Patience will be rewarded. Remember, this year five billion in arms are resetting and next year it’ll be in the trillions.
Here’s a tale from the downturn of the 90s. My parents bought a house in LJ in the early 70s for under $200K. It was a beautiful Spanish style house built in the 1920s, 5br 4br with “maid’s quarters” (now known as an in-law apt), on over an acre off Hillside Dr. Goregous, gorgeous views to the Shores and on up the coast.
My dad took a job away from LJ in the late 80s and my parents decided to sell the place just before the last crash. Since it was on the high end it took a while. And then the crash happened and noone even looked at the place for a year. So, they rented it out and the tenants were horrible. The repairs cost more that my folks got in rent. My parents really wanted to sell and the realtor recommended chopping 30% off the price — so, yes, in 94 you could buy a huge place for $800K where you could sit on the balcony and look for whales with your binoculars while drinking morning coffee. Noone bought it.
It sat for years! They had a friend live there free just to keep an eye on the place. If anyone had made an offer, they probably would have taken it. FINALLY in 99 they decided to list it at just over one million and it sold.
There are good deals to be had if you can wait a bit. They’ll either be banks dumping high-end flips (and there has been plenty of that) or old-timers like my folks who just want out.
