easy to do in the stock market. Losing the same amount in RE year is a lot more difficult, unless you're a complete idiot. I'm probably an idiot, just not trying to be a complete idiot.
8) You only live once. Save for another 15-20 years, and finally get hit by a bus. Uh, ok that would kinda suck..You're kids won't even be able to enjoy it with huge estate taxes (at least a living trust can help somewhat)..On the flip side, spend above your means, and have a miserable life being a slave to money, that would also suck. I believe if you can comfortably afford what you want, get what you want and be done with it. Again, probably not the most financially sound thing to do.
9) While i saw the carnage in areas like Lancaster, etc, the place my parents raised me (though also corrected), didn't see the 40%+ decline that some people here are convinced will happen. I would equate where my parents raised me equivalent to the areas like CV. Considering their purchase price was $200k and subsequently fell 25% after they purchased and probably could sell 8-9times of that right now 28 years later, I don't this a big deal in the long run. Don't think I have the skill to spot the bottom, so I'd probably miss out anyway.
10)I remember the people that got burned the most were the people that were speculators who overleveraged and oversimplified RE. Teachers at my school were foreclosed left and right because they too thought they could make money in RE speculation. one teacher actually talked about his experience, and it was sort of sad. That taught me to be careful with leverage, and risk and reward go hand in hand.
11) I'm asian and really can't resist the urge to put in that god-awful dark cherry wood flooring, heavy furniture complete with plastic covers, and "Forbidden City" red colored fencing, complete with asian characters on iron dark red iron fence of which I haven't the faintest idea what it means.
