[quote=bearishgurl][quote=UCGal]It’s neither right or wrong. It’s what the market says it is.
There was NEVER a guarantee you’d be able to pull your principal out of your home. You’re old enough to remember flat markets. You’ve lived in other places and traveled to other places where markets have been flatter.
People who buy homes expecting to make money on them are making assumptions. Some people make money, others don’t. It’s like the stock market – it’s all about timing. It’s not about right/wrong. It’s not about fair/unfair.
I sympathize with your situation. But to say it’s “not right” is to be in denial of how real estate works.
You’ve had shelter for years. Does that not count for anything? Consider what you would have paid in equivalent rent for that period and it might make you feel better.
Yeah – it sucks that you may not get as much money out of the sale as you’d like… but that’s the objective facts. Subjective desires don’t factor in.
In an ideal world I’d be rich, thin, and have well behaved kids. It’s not fair.[/quote]
I never stated I wanted to “make a profit” or even get back ALL the money I spent/will spend on improvements. Just that I need to recover my downpayment and *most* of the money I spent on “hard” improvements (NOT replacements).
Yes, I have traveled extensively but have not owned any principal residences in other counties or states. I’m sure you’re aware you can’t compare values in coastal CA counties with “flat-throughout-history” markets such as in the state of TX. A longtime owner whose property is located in or near coastal SD County who invested in prudent improvements such as new windows, concrete work, landscaping, nicer kitchen, etc that were NOT overkill for their areas should be able to recover most of the cost of these improvements upon sale if they were NOT bubble purchasers and they did NOT ATM their properties. This is the way its always been here (yes, even in ’94).
My expectation upon purchase of this particular property was to use it to get my kids raised. It was NOT about making a killing or any profit at all.[/quote]
Rich posted a graph on the front page of this blog that shows the long term, CPI adjusted, home price trends.
You’ll notice that, yes, the prices went up from 97-2006. But they went down from 90-97… This was pre-bubble… just the previous cycle. And this is San Diego – so it applies…. not Texas.
Even San Diego has cyclical down trending markets. Real estate does not always go up in price.
