[quote=spdrun]Those “deep SS prices” you speak of tend to represent a pro-forma cap rate range of 7 to 8.5% in good coastal areas of CA. Meaning that buying is cheaper than renting, and landlords can make a profit under prevailing mortgage rates (they are, after all, providing a professional service in maintaining and managing the property). In other words, IMHO they were fair prices.

The only people who possible got unjustly fvcked were the people who bought during the bubble. And they should have known better. Investing several hundred grand is NOT to be taken lightly nor emotionally, despite the Pollyanna propaganda that the Nat’l Assoc of Realtors chooses to push on us all.[/quote]

Those “unjustly fvcked” people should include persons who bought all the way back to 12 years ago, even if they NEVER removed any equity (I’m in this category). There have only been a couple of REOs but it is the surrounding SS’s have decimated the value of my property. Those properties should have instead been foreclosed upon in a timely manner and then immediately released to mkt as an REO and sold, forthwith.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. A “sold comp” (SS or otherwise) only lasts six months in appraisal-speak. As long as there aren’t too many more “strategic defaulters” who are allowed to get away with SS, we’ll all be able to recover from this debacle :=0