[23109VC]

i work in Riverside….within the criminal justice system…

Calling Perris an armpit is a compliment.

[23109VC]

it’s mortgage welfare…

what do you think the welfare system is for? what percent of welfare recipients are “temporarily” on it due to hard times, versus the people who are frickin low life leeches who have no brain, no job, no incentive, and just pump out babies, drink beer, and stay fat stupid and lazy?

ON OUR DIME???

I wish I could pick where my tax dollars go… I wouldn’t let it go to welfare. I’d let my tax dollars go build the nuclear bomb we ought to drop on the terrorists…. 😉

[23109VC]

i was always raised believing that a house is the “best investment” and that renting is “throwing money away” or that you’re “just paying the mortgage for the landlord who is getting rich off of the renter”….

when you look at today’s prices however, you have to adjust your thinking.

when i talk to neighbors who tell me they have 10 year interest only loans…I think “you aren’t a homeowner” you are a renter just like me, only you rent with additional costs like HOAs and propety taxes. Plus I can pick up and leave if i want..and you have to pay a realtor 6% to sell your house…

in most so cal markets, I bet it is substantially cheaper to rent. the excess money you save can be spent on toys and increase your lifestyle…or you can do the smarter thing and save/invest it…and effetively live in that same nice house, with a smaller monthly payment, and have a diverse investment portfolio…

there will come a time to buy houses….when the cost to buy is similar to the cost to rent..and the tax benefits start to make buying more attractive than renting..but right now, buying is just stupid.

i’m no expert…but it sure souns like 2007 is going to be another eyar of price drops…if rates hold steady, the peole who can/do buy will get even more for their money in the future.

i figure the only way you can get screwed…is if prices were to only fall a small amount, but interest rates skyrocketed…… but if that happened..wouldn’t prices fall even more… i mean at some point…houses can only sell for what people can afford to pay…and what peole can afford to pay is basd on their incomes.

[23109VC]

i should find one of these houses and buy it.. 😉

i hope this also adds fuel to the housing market that is going down in flames.

Temecula is a great area if you work there. you are 45 min from san diego, there is a plentiful supply of nice houses….and once the prices come back down to reality, you will be able to get a VERY nice house at a very modest price…

i live/work in temecula…currently renting…and wanting to buy but ONLY when it makes sense to do it. right now, you can rent a nice house a lot cheaper than you can buy the same house for…

I’ve seen 3000 sq ft. HIGHLY upgraded homes renting out at 1800-2000. lots of them are vacant… i bet you could “offer’ less than asking and they’d take it just to get some cash flow… try buying that same home and you’ll pay $5000/month in mortgage payments, taxes, HOAs,…

i rent. i’ve got neighbors who bought…and I see the cars they drive, and I know what they do for a living, and I KNOW they can’t afford their lifestyle. big house, big cars, small income….

[23109VC]

the $500k house is NEW. it is for sale by the builder. it’s done and has been sitting there for 2-3 months. lanscaped front/rear. nice nice view. so there is no “equity” … what you have is the profit margin and how much is the builder willing to give up to sell. i do know it is the LAST phase..they yhave 3-4 hosus left and the project is done..so they may be willing to deal somewhat to get rid of them. it wsa listed at almost $600k six months ago…but that’s too high. there is a resale on the same street for $600k that has a nice pool in the yard…

i figure if it’s a $2000 house to rent…it should sell for more like $400k…assuming that 200x rent guideline…

i totally agree with one of the prior comments that there will be another house that will be as good as this one. if prices come down -t he next house may be even better. 🙂

honestly, the $500k house may be biting off too much at this point – with 100% financing the payment will be huge, and i’d probably want to go interest only to stomach the payment and 2% tax rate – which is basically renting money from the bank (like a renter renting a house) only I ‘d get to pay taxes, HOAs, repairs, etc etc..

as to the earlier person who called my stay at home wife a “deadbeat” – there is nothing “deadbeat” about a woman staying home and raising children. i’ve stayed home some days and tried it – it’s hard. too many kids today grow up with no mom at home, they come home from daycare and mom/dad are so burned out from a long day at work/long ocmmute that they get KFC for dinner and off to bed. no one helps with homework, no one talks, and then they wonder why johnny is smoking weed, why sally is knocked up at 16, and so on. i’ll gladly sacrifice driving a 3 series, or having a euro vacation very year to give my kids a warm nuturing upbringing.

[23109VC]

is there any benefit to me by getting a seller to carry the note on my house? or part of it?

if a seller carries the note – they are essentially “the bank”. i guess it might not show up on a credit report… but like any home loan, I could write off the interest.

as to not having the down – it’s not that I have a “fat” lifestyle…it’s just that I have a lot of other debts. I have a huge student loan – the price I paid for getting an advanced degree and high paying job – so while I earn a decent wage – I have a large student loan payment every month, and I have a stay at home wife w 2 kids, one on the way…. SO – even with one car payment and one paid off/crappy car..and renting a modest house – making my $100k+ salary…I still don’t have a huge wad of dinero for a down payment.. and for me to sock away enough cash to have a 20% down payment on a $400-500k house would take me a decade…

i’d rather have a larger monthly payment…and get into the house I want – and sit tight in it for the next decade.

my big question is WHEN do I buy. if prices fall but financing standards tighten so much that I can’t get a 100% finance loan..then I could effectively stay priced out of the market.

if i could find a hosue NOW that I love, will stay in forever..an dcould get 100%….maybe I could just weather the price drops. and ride it out.

problem is the house I like…is listed for $500k. the seller will throw in closing costs, and migth drop the price a tad..but not a ton. there is one on the same street, identical – for rent for $2000.

do the math.

buy at 100% for $500k

OR

rent the SAME thing for $2000.

it doesn’t make sense to buy it.. at least I don’t think it does….

[23109VC]

i don’t have a sense of entitlement.. if i have to rent then i will. i can rent a darn nice house for less than buying… so i don’t mind.

if a person buys a house with 100% financing, has high fico scores, high income, and isn’t biting off “more” payment than they can afford…. they just lack the down payment..is that considered “sub prime”?

or when I read about “subprime” loans are these the “liar” loans where people took out loans with stated income, no proof of anything, and clearly couldnt’ afford the payment in the first place???

[23109VC]

assuming i found a seller that would ‘gift’ me the $100k… i still think that price may fall enough that i’m smarter to wait.

even assuming i pulled it off and got a $100k gift and then could write off that $1000 payment… that saves me what.. $400/month or so in income…

assuming a house purchase at 500k, 100% fiancing… does saving $400 on my student loan offset the extra $$ i’d pay ont he loan, taxes,e tc??

i kind of thin it would be smarter to wait for prices to tank.. buy the house at $400k..then sit tight. let prices rise over time..and SOME DAY much further odwn the line… refi and pay off the student loan…

i’m no financial guru… i can see the benefit of the refi/pay off student loan, and make the payment a deduction… but wodl it make sense in this real estate market to fina seller willing to do it…and do it now…but be stuck in the house?

[23109VC]

congrats on the purchase…BUT… if you are paying interest ONLY for 10 years… you arne’t buying anything.

you are paying to rent the money from the bank.

how much would it have cost you to RENT a comparable house?

how much are you paying in INTEREST, TAXES, UPKEEP for this “great deal”?

with the price being so low – are you paying more or less than what it would cost to rent?

[23109VC]

the commute will drive you nuts.

i live AND work in temecula. i have a 5 minute commute.

before i moved, I was living a LOT further away and had to commute 75 miles each way… i spent 1.25 – 1.5 hours in the car EACH way. I did it for six months and aboslutely hated it.

all that time in the car is time i was away from my wife, kids, etc.

time on the road ups your chances of being in a crash and getting hurt. it psychologically tires you out too. by wed/thur I was beat…from all the commuting.

getting up too early to make the drive. if you have to work late, your kids are asleep when you get home.

not worth it … at least not to me. i know not eveyrone can live so close to work like me..but if you can cut down your commute…it’s wonderful. life is too short to spend it on the freeway…

[23109VC]

ok…i know I lose the standard deduction…but since I can itemize…doesn’t that open the door to write off my state income tax…which winds up being quite a bit at my income level? I’ll have to pull my old tax returns to see how much I actually had in terms of itemized deductions when I owned my last house vs. now that I’m renting….

my gut tells me that if I pass on making any offer…the owner will list it for sale out of deserpartion…they are losing money on the property… and it’s not going to sell. it will sit and sit. or they’ll get lowball offers that they can’t take. then when my lease runs out they’ll ask me to stay… which I”ll happily do…and just wait for the perfect time to buy…

from looking at the charts on thsi site..showing the last real estate down cycle… it looks like prices could realistically go down VERY low… almost as low as they were before they shot up…

man..up here in Temecula…if prices dropped that low….hosues that right now are 800k…will be selling for 400k…. and up here… 800k is a NICE house…

i see people in carmel valley spending 1.5 million on what looks like a really nice tract house… up here 1.5 gets you a freakin ESTATE… i mean MANSION stuff… acres of land with a mansion on it… you’d feel like “king” of Temecula.. 😉

[23109VC]

I posted this thread…

I work in temecula. I have a stable gov’t job and don’t expect to move. I have a good 15-20 years to do before I retire…and I will probably retire from THIS job. Great pension, and I’m in too far to pull the plug now. 🙂

the house is probably NOT the perfect house. it’s very nice, but not THE house.

if i move out – i can always rent something else. there are so many rentals here in Temecula, you can take your pick. prices for rentals range from $1500 for smaller homes up to $2000-2400 for large very upscale “executive” homes.

even if I moved “up” to a larger $2000/month home, I’d probably wind up out of pocket less money than if I bought a house in the 300s…. i haven’t crunched all the numbers to figure out what my tax writeoff would be..and how that would offset the increased numbers.

can someone advise me this: suppose I wound up with $2100 in mortgage payments, another 800 or so in taxes and HOAs…so I’m at $3000/month or so in total costs.. figure of that… almost all is deductible in teh first years of the loan.. and at my $130k income level…

how much do i save in taxes by “buying” and having a writoff?

if i can rent a nice house for $1700-1800… I’d need to “save” about $1200 in taxes per month just to break even… right???

[23109VC]

i sincerely appreciate all the comments. and I appreciate “corrections” to my calculations.

I’m for SURE not a financial genius. I am educated, smart, and a professional – but not in the financial business. I am a gov’t attorney.

I’m not totally sure on my tax savings calculation. I am assuming a total tax of roughly 35%….then calculating the total interest I would pay in a year, and multiplying by .35 to figure roughly how much tax I would save. I know that’s not totally accurate..b/c it doesn’t take into account the standard deductionI alrady get..but it gives me a ballpark idea. any better way to figure it out?

100% financing is the way I will go – b/c as a young professional, I havea fairly high income, but haven’t had time to sock away a large pile of cash for a down payment. if you gross 10-11k/month …but lack a stockpile of cash, 100% financing of a home under 500k is doable. obvioulsy, having a down payment is better..but if you don’t..you don’t.

i will keep renting. i will sit tight. I hope the houses keep dropping this year. prices are a lot lower up here to start with. homes that I see in San diego/carmel valley/del mar…. that sell over 1 million would be half tha tmuch here… you get a lot for you money b/c the land is just not worth as much.

personally, I like it up here in Temecula a lot. it’s family oriented, and I have two young children. i could care less about being close to downtown or the beach. I can get there quick enough. i know i’m in the minority…as more people would prefer to live IN San diego…not 45 min north of it..but given my employer and where I work…Temecula is perfect. i have a 5 minute commute to the office and I can come home to see the wife/kids at lunch. Nice.

i’m just waiting for prices to drop. it would be nice to say a couple hundred grand on my next house.

i was surpised more of you dind’t like Greer Ranch. some of the homes have really nice city light views and it seems likea nice quiet gated area. true..further from stuff that’s important. my current rental in harveston is MUCH more convenient..better freeway access..close to the mall and costco too.

thanks again for the input.

[23109VC]

one VERY true aspect of Temecula/Murrieta is tha virtually NO ONE who lives here works here. I am int he minority. I work locally…and LOVE the fact that I live 5 minutes from my office. But if you look at the 15/215 freeway in the morning, there is a MASSIVE outflux of people LEAVING for work. in the evenings, there is a massive INFLUX of people coming home from work. PILES of people here work in San Diego and OC. They put up wih the massive commute b/c of the lower housing prices.

I do agree that as prices in the areas they work in go down, they will leave. The gas costs must be killing those people. With a commute like that…it’s easy to be spedning $500+/month on fuel. with dropping housing prices, that would go a long way toward rent/mortgate payments.

I am going to sit tight for now. I have no urgent need to buy. I am quite happy in my rental. the owner may sell, and I’ll have to move *if* she can unload the place… but as prices finally settle down…I’ll be able to pick up a NICE house, 5 minutes from my office… 🙂

[23109VC]

yeah, i know..the worst they can say is no. I just wondered if they would laugh in my face or seriously negotiate.

I can rent the $550k house for $2000. There is one on the street for rent. VERY nicely upgraded. Backyard isn’t spectacular..but for a rental it’s nice. It’s 3000 sq ft. 4 BD plus a den. Lots of crown molding, granite, hard wood, stainless appliances… great floorplan. Brand new..built in 2005.

Suppose I rent the house for $2000.
suppose I could buy the same house for $500k even.

how much better off am I by renting it?

I figure a 500k home (100% financed) is goin to run me about $3500/month..give or take…that includes 2% taxes. Add a bit for insurance and HOAs and you are close to $3700-3800. After taxes..say I save $1500/month or so…mayb a bit more… and my monthly outlay is back down to almost $2000 out of pocket…. it’s not exact..but close…

am I missing something…

i’m not worried if the house drps $50k after I buy it.. the house I buy is a hosue I will stay in long term.. 10+ years… I would like the idea of a stable place to stay. the house i’m in now i really like..but the landlord is selling..i probbly won’t buy it..so i have to move. not my choice. i’d like tos tay put but it’s not my house so I have to pick up move. PITA.

if I can get a hosue purchase..that will be roughly equal to buying..wouldn’t it make sense to jsut buy..

unless you can predict that this 500k house will sell for $300k in two years..but i don’t see things falling tha badly…

do you guys?

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