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Diego Mamani
ParticipantHey Gary, I live in WLV. Do you have the MLS #?
I witnessed a similar case in a gated community in Thousand Oaks/Newbury Park. Some guy bought a really nice house for about $960K in 2005, and then refinanced a few times. The house is back in the market, but is completely thrashed! The FB still lives in the house. Apparently he didn’t mean to destroy it, but just let his three huge dogs run around the house. There are holes in the walls, the carpets are almost gone, wood cabinets appear rotten, the house stinks, etc.
The FB owes over a $1MM, and he’s trying to get the bank to approve a short sale. No one wants to buy, even at the reduced $800K price.
It was sad for me, b/c I almost bought the house in 2005 and it was really beautiful back then. BTW, there was a PT Cruiser and a shiny Cadillac Escalade pickup on the driveway.
ParticipantHey Gary, I live in WLV. Do you have the MLS #?
I witnessed a similar case in a gated community in Thousand Oaks/Newbury Park. Some guy bought a really nice house for about $960K in 2005, and then refinanced a few times. The house is back in the market, but is completely thrashed! The FB still lives in the house. Apparently he didn’t mean to destroy it, but just let his three huge dogs run around the house. There are holes in the walls, the carpets are almost gone, wood cabinets appear rotten, the house stinks, etc.
The FB owes over a $1MM, and he’s trying to get the bank to approve a short sale. No one wants to buy, even at the reduced $800K price.
It was sad for me, b/c I almost bought the house in 2005 and it was really beautiful back then. BTW, there was a PT Cruiser and a shiny Cadillac Escalade pickup on the driveway.
ParticipantHey Gary, I live in WLV. Do you have the MLS #?
I witnessed a similar case in a gated community in Thousand Oaks/Newbury Park. Some guy bought a really nice house for about $960K in 2005, and then refinanced a few times. The house is back in the market, but is completely thrashed! The FB still lives in the house. Apparently he didn’t mean to destroy it, but just let his three huge dogs run around the house. There are holes in the walls, the carpets are almost gone, wood cabinets appear rotten, the house stinks, etc.
The FB owes over a $1MM, and he’s trying to get the bank to approve a short sale. No one wants to buy, even at the reduced $800K price.
It was sad for me, b/c I almost bought the house in 2005 and it was really beautiful back then. BTW, there was a PT Cruiser and a shiny Cadillac Escalade pickup on the driveway.
ParticipantHey Gary, I live in WLV. Do you have the MLS #?
I witnessed a similar case in a gated community in Thousand Oaks/Newbury Park. Some guy bought a really nice house for about $960K in 2005, and then refinanced a few times. The house is back in the market, but is completely thrashed! The FB still lives in the house. Apparently he didn’t mean to destroy it, but just let his three huge dogs run around the house. There are holes in the walls, the carpets are almost gone, wood cabinets appear rotten, the house stinks, etc.
The FB owes over a $1MM, and he’s trying to get the bank to approve a short sale. No one wants to buy, even at the reduced $800K price.
It was sad for me, b/c I almost bought the house in 2005 and it was really beautiful back then. BTW, there was a PT Cruiser and a shiny Cadillac Escalade pickup on the driveway.
ParticipantI don't know about Tijuana, but in Chile they do great work. This clip from a news show has excerpts from a make-a-wish/Dr-90210 type of show. Good thing is, they don't censor any body parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujyVbTaYlRM
ParticipantI don't know about Tijuana, but in Chile they do great work. This clip from a news show has excerpts from a make-a-wish/Dr-90210 type of show. Good thing is, they don't censor any body parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujyVbTaYlRM
ParticipantI don't know about Tijuana, but in Chile they do great work. This clip from a news show has excerpts from a make-a-wish/Dr-90210 type of show. Good thing is, they don't censor any body parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujyVbTaYlRM
ParticipantI don't know about Tijuana, but in Chile they do great work. This clip from a news show has excerpts from a make-a-wish/Dr-90210 type of show. Good thing is, they don't censor any body parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujyVbTaYlRM
ParticipantI don't know about Tijuana, but in Chile they do great work. This clip from a news show has excerpts from a make-a-wish/Dr-90210 type of show. Good thing is, they don't censor any body parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujyVbTaYlRM
November 7, 2007 at 3:05 PM in reply to: Expatriate from France to San Diego. Where and when to buy a home? #96883ParticipantEdouard, ça va?
I’m afraid you came to the wrong forum to ask this question. Most people here think that buying real estate at this point in the market cycle is financially insane.
The best advice I can give is to invest your EUR 500K in Euro-denominated assets, not all of it in equities, not all of it in bonds, some in CDs, etc. Then use part of your dollar income to rent a nice, comfortable house (not an apartment) like the Maybeck one you like.
Unfortunately, it looks like you have made up your mind about buying. I can only hope that reading this blog as well as the thehousingbubbleblog.com will help you change your mind. House prices were ridiculously inflated in 2002-2005 (until 2006 in some other ares of California), and only recently we started the adjustment process.
House prices are awfully sticky on the way down, so prices won’t go down to reality in a year or two: it’ll take at least half a decade from the peaks in 2005 for prices to reach bottom. You may go ahead and pay $600K-$700K today, but when you decide to go back to Europe in 5 years, you’ll find that you can’t sell your house for what you paid for it. Worse yet, you’ll be paid in dollars that will be severely depreciated against the Euro.
Why would a European who can easily invest in Euro-denominated assets be interested in purchasing an asset (a California house) that is expected to depreciate in dollars, and more so in Euros? It makes no sense.
Bonne chance.
November 7, 2007 at 3:05 PM in reply to: Expatriate from France to San Diego. Where and when to buy a home? #96949ParticipantEdouard, ça va?
I’m afraid you came to the wrong forum to ask this question. Most people here think that buying real estate at this point in the market cycle is financially insane.
The best advice I can give is to invest your EUR 500K in Euro-denominated assets, not all of it in equities, not all of it in bonds, some in CDs, etc. Then use part of your dollar income to rent a nice, comfortable house (not an apartment) like the Maybeck one you like.
Unfortunately, it looks like you have made up your mind about buying. I can only hope that reading this blog as well as the thehousingbubbleblog.com will help you change your mind. House prices were ridiculously inflated in 2002-2005 (until 2006 in some other ares of California), and only recently we started the adjustment process.
House prices are awfully sticky on the way down, so prices won’t go down to reality in a year or two: it’ll take at least half a decade from the peaks in 2005 for prices to reach bottom. You may go ahead and pay $600K-$700K today, but when you decide to go back to Europe in 5 years, you’ll find that you can’t sell your house for what you paid for it. Worse yet, you’ll be paid in dollars that will be severely depreciated against the Euro.
Why would a European who can easily invest in Euro-denominated assets be interested in purchasing an asset (a California house) that is expected to depreciate in dollars, and more so in Euros? It makes no sense.
Bonne chance.
November 7, 2007 at 3:05 PM in reply to: Expatriate from France to San Diego. Where and when to buy a home? #96956ParticipantEdouard, ça va?
I’m afraid you came to the wrong forum to ask this question. Most people here think that buying real estate at this point in the market cycle is financially insane.
The best advice I can give is to invest your EUR 500K in Euro-denominated assets, not all of it in equities, not all of it in bonds, some in CDs, etc. Then use part of your dollar income to rent a nice, comfortable house (not an apartment) like the Maybeck one you like.
Unfortunately, it looks like you have made up your mind about buying. I can only hope that reading this blog as well as the thehousingbubbleblog.com will help you change your mind. House prices were ridiculously inflated in 2002-2005 (until 2006 in some other ares of California), and only recently we started the adjustment process.
House prices are awfully sticky on the way down, so prices won’t go down to reality in a year or two: it’ll take at least half a decade from the peaks in 2005 for prices to reach bottom. You may go ahead and pay $600K-$700K today, but when you decide to go back to Europe in 5 years, you’ll find that you can’t sell your house for what you paid for it. Worse yet, you’ll be paid in dollars that will be severely depreciated against the Euro.
Why would a European who can easily invest in Euro-denominated assets be interested in purchasing an asset (a California house) that is expected to depreciate in dollars, and more so in Euros? It makes no sense.
Bonne chance.
November 7, 2007 at 3:05 PM in reply to: Expatriate from France to San Diego. Where and when to buy a home? #96964ParticipantEdouard, ça va?
I’m afraid you came to the wrong forum to ask this question. Most people here think that buying real estate at this point in the market cycle is financially insane.
The best advice I can give is to invest your EUR 500K in Euro-denominated assets, not all of it in equities, not all of it in bonds, some in CDs, etc. Then use part of your dollar income to rent a nice, comfortable house (not an apartment) like the Maybeck one you like.
Unfortunately, it looks like you have made up your mind about buying. I can only hope that reading this blog as well as the thehousingbubbleblog.com will help you change your mind. House prices were ridiculously inflated in 2002-2005 (until 2006 in some other ares of California), and only recently we started the adjustment process.
House prices are awfully sticky on the way down, so prices won’t go down to reality in a year or two: it’ll take at least half a decade from the peaks in 2005 for prices to reach bottom. You may go ahead and pay $600K-$700K today, but when you decide to go back to Europe in 5 years, you’ll find that you can’t sell your house for what you paid for it. Worse yet, you’ll be paid in dollars that will be severely depreciated against the Euro.
Why would a European who can easily invest in Euro-denominated assets be interested in purchasing an asset (a California house) that is expected to depreciate in dollars, and more so in Euros? It makes no sense.
Bonne chance.
ParticipantManu,
To answer your question we need to know where you expect to be 5 and 10 years from now, proessionally, personally, and geographically. Also, why did you decide to buy such a huge house in the first place? (The answer to that question culd be illuminating). And wuld you pay near $1MM for a house that wasn’t in move-in condition?
That said, if you think that you’ll stay in the same area for the next 10 years, it may be best to stay put and work dilligently towards paying down your $600K mortgage. I know you said that all your money goes into the house. Is that really tru? For instance, how much are your car payments? If you bought a used Corolla and shared it among the two of you, and kept it for another 10 years, you could have some substantial savings. The same is true of eating out, giving to charity, travel, etc. You can find money to pay your debt.
If you work hard towards paying off your mortgage, and then you sell the house when the next boom peaks (not earlier than in the later part of the next decade IMO), you’ll have a huge nest egg to retire on.
Forget Zillow. My old house, which I sold at the top of the market in 2005, now it’s valued by Zillow at about 23% over what it could realistically sell for today.
D.M.
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