Me and DW are finally getting back in the market (sold very early 04 and moved to North Carolina … now moving back).

We will be closing soon. Our selected house was a distressed property in a great part of SD. Although it isn’t the perfect house for us it is in the ballpark and it is a “special” house that won’t always be available. We didn’t quite get to the magic 50% off number but are close and the appreciation since the 80’s price is modest and probably a bit under inflation.

All the bears can relax now because I’m sure now that we are in another 20% drop is right around the corner.

I have been mostly a lurker at this blog over the last 2 years but have learned a great deal here. Like other piggs that have recently bought this site probably saved us hundreds of thousands.

Our original intent back in ’04 was to downsize but we got the timing wrong. After we sold, we entered the spring ’04 market and basically wasted 4 months watching prices go up 10-15k a week. After all but giving up on moving back to SD during the boom years we finally saw a ray of light toward the end of ’07 that things may be coming back down earth. So started our 2 year journey back to the land of SD ownership. Like others, I am amazed at how fast the wheels came off this puppy …

To others out looking and hoping to get in I have the following advice … take it with a huge grain of salt.

1.) Do not focus on a 1 or 2 selected areas. Open your mind to several. By the end we were looking at a great deal of SD and our house came up in an area that wasn’t on our primary list but was actually a better area.

2.) Focus on finding the house you really want rather than focusing on getting the best deal. One thing we learned early is that there will always be someone out there that scores a better deal. All you have to is get the best deal you can on a house you really want.