Saiine I would urge you to try to rent for at least another year if you can. So far condos have bore more of brunt in price declines then single family homes. I believe that trend will continue through this year at the very least. Also I don’t believe you we will experience any substantial rate hikes in the next year. As an experiment go to any mortgage calculator on line and and plot the difference in monthly payments for different rates, use .25% increments. I think that given how fragile the market is, if there are rate hikes, I believe they will be offset by price declines. Again, measure the risk factor. Are the odds higher or lower that the market will reverse itself and appreciate over the next year. IMO I bet on it going lower.
The hardest part about waiting is psychological. Many people have already started looking, searching the MLS, going out of weekends, etc… You don’t have to stop doing that, but you may want to do things like learn about foreclosures and/or other things that may enable you to take advantage of distressed sellers. Of course as others wrote in this thread… TRY TO SAVE STOCKPILE CASH.
You don’t have to stop doing that, but you may want to do things like learn about foreclosures and/or other things that may enable you to take advantage of distressed sellers.
You have to be careful with distressed foreclosure pending forced sales. California has law governing equity buying (below “market” purchase of a home facing foreclosure).
How much you know can play against you if you don’t put the right foreclosure equity disclosure and rescind agreements in your purchase offer allowing the seller to later sue you for perceived lost equity from your predatory actions.
I suspect we’ll see an increase of these lawsuits in the coming years.
I would like to learn more about foreclosures and the like, I’ve seen tons of websites that offer details on them, but they all seem like scams. Anyone here have any good places to learn and keep track of things like this?
FYI, I’m pretty sure that the law you are referring to governs investor purchases not purchases for primary residences.
It’s section 1695 of the CA Civil Code and you’re correct, purchasing to buy as your personal residence section 1695.1 excludes you as an equity purchaser.
So basically, as long as you buy it to live in and actually stay long enough, they’ll be muted. I wonder though how it’d work out in court, if 1. you bought and live there, 2. they show you did extensive pre-foreclosure searching 3. you’re doing financially well,
and if you add some investments after the fact, I wonder if that increases your exposure.
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