understand the frustration. I think most of us under-estimated the amount of government interference and bank inefficiency which synergistically lead to the slow leak of foreclosures rather than the foreclosure tsunami that would have come otherwise.
hind-sight is 20/20, but it does make sense given the scope of the problem and the general incompetence of the banks that how things ended up playing out.
rather than staying frustrated, I’ve always felt the best strategy is to have other areas in mind.
the best example I can give is say a frustrated Carmel Valley buyer. rather than continue the relentless search in CV, just drive 15 min inland and “settle” for something much nicer and cheaper in 4S for now. real estate WILL rise once again, that’s the nature of the historic curve. Some of the areas that have not seen much price drop will unlikely see significant increase in price when the curve start to move upward. But on the other hand, some of the areas that have fallen significantly will rise a lot more when that curve start moving upward. This is when the illogically wide spread in price difference between the two areas will close in. If that someone is still yearning for CV, they would have some equity that’s built up in 4S to make the move to CV.[/quote]
We have been watching a few different zip codes, but they are all in areas that were propped up by govt/Fed intervention. Ideally, we want to buy so we don’t have to commute very far, so that limits our options to a large extent.
Our rental is perfect for us, which is a bit of a problem, because there is little/no incentive for us to buy an inferior home/area for more money (which is still the case for us right now). In a way, there is a downside to having a nice rental and good landlords — you never want to leave. 😉
