People who can’t afford their house but get to keep it?!

[sdrealtor]

Spot on UCgal,
BG sense of entitlement to getting a certain amount of money from her home is as wrong as the sense of entitlement she believes the distressed sellers and young buyers of today have. No one is entitled to anything. You place your bets when you buy real estate. Winning or losing is determined by many factors and blaming it on one is naive at best.

[UCGal]

[quote=bearishgurl]
Let’s narrow the 10-45 yr ownership time frame into 10-15 yrs. Let’s make it about ME (since sdr thinks I’m the ONLY boomer who wants to sell/retire in the next few years, lol). I did NOT pay too much 11+ years ago (I actually rec’d a lg credit in escrow also). Even if I wanted to sell NOW, I need to make a few repairs and improvements before doing so. Whether or not I spend this money, I KNOW I may NOT be able to recover my entire downpayment and my improvement $$ upon sale with closing costs added in. That’s not right! [/quote]

It’s neither right or wrong. It’s what the market says it is.

There was NEVER a guarantee you’d be able to pull your principal out of your home. You’re old enough to remember flat markets. You’ve lived in other places and traveled to other places where markets have been flatter.

People who buy homes expecting to make money on them are making assumptions. Some people make money, others don’t. It’s like the stock market – it’s all about timing. It’s not about right/wrong. It’s not about fair/unfair.

I sympathize with your situation. But to say it’s “not right” is to be in denial of how real estate works.

You’ve had shelter for years. Does that not count for anything? Consider what you would have paid in equivalent rent for that period and it might make you feel better.

Yeah – it sucks that you may not get as much money out of the sale as you’d like… but that’s the objective facts. Subjective desires don’t factor in.

In an ideal world I’d be rich, thin, and have well behaved kids. It’s not fair.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=UCGal]It’s neither right or wrong. It’s what the market says it is.

There was NEVER a guarantee you’d be able to pull your principal out of your home. You’re old enough to remember flat markets. You’ve lived in other places and traveled to other places where markets have been flatter.

People who buy homes expecting to make money on them are making assumptions. Some people make money, others don’t. It’s like the stock market – it’s all about timing. It’s not about right/wrong. It’s not about fair/unfair.

I sympathize with your situation. But to say it’s “not right” is to be in denial of how real estate works.

You’ve had shelter for years. Does that not count for anything? Consider what you would have paid in equivalent rent for that period and it might make you feel better.

Yeah – it sucks that you may not get as much money out of the sale as you’d like… but that’s the objective facts. Subjective desires don’t factor in.

In an ideal world I’d be rich, thin, and have well behaved kids. It’s not fair.[/quote]

I never stated I wanted to “make a profit” or even get back ALL the money I spent/will spend on improvements. Just that I need to recover my downpayment and *most* of the money I spent on “hard” improvements (NOT replacements).

Yes, I have traveled extensively but have not owned any principal residences in other counties or states. I’m sure you’re aware you can’t compare values in coastal CA counties with “flat-throughout-history” markets such as in the state of TX. A longtime owner whose property is located in or near coastal SD County who invested in prudent improvements such as new windows, concrete work, landscaping, nicer kitchen, etc that were NOT overkill for their areas should be able to recover most of the cost of these improvements upon sale if they were NOT bubble purchasers and they did NOT ATM their properties. This is the way its always been here (yes, even in ’94).

My expectation upon purchase of this particular property was to use it to get my kids raised. It was NOT about making a killing or any profit at all.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=UCGal]…It’s like the stock market – it’s all about timing. It’s not about right/wrong. It’s not about fair/unfair…[/quote]

UCGal, if the “timing” is still bad for me when I get ready to get out of here, I will just rent my property out until the timing is better. I’m not taking a loss of my own money and I’m not alone in this regard. It will all work out okay …. eventually.

[bearishgurl]

[quote-UCGal]…You’ve had shelter for years. Does that not count for anything? Consider what you would have paid in equivalent rent for that period and it might make you feel better…[/quote]

I’m not even seeking to recoup the “shelter portion,” UCGal (Of course, I’ve been taking the MID on my tax return as well.)

I just need to recoup my downpayment, major improvement monies, my loan balance and selling costs at the time of sale. This may or may not be higher than the the price I originally paid for the property!

I think it’s very sad that people like me (again, LOTS of us) are saddled with this (undervaluation) problem when we didn’t have anything to do with it.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=sdrealtor]Spot on UCgal,
BG sense of entitlement to getting a certain amount of money from her home is as wrong as the sense of entitlement she believes the distressed sellers and young buyers of today have. No one is entitled to anything. You place your bets when you buy real estate. Winning or losing is determined by many factors and blaming it on one is naive at best.[/quote]

Why don’t you tell us what you are going to do if your property doesn’t sell for enough to get you out of your encumbrances (incl all the equity you’ve already removed), major improvements you’ve made (NOT from HELOC) and selling costs plus downpayment, IF ANY, WHEN you are ready to sell it?

And please don’t repeat your BS here about how qualified tenants will be standing in line to rent your place for $3000 mo ++ consistently month after month.

LOL ….

[bearishgurl]

[quote=sdrealtor]….You place your bets when you buy real estate. Winning or losing is determined by many factors and blaming it on one is naive at best.[/quote]

If you will reread what I have posted here, you will discover that I place part of the blame for my current undervaluation on urban sprawl.

Not only did I not know the extent of development that was planned for these former Otay area annexations, when I purchased here I was unaware of the depth and breadth of the City of Chula Vista’s propensity to salivate over expanding themselves with all the future Mello-Roos windfall when a “pkg deal” was later offered to them by deep-pocketed developers. (On a smaller scale, the same thing happened to “little” Encinitas about 25 yrs ago.)

Unfortunately, I was locked into a particular geographical area I had to live in, as well, so even if I HAD BEEN privy to future development plans at the time of purchase, I couldn’t live anywhere else.

I find it truly sickening the extent that “millenium-boom constructed” urban sprawl has cratered property values in CA counties.

Chula Vista had an exemplary, close-in, laid-back lifestyle when it had just 3 zip codes (along with Bonita, their “middle neighbor”). The City has now laid off nearly ALL the employees it hired to service these outlying areas and has not replaced recent retirees. They are now doing MUCH more with less personnel.

And I doubt if any Piggs back in, say, ’99 to ’02 knew in advance that “loose lending” would become the norm beginning about ’03 and cause the RE market to crash in ’07.

You are correct in that a RE buyer just “places their bets” and hopes for the best. You can’t possibly know *everything* that will happen to an area up front. You just have to roll with the punches.

[sdrealtor]

I dont ever expect to sell my home. My plan is to gift it to one or both of my kids as residence or rental, whatever works for them after I pass. Who knows things could change and I’ll deal with whatever comes my way. I have and will have the assets to pay it off if I want to or need to. I have no expectations for my homes value or for anything in my life for that matter. Thats not who I am. I’m just not wired that way.

[sdrealtor]

Too bad you didnt buy in my gridlocked nirvana. I think we bought around the same time. Your property value would have roughly doubled.

[UCGal]

[quote=bearishgurl][quote=UCGal]It’s neither right or wrong. It’s what the market says it is.

There was NEVER a guarantee you’d be able to pull your principal out of your home. You’re old enough to remember flat markets. You’ve lived in other places and traveled to other places where markets have been flatter.

People who buy homes expecting to make money on them are making assumptions. Some people make money, others don’t. It’s like the stock market – it’s all about timing. It’s not about right/wrong. It’s not about fair/unfair.

I sympathize with your situation. But to say it’s “not right” is to be in denial of how real estate works.

You’ve had shelter for years. Does that not count for anything? Consider what you would have paid in equivalent rent for that period and it might make you feel better.

Yeah – it sucks that you may not get as much money out of the sale as you’d like… but that’s the objective facts. Subjective desires don’t factor in.

In an ideal world I’d be rich, thin, and have well behaved kids. It’s not fair.[/quote]

I never stated I wanted to “make a profit” or even get back ALL the money I spent/will spend on improvements. Just that I need to recover my downpayment and *most* of the money I spent on “hard” improvements (NOT replacements).

Yes, I have traveled extensively but have not owned any principal residences in other counties or states. I’m sure you’re aware you can’t compare values in coastal CA counties with “flat-throughout-history” markets such as in the state of TX. A longtime owner whose property is located in or near coastal SD County who invested in prudent improvements such as new windows, concrete work, landscaping, nicer kitchen, etc that were NOT overkill for their areas should be able to recover most of the cost of these improvements upon sale if they were NOT bubble purchasers and they did NOT ATM their properties. This is the way its always been here (yes, even in ’94).

My expectation upon purchase of this particular property was to use it to get my kids raised. It was NOT about making a killing or any profit at all.[/quote]

Rich posted a graph on the front page of this blog that shows the long term, CPI adjusted, home price trends.

Inflation-Adjusted Home Prices Hit New Post-Bubble Low

You’ll notice that, yes, the prices went up from 97-2006. But they went down from 90-97… This was pre-bubble… just the previous cycle. And this is San Diego – so it applies…. not Texas.

Even San Diego has cyclical down trending markets. Real estate does not always go up in price.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=UCGal]Rich posted a graph on the front page of this blog that shows the long term, CPI adjusted, home price trends.

Inflation-Adjusted Home Prices Hit New Post-Bubble Low

You’ll notice that, yes, the prices went up from 97-2006. But they went down from 90-97… This was pre-bubble… just the previous cycle. And this is San Diego – so it applies…. not Texas.

Even San Diego has cyclical down trending markets. Real estate does not always go up in price.[/quote]

I’m uncertain about what “CPI-adjusted” means but as I posted before, I’m not necessarily stating that I need to obtain my purchase price. Just recover the amount of my own money that I have invested. They are not necessarily one and the same.

This seems more than reasonable considering the improvements I put in and long length of ownership.

It’s like this: if I can’t recover my OWN investment by the summer of 2014, it will be rented instead of sold. It’s as simple as that and I am NOT alone here. Life can be short. I won’t spend another minute waiting for lazy lenders to do what they were supposed to do all along.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=sdrealtor]Too bad you didnt buy in my gridlocked nirvana. I think we bought around the same time. Your property value would have roughly doubled.[/quote]

Not only do I HATE gridlock, that area is at least 45 mi from where I need to be at this stage of my life :=0

[sdrealtor]

lol…..guess you hate mid 6 figure profits even more

[UCGal]

[quote=bearishgurl][quote=UCGal]Rich posted a graph on the front page of this blog that shows the long term, CPI adjusted, home price trends.

Inflation-Adjusted Home Prices Hit New Post-Bubble Low

You’ll notice that, yes, the prices went up from 97-2006. But they went down from 90-97… This was pre-bubble… just the previous cycle. And this is San Diego – so it applies…. not Texas.

Even San Diego has cyclical down trending markets. Real estate does not always go up in price.[/quote]

I’m uncertain about what “CPI-adjusted” means but as I posted before, I’m not necessarily stating that I need to obtain my purchase price. Just recover the amount of my own money that I have invested. They are not necessarily one and the same.

This seems more than reasonable considering the improvements I put in and long length of ownership.

It’s like this: if I can’t recover my OWN investment by the summer of 2014, it will be rented instead of sold. It’s as simple as that and I am NOT alone here. Life can be short. I won’t spend another minute waiting for lazy lenders to do what they were supposed to do all along.[/quote]

I don’t mean to keep harping on this but I think you’re missing a key point. You SPENT your “own money” when you out it as a down payment and spent it on maintenance and improvements. Your money went to the seller , the material suppliers, the contractors, etc. You exchanged your money for a house. A house that can go up or down in value. Your money was no longer yours when you delivered that certified check at escrow.

All this talk about how you have the right to get your money out of your house shows you are having trouble understanding that houses can change in value, even in coastal San Diego or that you don’t understand that a house is not a savings account at a bank.

It sucks that the house did not go up as much as you wished to recover your down payment, pay closing costs, and pay for the improvements and maintenance you put into the house….but that was never guaranteed.

[SD Realtor]

Unfortunately bg you are acting just like every other buyer who has been heartbroken by the market. For all the knowledge you profess to have, you are spilling yourself all over this website whining like some entitled buyer who feels like they should get the downpayment back, or get all that sweat equity back that they put into the home. Guess what?

You

are

not

entitled

to

anything.

You should have known it from the start. After all you used to be an agent correct? You have all the knowledge. You post about it daily?

Nobody…not even you has any “right” to get a single penny back of downpayment, sweat equity, or anything else you put into the home.

[Author]

Posts