Giving in

[briansd1]

Actually, only a minority of those underwater will walk away. The guys who stay will become mortage slaves.

I heard Matt Battiata say on KPBS that close to 50% of San Diego houses with mortgages are underwater. Not sure where he gets his data. What he said here is not clear but his kbps sponsorhsip message says 50%

BATTIATA: I think the biggest issue, Maureen is that almost half the homes in San Diego county are incumbered by mortgages, most peoples are upside down. And when I’ve got about half the market that if for any reason they need to sell, whether it’s any of the reasons, job, divorce, transfer, etc, they’re all distressed sales. They’re all best cases, short sale, and worst case a foreclosure. That’s the issue that we’ve got in San Diego county. And that’s why we’re — we still haven’t bottomed out and started to recover.

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2011/jul/05/local-real-estate-rebound-or-facing-double-dip/

Whatever the percentage is (31% in CA), it’s quite high. Add to those the homeowners who are not yet upside-down, but who have lost equity since purchase and those who don’t have enough equity to sell without bring money to escrow.

I’m not seeing widespread financial security in homownership, unless one bought before the bubble and was able to ride the market up.

[jpinpb]

[quote=AN]How can you live for free and be a mortgage slaves at the same time? Also, there’s nothing wrong with renting. Many of these people probably shouldn’t have been able to buy in the first place. So, there’s no change for them.[/quote]

Because they are living for free now, while the bank strings them along to an eventual outcome of short sale or REO that send them back to renting. The others may do a loan mod w/crazy terms and the remaining keep paying in the hopes they will see higher than peak prices soon. The latter two are the true mortgage slaves.

[jpinpb]

[quote=AN]How can you live for free and be a mortgage slaves at the same time? Also, there’s nothing wrong with renting. Many of these people probably shouldn’t have been able to buy in the first place. So, there’s no change for them.[/quote]

Because they are living for free now, while the bank strings them along to an eventual outcome of short sale or REO that send them back to renting. The others may do a loan mod w/crazy terms and the remaining keep paying in the hopes they will see higher than peak prices soon. The latter two are the true mortgage slaves.

[jpinpb]

[quote=AN]How can you live for free and be a mortgage slaves at the same time? Also, there’s nothing wrong with renting. Many of these people probably shouldn’t have been able to buy in the first place. So, there’s no change for them.[/quote]

Because they are living for free now, while the bank strings them along to an eventual outcome of short sale or REO that send them back to renting. The others may do a loan mod w/crazy terms and the remaining keep paying in the hopes they will see higher than peak prices soon. The latter two are the true mortgage slaves.

[jpinpb]

[quote=AN]How can you live for free and be a mortgage slaves at the same time? Also, there’s nothing wrong with renting. Many of these people probably shouldn’t have been able to buy in the first place. So, there’s no change for them.[/quote]

Because they are living for free now, while the bank strings them along to an eventual outcome of short sale or REO that send them back to renting. The others may do a loan mod w/crazy terms and the remaining keep paying in the hopes they will see higher than peak prices soon. The latter two are the true mortgage slaves.

[jpinpb]

[quote=AN]How can you live for free and be a mortgage slaves at the same time? Also, there’s nothing wrong with renting. Many of these people probably shouldn’t have been able to buy in the first place. So, there’s no change for them.[/quote]

Because they are living for free now, while the bank strings them along to an eventual outcome of short sale or REO that send them back to renting. The others may do a loan mod w/crazy terms and the remaining keep paying in the hopes they will see higher than peak prices soon. The latter two are the true mortgage slaves.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=Rich Toscano][quote=earlyretirement]
I also just bought and know prices will head a bit lower but in investments it’s impossible to always catch the absolute highs and the absolute lows. [/quote]

That is the key concept here.

I can’t really agree with the idea that one should ignore the investment aspects of buying a home. For most people, the home is too big a portion of their net worth to NOT consider the investment implications. (Just think; if homes aren’t investments, why didn’t you just buy at the peak?)

So the problem I’m frequently seeing out there in reading the comments isn’t that people are paying attention to the investment aspects, which as far as I’m concerned is the responsible thing to do. The problem is that people are ignoring the crucial concept stated by earlyretirement, and they are getting angst-ridden over whether they catch the exact bottom.

Buying at the exact bottom or selling at the exact top shouldn’t even be the goal. If you achieved either of these two, it’s because you got lucky. The goal should be buying when something is undervalued (or fairly valued) and selling when it’s overvalued. If you buy something undervalued and it continues to get more undervalued for a while, you still did the right thing. You will almost certainly be rewarded for it eventually. In our uncertain world, all we can do is make a habit of buying at reasonable prices and selling when things get overpriced, and it will work out for us in aggregate and over time.

Now, houses aren’t dirt cheap or anything (they are about fairly valued in aggregate), and of course your mileage varies based on where you are buying and what deal you find. But in general, most people who are buying now have missed out on the crash portion of the decline. That’s huge. There is so much less risk now than there was. It’s not risk-free (nothing is) but the risk is so much lower for having waited this long, I just don’t think the angsting about whether you hit the exact bottom makes any sense. You avoided the biggest ever crash in housing… that is awesome and puts you in rare company. It should be good enough, because nobody knows when the exact bottom will be, so as I said, all you can do is avoid the high risk overvalued situations, which you have.

Also, as many have pointed out, the investment merits of getting a mortgage are huge. Housing may not be particularly cheap purchase price wise, but borrowing money is DIRT CHEAP. That is a situation where if we are not at the very bottom, we have got to be damned close it it. So as I’ve pointed out before, as long as you are a long-term holder and buy somewhere reasonable, you the ultra-cheap mortgage brings down the effective price of your already reasonable home. So now there is even less reason to worry about whether you hit the exact bottom.

Well I got off on a bit of a tangent there… my main point was to agree with earlyretirement that the goal shouldn’t be to hit the exact top or bottom; it should be to buy at a good price for buying and sell at a good price for selling, and not to worry so much about what happens in between.[/quote]

Hey Rich, Great post. I didn’t mean to suggest that people shouldn’t look at their home as an investment. I only meant that people shouldn’t focus too much and think that is the ONLY purpose of a home purchase. I’m not speaking about investment properties. I’m speaking about buying a home to live in.

Yeah, you caught on exactly what I was getting at. Yeah, real estate will fall some more. I’m not saying that it’s the greatest time to buy. I’m just saying what some have mentioned..(including you). It’s a decent time to buy if you’re buying for the LONG term and buying to live in. Especially if you found the perfect home that will work well for your family.

I’m still comfortable buying today (July 2011) in San Diego and that in 12 to 15 years when I sell (when my kids graduate from high school and I don’t need a 5 bedroom house) … I’ll feel comfortable with the price that I will sell for. Yeah, I guess the house in a way is an “investment” but that isn’t my primary purpose for buying. And I’m certainly not going to sweat or worry about what prices MIGHT be when I sell. I’m buying only what I can afford.

Sure, the fact that mortgages are dirt cheap help buying now but even discounting that fact totally… I know several friends/clients/investors that are buying properties both distressed and non-distressed with cash. They are already well diversified in the stock market and other investments and cash is paying almost nothing.

So we went in with cash offers and negotiated great prices. Contrary to some belief that all sellers are ignorant…there are some intelligent sellers out there that realize that cash offers are valuable and discounting significantly.

I think your point Rich about feeling good about avoiding the top of the bubble is a good one. Whether you miss the absolute bottom I think shouldn’t be your biggest worry.

Buy what you can afford and buy for the long term a house that you will be happy living in for the longer term. I think if you’re doing that then you will be happy.

I’m not saying that it won’t hurt to wait until later in the year or 2012. I don’t think you can hurt waiting… but if you find your dream house for your family then I think you shouldn’t worry about catching the absolute bottom.

Anyone that claims to always time it right so they catch the absolute tops and absolute bottoms is lying. Sure it can happen from time to time but it’s impossible to always catch them.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=Rich Toscano][quote=earlyretirement]
I also just bought and know prices will head a bit lower but in investments it’s impossible to always catch the absolute highs and the absolute lows. [/quote]

That is the key concept here.

I can’t really agree with the idea that one should ignore the investment aspects of buying a home. For most people, the home is too big a portion of their net worth to NOT consider the investment implications. (Just think; if homes aren’t investments, why didn’t you just buy at the peak?)

So the problem I’m frequently seeing out there in reading the comments isn’t that people are paying attention to the investment aspects, which as far as I’m concerned is the responsible thing to do. The problem is that people are ignoring the crucial concept stated by earlyretirement, and they are getting angst-ridden over whether they catch the exact bottom.

Buying at the exact bottom or selling at the exact top shouldn’t even be the goal. If you achieved either of these two, it’s because you got lucky. The goal should be buying when something is undervalued (or fairly valued) and selling when it’s overvalued. If you buy something undervalued and it continues to get more undervalued for a while, you still did the right thing. You will almost certainly be rewarded for it eventually. In our uncertain world, all we can do is make a habit of buying at reasonable prices and selling when things get overpriced, and it will work out for us in aggregate and over time.

Now, houses aren’t dirt cheap or anything (they are about fairly valued in aggregate), and of course your mileage varies based on where you are buying and what deal you find. But in general, most people who are buying now have missed out on the crash portion of the decline. That’s huge. There is so much less risk now than there was. It’s not risk-free (nothing is) but the risk is so much lower for having waited this long, I just don’t think the angsting about whether you hit the exact bottom makes any sense. You avoided the biggest ever crash in housing… that is awesome and puts you in rare company. It should be good enough, because nobody knows when the exact bottom will be, so as I said, all you can do is avoid the high risk overvalued situations, which you have.

Also, as many have pointed out, the investment merits of getting a mortgage are huge. Housing may not be particularly cheap purchase price wise, but borrowing money is DIRT CHEAP. That is a situation where if we are not at the very bottom, we have got to be damned close it it. So as I’ve pointed out before, as long as you are a long-term holder and buy somewhere reasonable, you the ultra-cheap mortgage brings down the effective price of your already reasonable home. So now there is even less reason to worry about whether you hit the exact bottom.

Well I got off on a bit of a tangent there… my main point was to agree with earlyretirement that the goal shouldn’t be to hit the exact top or bottom; it should be to buy at a good price for buying and sell at a good price for selling, and not to worry so much about what happens in between.[/quote]

Hey Rich, Great post. I didn’t mean to suggest that people shouldn’t look at their home as an investment. I only meant that people shouldn’t focus too much and think that is the ONLY purpose of a home purchase. I’m not speaking about investment properties. I’m speaking about buying a home to live in.

Yeah, you caught on exactly what I was getting at. Yeah, real estate will fall some more. I’m not saying that it’s the greatest time to buy. I’m just saying what some have mentioned..(including you). It’s a decent time to buy if you’re buying for the LONG term and buying to live in. Especially if you found the perfect home that will work well for your family.

I’m still comfortable buying today (July 2011) in San Diego and that in 12 to 15 years when I sell (when my kids graduate from high school and I don’t need a 5 bedroom house) … I’ll feel comfortable with the price that I will sell for. Yeah, I guess the house in a way is an “investment” but that isn’t my primary purpose for buying. And I’m certainly not going to sweat or worry about what prices MIGHT be when I sell. I’m buying only what I can afford.

Sure, the fact that mortgages are dirt cheap help buying now but even discounting that fact totally… I know several friends/clients/investors that are buying properties both distressed and non-distressed with cash. They are already well diversified in the stock market and other investments and cash is paying almost nothing.

So we went in with cash offers and negotiated great prices. Contrary to some belief that all sellers are ignorant…there are some intelligent sellers out there that realize that cash offers are valuable and discounting significantly.

I think your point Rich about feeling good about avoiding the top of the bubble is a good one. Whether you miss the absolute bottom I think shouldn’t be your biggest worry.

Buy what you can afford and buy for the long term a house that you will be happy living in for the longer term. I think if you’re doing that then you will be happy.

I’m not saying that it won’t hurt to wait until later in the year or 2012. I don’t think you can hurt waiting… but if you find your dream house for your family then I think you shouldn’t worry about catching the absolute bottom.

Anyone that claims to always time it right so they catch the absolute tops and absolute bottoms is lying. Sure it can happen from time to time but it’s impossible to always catch them.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=Rich Toscano][quote=earlyretirement]
I also just bought and know prices will head a bit lower but in investments it’s impossible to always catch the absolute highs and the absolute lows. [/quote]

That is the key concept here.

I can’t really agree with the idea that one should ignore the investment aspects of buying a home. For most people, the home is too big a portion of their net worth to NOT consider the investment implications. (Just think; if homes aren’t investments, why didn’t you just buy at the peak?)

So the problem I’m frequently seeing out there in reading the comments isn’t that people are paying attention to the investment aspects, which as far as I’m concerned is the responsible thing to do. The problem is that people are ignoring the crucial concept stated by earlyretirement, and they are getting angst-ridden over whether they catch the exact bottom.

Buying at the exact bottom or selling at the exact top shouldn’t even be the goal. If you achieved either of these two, it’s because you got lucky. The goal should be buying when something is undervalued (or fairly valued) and selling when it’s overvalued. If you buy something undervalued and it continues to get more undervalued for a while, you still did the right thing. You will almost certainly be rewarded for it eventually. In our uncertain world, all we can do is make a habit of buying at reasonable prices and selling when things get overpriced, and it will work out for us in aggregate and over time.

Now, houses aren’t dirt cheap or anything (they are about fairly valued in aggregate), and of course your mileage varies based on where you are buying and what deal you find. But in general, most people who are buying now have missed out on the crash portion of the decline. That’s huge. There is so much less risk now than there was. It’s not risk-free (nothing is) but the risk is so much lower for having waited this long, I just don’t think the angsting about whether you hit the exact bottom makes any sense. You avoided the biggest ever crash in housing… that is awesome and puts you in rare company. It should be good enough, because nobody knows when the exact bottom will be, so as I said, all you can do is avoid the high risk overvalued situations, which you have.

Also, as many have pointed out, the investment merits of getting a mortgage are huge. Housing may not be particularly cheap purchase price wise, but borrowing money is DIRT CHEAP. That is a situation where if we are not at the very bottom, we have got to be damned close it it. So as I’ve pointed out before, as long as you are a long-term holder and buy somewhere reasonable, you the ultra-cheap mortgage brings down the effective price of your already reasonable home. So now there is even less reason to worry about whether you hit the exact bottom.

Well I got off on a bit of a tangent there… my main point was to agree with earlyretirement that the goal shouldn’t be to hit the exact top or bottom; it should be to buy at a good price for buying and sell at a good price for selling, and not to worry so much about what happens in between.[/quote]

Hey Rich, Great post. I didn’t mean to suggest that people shouldn’t look at their home as an investment. I only meant that people shouldn’t focus too much and think that is the ONLY purpose of a home purchase. I’m not speaking about investment properties. I’m speaking about buying a home to live in.

Yeah, you caught on exactly what I was getting at. Yeah, real estate will fall some more. I’m not saying that it’s the greatest time to buy. I’m just saying what some have mentioned..(including you). It’s a decent time to buy if you’re buying for the LONG term and buying to live in. Especially if you found the perfect home that will work well for your family.

I’m still comfortable buying today (July 2011) in San Diego and that in 12 to 15 years when I sell (when my kids graduate from high school and I don’t need a 5 bedroom house) … I’ll feel comfortable with the price that I will sell for. Yeah, I guess the house in a way is an “investment” but that isn’t my primary purpose for buying. And I’m certainly not going to sweat or worry about what prices MIGHT be when I sell. I’m buying only what I can afford.

Sure, the fact that mortgages are dirt cheap help buying now but even discounting that fact totally… I know several friends/clients/investors that are buying properties both distressed and non-distressed with cash. They are already well diversified in the stock market and other investments and cash is paying almost nothing.

So we went in with cash offers and negotiated great prices. Contrary to some belief that all sellers are ignorant…there are some intelligent sellers out there that realize that cash offers are valuable and discounting significantly.

I think your point Rich about feeling good about avoiding the top of the bubble is a good one. Whether you miss the absolute bottom I think shouldn’t be your biggest worry.

Buy what you can afford and buy for the long term a house that you will be happy living in for the longer term. I think if you’re doing that then you will be happy.

I’m not saying that it won’t hurt to wait until later in the year or 2012. I don’t think you can hurt waiting… but if you find your dream house for your family then I think you shouldn’t worry about catching the absolute bottom.

Anyone that claims to always time it right so they catch the absolute tops and absolute bottoms is lying. Sure it can happen from time to time but it’s impossible to always catch them.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=Rich Toscano][quote=earlyretirement]
I also just bought and know prices will head a bit lower but in investments it’s impossible to always catch the absolute highs and the absolute lows. [/quote]

That is the key concept here.

I can’t really agree with the idea that one should ignore the investment aspects of buying a home. For most people, the home is too big a portion of their net worth to NOT consider the investment implications. (Just think; if homes aren’t investments, why didn’t you just buy at the peak?)

So the problem I’m frequently seeing out there in reading the comments isn’t that people are paying attention to the investment aspects, which as far as I’m concerned is the responsible thing to do. The problem is that people are ignoring the crucial concept stated by earlyretirement, and they are getting angst-ridden over whether they catch the exact bottom.

Buying at the exact bottom or selling at the exact top shouldn’t even be the goal. If you achieved either of these two, it’s because you got lucky. The goal should be buying when something is undervalued (or fairly valued) and selling when it’s overvalued. If you buy something undervalued and it continues to get more undervalued for a while, you still did the right thing. You will almost certainly be rewarded for it eventually. In our uncertain world, all we can do is make a habit of buying at reasonable prices and selling when things get overpriced, and it will work out for us in aggregate and over time.

Now, houses aren’t dirt cheap or anything (they are about fairly valued in aggregate), and of course your mileage varies based on where you are buying and what deal you find. But in general, most people who are buying now have missed out on the crash portion of the decline. That’s huge. There is so much less risk now than there was. It’s not risk-free (nothing is) but the risk is so much lower for having waited this long, I just don’t think the angsting about whether you hit the exact bottom makes any sense. You avoided the biggest ever crash in housing… that is awesome and puts you in rare company. It should be good enough, because nobody knows when the exact bottom will be, so as I said, all you can do is avoid the high risk overvalued situations, which you have.

Also, as many have pointed out, the investment merits of getting a mortgage are huge. Housing may not be particularly cheap purchase price wise, but borrowing money is DIRT CHEAP. That is a situation where if we are not at the very bottom, we have got to be damned close it it. So as I’ve pointed out before, as long as you are a long-term holder and buy somewhere reasonable, you the ultra-cheap mortgage brings down the effective price of your already reasonable home. So now there is even less reason to worry about whether you hit the exact bottom.

Well I got off on a bit of a tangent there… my main point was to agree with earlyretirement that the goal shouldn’t be to hit the exact top or bottom; it should be to buy at a good price for buying and sell at a good price for selling, and not to worry so much about what happens in between.[/quote]

Hey Rich, Great post. I didn’t mean to suggest that people shouldn’t look at their home as an investment. I only meant that people shouldn’t focus too much and think that is the ONLY purpose of a home purchase. I’m not speaking about investment properties. I’m speaking about buying a home to live in.

Yeah, you caught on exactly what I was getting at. Yeah, real estate will fall some more. I’m not saying that it’s the greatest time to buy. I’m just saying what some have mentioned..(including you). It’s a decent time to buy if you’re buying for the LONG term and buying to live in. Especially if you found the perfect home that will work well for your family.

I’m still comfortable buying today (July 2011) in San Diego and that in 12 to 15 years when I sell (when my kids graduate from high school and I don’t need a 5 bedroom house) … I’ll feel comfortable with the price that I will sell for. Yeah, I guess the house in a way is an “investment” but that isn’t my primary purpose for buying. And I’m certainly not going to sweat or worry about what prices MIGHT be when I sell. I’m buying only what I can afford.

Sure, the fact that mortgages are dirt cheap help buying now but even discounting that fact totally… I know several friends/clients/investors that are buying properties both distressed and non-distressed with cash. They are already well diversified in the stock market and other investments and cash is paying almost nothing.

So we went in with cash offers and negotiated great prices. Contrary to some belief that all sellers are ignorant…there are some intelligent sellers out there that realize that cash offers are valuable and discounting significantly.

I think your point Rich about feeling good about avoiding the top of the bubble is a good one. Whether you miss the absolute bottom I think shouldn’t be your biggest worry.

Buy what you can afford and buy for the long term a house that you will be happy living in for the longer term. I think if you’re doing that then you will be happy.

I’m not saying that it won’t hurt to wait until later in the year or 2012. I don’t think you can hurt waiting… but if you find your dream house for your family then I think you shouldn’t worry about catching the absolute bottom.

Anyone that claims to always time it right so they catch the absolute tops and absolute bottoms is lying. Sure it can happen from time to time but it’s impossible to always catch them.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=Rich Toscano][quote=earlyretirement]
I also just bought and know prices will head a bit lower but in investments it’s impossible to always catch the absolute highs and the absolute lows. [/quote]

That is the key concept here.

I can’t really agree with the idea that one should ignore the investment aspects of buying a home. For most people, the home is too big a portion of their net worth to NOT consider the investment implications. (Just think; if homes aren’t investments, why didn’t you just buy at the peak?)

So the problem I’m frequently seeing out there in reading the comments isn’t that people are paying attention to the investment aspects, which as far as I’m concerned is the responsible thing to do. The problem is that people are ignoring the crucial concept stated by earlyretirement, and they are getting angst-ridden over whether they catch the exact bottom.

Buying at the exact bottom or selling at the exact top shouldn’t even be the goal. If you achieved either of these two, it’s because you got lucky. The goal should be buying when something is undervalued (or fairly valued) and selling when it’s overvalued. If you buy something undervalued and it continues to get more undervalued for a while, you still did the right thing. You will almost certainly be rewarded for it eventually. In our uncertain world, all we can do is make a habit of buying at reasonable prices and selling when things get overpriced, and it will work out for us in aggregate and over time.

Now, houses aren’t dirt cheap or anything (they are about fairly valued in aggregate), and of course your mileage varies based on where you are buying and what deal you find. But in general, most people who are buying now have missed out on the crash portion of the decline. That’s huge. There is so much less risk now than there was. It’s not risk-free (nothing is) but the risk is so much lower for having waited this long, I just don’t think the angsting about whether you hit the exact bottom makes any sense. You avoided the biggest ever crash in housing… that is awesome and puts you in rare company. It should be good enough, because nobody knows when the exact bottom will be, so as I said, all you can do is avoid the high risk overvalued situations, which you have.

Also, as many have pointed out, the investment merits of getting a mortgage are huge. Housing may not be particularly cheap purchase price wise, but borrowing money is DIRT CHEAP. That is a situation where if we are not at the very bottom, we have got to be damned close it it. So as I’ve pointed out before, as long as you are a long-term holder and buy somewhere reasonable, you the ultra-cheap mortgage brings down the effective price of your already reasonable home. So now there is even less reason to worry about whether you hit the exact bottom.

Well I got off on a bit of a tangent there… my main point was to agree with earlyretirement that the goal shouldn’t be to hit the exact top or bottom; it should be to buy at a good price for buying and sell at a good price for selling, and not to worry so much about what happens in between.[/quote]

Hey Rich, Great post. I didn’t mean to suggest that people shouldn’t look at their home as an investment. I only meant that people shouldn’t focus too much and think that is the ONLY purpose of a home purchase. I’m not speaking about investment properties. I’m speaking about buying a home to live in.

Yeah, you caught on exactly what I was getting at. Yeah, real estate will fall some more. I’m not saying that it’s the greatest time to buy. I’m just saying what some have mentioned..(including you). It’s a decent time to buy if you’re buying for the LONG term and buying to live in. Especially if you found the perfect home that will work well for your family.

I’m still comfortable buying today (July 2011) in San Diego and that in 12 to 15 years when I sell (when my kids graduate from high school and I don’t need a 5 bedroom house) … I’ll feel comfortable with the price that I will sell for. Yeah, I guess the house in a way is an “investment” but that isn’t my primary purpose for buying. And I’m certainly not going to sweat or worry about what prices MIGHT be when I sell. I’m buying only what I can afford.

Sure, the fact that mortgages are dirt cheap help buying now but even discounting that fact totally… I know several friends/clients/investors that are buying properties both distressed and non-distressed with cash. They are already well diversified in the stock market and other investments and cash is paying almost nothing.

So we went in with cash offers and negotiated great prices. Contrary to some belief that all sellers are ignorant…there are some intelligent sellers out there that realize that cash offers are valuable and discounting significantly.

I think your point Rich about feeling good about avoiding the top of the bubble is a good one. Whether you miss the absolute bottom I think shouldn’t be your biggest worry.

Buy what you can afford and buy for the long term a house that you will be happy living in for the longer term. I think if you’re doing that then you will be happy.

I’m not saying that it won’t hurt to wait until later in the year or 2012. I don’t think you can hurt waiting… but if you find your dream house for your family then I think you shouldn’t worry about catching the absolute bottom.

Anyone that claims to always time it right so they catch the absolute tops and absolute bottoms is lying. Sure it can happen from time to time but it’s impossible to always catch them.

[SD Realtor]

It is unfortunate that the posting had to turn into a pissing contest between renters and homeowners. Renting is best for some people and buying is best for others. Unfortunately those that rent seem to feel compelled to defend the position by insisting that buyers made a bad investment. We even had a brain surgeon talking about how real estate investors in China and Russia did. More laughable posts. Meanwhile some of the buyers had felt that the best defense was to flame the renters….

I guess everyone has to defend their turf. It is kind of funny though right? How can anyone compare? Some of us have had great landlords and some of us have had crap landlords. Some of us have bought great homes and some fixers? While there is a generic lifestyle difference that can be used as kind of a boilerplate comparison, we all look at the boilerplate through our own sunglasses. Brian looks at through is red glasses and Bluehairdave probably looks at it through his blue glasses.

If buying isn’t for you then don’t buy. If venting on buyers by telling them they made a poor investment and prices are going to be significantly lower in the future then go for it. I am all for improved mental health. When interest rates are sky high, you will be quite correct.

Maybe that happens in 2012 and maybe it happens in 2020. I guess we will see.

Similarly I don’t see the shortage of organic buyers that you see Deadzone but that is your opinion and we can agree to disagree. As for the 27% down number you spoke of, well that is a nic number. I don’t see prices down 27% nor do I see inventory up 27%. Pricing and inventory move slower though so hopefully those numbers will move in the direction you want them to.

Also lets not forget that national, regional, state, county and even city numbers are kind of meaningless. Focus on your submarket and look at the numbers there. Maybe they are better or worse then the 27%.

Anyways to the original poster, best of luck…

[SD Realtor]

It is unfortunate that the posting had to turn into a pissing contest between renters and homeowners. Renting is best for some people and buying is best for others. Unfortunately those that rent seem to feel compelled to defend the position by insisting that buyers made a bad investment. We even had a brain surgeon talking about how real estate investors in China and Russia did. More laughable posts. Meanwhile some of the buyers had felt that the best defense was to flame the renters….

I guess everyone has to defend their turf. It is kind of funny though right? How can anyone compare? Some of us have had great landlords and some of us have had crap landlords. Some of us have bought great homes and some fixers? While there is a generic lifestyle difference that can be used as kind of a boilerplate comparison, we all look at the boilerplate through our own sunglasses. Brian looks at through is red glasses and Bluehairdave probably looks at it through his blue glasses.

If buying isn’t for you then don’t buy. If venting on buyers by telling them they made a poor investment and prices are going to be significantly lower in the future then go for it. I am all for improved mental health. When interest rates are sky high, you will be quite correct.

Maybe that happens in 2012 and maybe it happens in 2020. I guess we will see.

Similarly I don’t see the shortage of organic buyers that you see Deadzone but that is your opinion and we can agree to disagree. As for the 27% down number you spoke of, well that is a nic number. I don’t see prices down 27% nor do I see inventory up 27%. Pricing and inventory move slower though so hopefully those numbers will move in the direction you want them to.

Also lets not forget that national, regional, state, county and even city numbers are kind of meaningless. Focus on your submarket and look at the numbers there. Maybe they are better or worse then the 27%.

Anyways to the original poster, best of luck…

[SD Realtor]

It is unfortunate that the posting had to turn into a pissing contest between renters and homeowners. Renting is best for some people and buying is best for others. Unfortunately those that rent seem to feel compelled to defend the position by insisting that buyers made a bad investment. We even had a brain surgeon talking about how real estate investors in China and Russia did. More laughable posts. Meanwhile some of the buyers had felt that the best defense was to flame the renters….

I guess everyone has to defend their turf. It is kind of funny though right? How can anyone compare? Some of us have had great landlords and some of us have had crap landlords. Some of us have bought great homes and some fixers? While there is a generic lifestyle difference that can be used as kind of a boilerplate comparison, we all look at the boilerplate through our own sunglasses. Brian looks at through is red glasses and Bluehairdave probably looks at it through his blue glasses.

If buying isn’t for you then don’t buy. If venting on buyers by telling them they made a poor investment and prices are going to be significantly lower in the future then go for it. I am all for improved mental health. When interest rates are sky high, you will be quite correct.

Maybe that happens in 2012 and maybe it happens in 2020. I guess we will see.

Similarly I don’t see the shortage of organic buyers that you see Deadzone but that is your opinion and we can agree to disagree. As for the 27% down number you spoke of, well that is a nic number. I don’t see prices down 27% nor do I see inventory up 27%. Pricing and inventory move slower though so hopefully those numbers will move in the direction you want them to.

Also lets not forget that national, regional, state, county and even city numbers are kind of meaningless. Focus on your submarket and look at the numbers there. Maybe they are better or worse then the 27%.

Anyways to the original poster, best of luck…

[SD Realtor]

It is unfortunate that the posting had to turn into a pissing contest between renters and homeowners. Renting is best for some people and buying is best for others. Unfortunately those that rent seem to feel compelled to defend the position by insisting that buyers made a bad investment. We even had a brain surgeon talking about how real estate investors in China and Russia did. More laughable posts. Meanwhile some of the buyers had felt that the best defense was to flame the renters….

I guess everyone has to defend their turf. It is kind of funny though right? How can anyone compare? Some of us have had great landlords and some of us have had crap landlords. Some of us have bought great homes and some fixers? While there is a generic lifestyle difference that can be used as kind of a boilerplate comparison, we all look at the boilerplate through our own sunglasses. Brian looks at through is red glasses and Bluehairdave probably looks at it through his blue glasses.

If buying isn’t for you then don’t buy. If venting on buyers by telling them they made a poor investment and prices are going to be significantly lower in the future then go for it. I am all for improved mental health. When interest rates are sky high, you will be quite correct.

Maybe that happens in 2012 and maybe it happens in 2020. I guess we will see.

Similarly I don’t see the shortage of organic buyers that you see Deadzone but that is your opinion and we can agree to disagree. As for the 27% down number you spoke of, well that is a nic number. I don’t see prices down 27% nor do I see inventory up 27%. Pricing and inventory move slower though so hopefully those numbers will move in the direction you want them to.

Also lets not forget that national, regional, state, county and even city numbers are kind of meaningless. Focus on your submarket and look at the numbers there. Maybe they are better or worse then the 27%.

Anyways to the original poster, best of luck…

[Author]

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