Best way to deal with smug homeowners?

[lendingbubblecontinues]

Anybody out there, preferably jealous bitter renters like me(wink), have any recent discussions with smug homeowners that were interesting enough to tell us about?

I’m actually considering leaving my native California not so much due to outrageous home prices, rather due to the realization that most (not all) of the people we work with, send our kids to school with, and try to hold conversations with are complete twits and assholes.

For the record…our household income is not that great (120K combined and likely to climb to 150K-180K by year’s end) but not that small either. We could buy but won’t. We’d like to buy a house but won’t until the prices drop to where they were prior to 2003. If they don’t…we will move to a flyover state and I will fly back to SDO every couple of weeks to manage my territory.

I’ve often said a guy could buy an 800K house (SD style) in a lot of places for 200K and spend that extra 600K taking an awful lot of F&^king trips to San Diego. BTW- San Diego weather actually kind of sucks the more I think about it. Maybe we’ll just let San Diego be our flyover country on the way to Kauai…let’s see-at 10K per trip, that’s 60 2-week vacations over 60 years or 5K per trip, 120 1-week vacations over 80+? years….overly simplistic I know but it makes you think.

Sdrealtor- I already know you are going to chime in here…consider yourself on permanent ignore from me..I feel comfortable about my comments because “Suzanne researched it” for me after all 😉

[Bugs]

I think you should smile and wish them the best of luck. It’s bad karma to let someone like that get under your skin and equally bad karma to take satisfaction from their problems. And that stuff does come around.

Instead, you should show a little compassion for them because their underwear is showing and they don’t even know it.

It might help to remember that most people we refer to as homeowners are not homeowners at all; they are debtors whose ownership extends only so far as the right to profit or lose on whatever difference exists between the market value of their castle and how much they owe on it. A person who “owns” $20,000 in equity on their house is no better off than a person who “owns” $20,000 of equity in their stocks. That is, unless they’re spending $2,000 extra in mortgage payments every month for the privelege of owning that $20k of equity.

[lendingbubblecontinues]

I agree Bugs. It is extremely tough, though, when you accidentally share your pessimism on the local housing sector with a few “friends” at a cocktail party and the entire room of 20 starts riding you about how stupid and naive you are to think that housing could go down. I know better, but sometimes a cocktail can ignite the “I-call-bullshit”-o-meter in me.

[sdrealtor]

I’ve got no problem with it. If you arent happy here there really is no reason to stay. Go for it and find someplace you’ll be happier…life is too short. It sounds like a good plan. Just plan on 300 to 400K for that house somewhere else. 40 to 50 trips still sounds pretty good.

[Bugs]

I’ve found that it’s impossible to tell someone who either has made a big profit (on paper or otherwise), or who knows someone else whose made big profits that we’re not poised for another 10 years of increases. The smart money already knows that there are no short term increases in our immeditate future. The dumb money isn’t aware enough of exactly where they are to accurately gauge how little time they have left to get out in one piece.

If they ask my opinion I usually offer them the toned-down version that the market is already slowing up and in some areas declining a bit. There’s no upside in trying to foretell the depth of the decline, especially when there are so many variables in play. Unless I’m exactly right I’m an idiot, and there’s essentially no way to be exactly right.

[barnaby33]

You’ve been ridden at a cocktail party? Man thats a picture that is just too gross. The arguments and looks you get now will be sullen stairs in 2 years. Enjoy that uncomfortable feeling your are getting now. When things go bad the feeling won’t get better.

Josh

[powayseller]

An $800K house would cost $200K in Omaha. My parents house was featured in Architectural Digest back in the 1970s when it was built. They insist they cannot get a penny over $450K for it. You can get foreclosures in Omaha for under $100K. There are still cheap places to live. But lenderbubblecompany, why are you tired of waiting for prices to come down? It’s already happening. I’m also concerned that the lending bubble will cause home values to decline nationally. I don’t believe there is a risk-free real estate purchase anywhere in the US. By risk-free I mean safety of principal is guaranteed. Even a purchase in Omaha is too risky this year. After a year of foreclosures, what will the market be like? Of course you can find cheaper places to rent.

[sdduuuude]

Maybe its the way you say it.

You come off kind of – well. Lets just say I agree with your view on the local housing sector but don’t really like what you have to say most of the time.

[Jim Brubaker]

lendingbubbleco

I think you need to be more patient. San Diego has some of the best weather, schools and infrastructure in the country. Rents are very reasonable. If you can wait 18 months and have at least $40,000 in the bank, you should be able to pick up something in the future at the price you want. I figure that there should be 100,000 houses on the market by then. Right now, we have close to 20,000 and it should go parabolic in about 6 months.

As for SDrealtor, he has some good info–he’s in a combat area, his perspective gives you more of a feel to the real estate market. It gives you a fuller picture.

[powayseller]

Jim, interesting perspective on the rise in inventory. Could it really go that high? I don’t agree about San Diego having the best schools and infrastructure. CA is in the bottom 7 of all states in per capita student spending. Our freeways are overcrowded, and our beaches are so polluted, you’re cautioned against swimming at several on a given day. Our airport is too small, and we lack leadership to decide where to expand. The corruption at City Hall has led the city to be near bankruptcy.

sduuude, gentlemen don’t belittle others.

[JJGittes]

I try to watch the Carlsbad zips, and the 92078 San Marcos zip. My question is: How much (if at all) do you think home values have come down already, since this time last year? It seems like when I do searches on realtor.com or any of the other sites that pick up the mls listings I have been seeing many of the same houses coming up for months. (My wife:”Oh yeah, the one with the ugly kitchen wallpaper…it first appeared in November.”) I have read the comments about sellers being “sticky,” and I agree with that observation.

So, again, I guess my question is, how much will these homes on the market now listed at last spring/summer-type prices have to be lowered to actually sell? 5%, 10%, more? Seems like buyers in the $700k and up territory feel strength, and are going to drive some hard bargains.

[speaker]

HA!!!

you think getting ribbed by people at cocktail parties or by friends or the occasional smug homeowner is bad try to imagine the assault coming from the family unit. I have gone weeks without talking to some of my family members because they just keep hammering about when I plan to buy a house.

grrrrrrrrr…….

“End of line.”

[john67elco]

Im using my friends house as a benchmark. So far he is down 3% off listing price ($15,000) from $515,000 to $499,999 and still no offers, 1 person walked through the home in 3 weeks. Inland Empire area.

[Jim Brubaker]

I guess I’m looking at Northern inland San Diego county. Poway has somethe best schools. The innerstate highway sysem in this area is new, not 60 years old and falling apart like the rest of the state.
Most of your shopping centers and most buildings are under 40 years old.

Maybe we could ask Mexico to annex the city of San Diego–they might be able to do a better job of running it into the ground.

I really think that the real estate market could go parabolic just as prices have. Nobody is going to sell for less. Right now we have 20,000 houses in inventory and prices haven’t even begun to drop. The last time we had that many we were at a low in the market

[North15]

I work with several individuals that live in the outlying areas of the county (Ramona) and the Temecula Valley. Prices have taken a real and tangible 15% decline in these locations in the 550,000. to 650,000. original price peak range from last year. This is on existing homes. And, even with the decline, there is currently almost no traffic or sales activity at the new price levels. This is identical to the process that began in 1991 in Southern California as far as first areas hit.

[Author]

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