Remember, we are just 1 year past the peak. There are still many “desperate” buyers wanting to get in before it’s too late. Those are the ones buying now. I’m willing to bet that 2008 will be different; patience, patience.

Bush has asked for 2.9 T-rillion budget!!
I can feel the Pain already coming down the Pike.
Taxes have to be raised. We are indeed living in a bubble.
Sellers should try to unload now. The builders are in defensive mode a few months ago.

MSNBC report about the Bush budget.

When you say “3 trillion dollars”, make sure to hold your pinky finger up to your mouth and enunciate the syllables very slowly…

Threeeeee triiiiiiilllyyyyyyon doooolllllaaaaars! Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Who is buying? I’ll give you an example of who in my family is buying and shouldn’t be.

My brother-in-law and his wife should just rent. Oh no – the wife can’t handle that! She wants to own! He is fine with renting but can’t talk her into it. They are closing escrow on a house in Vista this week. Its an older home (I think 30 years old) and needs quite a bit of work. She is very secretive about what kind of loan and terms it has. I guess they figure that it isn’t our business (It really isn’t) What he has told us is that the mortgage will be over $4000 a month. They have 2 small children and now will be having daycare costs since she is now having to work in order to support the house payment. She has hardly any work experience and has taken a few college classes so she is working in retail making minimum wage. He is a professional however his industry has had lay offs and he was laid off late last year and has been at his new job for only a couple of months.

We are very worried that they are getting in over their heads. What if he gets laid off again soon? She is also absolutely ignorant about daycare costs and doesn’t want to pay someone what it is worth. Who will end up raising her kids? He doesn’t have much say in any of it. She wants what she wants and gets it. She also seems to get into petty disputes with her neighbors and probably will want to sell again as soon as they glance at her the wrong way.

She has absolutely no knowledge of how the RE market works but thinks she knows it better than anyone – including her husband! She is buying in a panic that thinks that she has to buy now or else she never can! She thinks that if you are a renter that somehow you are less important in the world. We’ve all tried to talk some sense into her and we’ve all given up!

My husband tells me all of the time how thankful he is that I’m not begging him to buy us a home right now. I’m thankful for my nice, 3 bedroom affordable apartment and that I can stay home with the kids. We’ll get to a home someday but I’m not in a hurry to buy! Also, since my husband is new in his career, we know that he might have a great job offer in another area and it would be so easy to pick up and move as renters. Sure, I’m itching to move out of our home soon since we are having a third child soon but I don’t want to pay hundreds of dollars extra just to rent a house with a yard (or thousands to buy) when we can just go play at the nice parks nearby. Its too bad that we couldn’t talk them out of this purchase!

I agree! There are those women (and men) who are spoiled and think they can do whatever they want! He doesn’t really want to be the enabler but everytime he tries to put his foot down, she threatens to take the kids and move back to Mexico (as if she’d have it as good back where she came from). I don’t understand how she lived such a sad lifestyle there but expects to have it all here! I’m from here and know that I can’t have it all!

Ain’t no kitty in world worth $4000 / month.

As to the poor sap named in the post, he’s making his bed, and deserves to sleep in it. If he signs on the dotted line, he’s screwed. It sounds like he knows it. He should put his foot down, but he won’t. This marriage will end in divorce, and this purchase will end in foreclosure.

I’d say call her bluff now, and when she files for divorce, sue for full custody, no visitation, and child support. Because the alternative is finacial suicide, to make a person happy who is willing to use their own children to get their way. Such people can’t be reasoned with, whether they are male or female.

Full disclosure: I’m a guy. But this isn’t sex-based. My advice, such as it is, would be the same if the genders were reversed, and there are just as many spoiled, self-centered men out there as there are women. I’m fortunate in that my wife and I have had this conversation, and until we can buy something that we want, on a traditional loan, at <30% DTI, we'll rent. That model is coming back. I'm sure of it, because every time the RE industry has gotten away from it, it's been a disaster, and they've come back to it, because it's the only sustainable way to finance residential real estate.

Some men are so desparate to get married that they will marry anything. If he’s a professional, how did he end up with a wife with no education? That’s what happens when you marry way below your class.

I’d tell her to move back to Mexico.

This guy has no backbone and deserves bankruptcy and divorce.

I would never put up with such an irrational woman. Just “Dump that b*tch!”