[people_are_smart]

A few years ago someone told me BoA stands for Bend Over America. After having had one of their CCs I would agree.

[people_are_smart]

Mass transit in S.D. is a joke. I’m sure if you live downtown you can make it work. I know someone who lost their driver’s license for over a year and used mass transit. It takes all day to get anywhere if you start at the edges of the system. The trolley lines you need to use only seem to switch downtown and the times don’t make the transition seemless. The bus stops to get to the trolley and back are the real issue, especially in East County. The buses stop running early enough in the evening that mass transit really isn’t a solution.

I’d like to see public officials who recommend mass transit for all our woes actually try to use it from wherever they live, and then reconsider.

Bottom line up to 3 hours or more planning for each way. I am not kidding. It just doesn’t work if you have multiple stops/switches to make. 1 or 2 maybe. What we have in S.D. doesn’t really qualify as mass transit in my mind since it doesn’t work for the masses.

[people_are_smart]

I should add that after the bank rejected my offer this week, they immediately lowered the asking price 9K to $171,900. I guess my offer must have been the only one? At least I feel like I’m doing my part to restore sane expectations.

[people_are_smart]

I think it is too early for reasonable (IMO) lowball offers. I made an offer on an El Cajon REO condo that is listed for 181K. It sold for 268K in 2005. There is an identical unit in the same complex listed for 161K (possible short sale?) and another for 175K. I offered 125K as that is what I feel comfortable paying and makes sense considering current rental prices. I didn’t expect it to be accepted but was interested whether I would get a counter offer. I did not.

I’m not sure if counter offers are usual. My guess is it might sell this year for around 160K but I think I will do better for the money later on. I’m starting to think SFR (no HOA) may be doable in a few years. I’m going to sign a new lease in the next week.

The bank asking price is already 33% off the 2005 sale price. My offer was over 53% off peak, or an additional 30% off the current asking price. I think 2000-2001 prices seem reasonable as well but it will just take a few more years of chasing the market down for banks to get it.

[people_are_smart]

I think it is too early for reasonable (IMO) lowball offers. I made an offer on an El Cajon REO condo that is listed for 181K. It sold for 268K in 2005. There is an identical unit in the same complex listed for 161K (possible short sale?) and another for 175K. I offered 125K as that is what I feel comfortable paying and makes sense considering current rental prices. I didn’t expect it to be accepted but was interested whether I would get a counter offer. I did not.

I’m not sure if counter offers are usual. My guess is it might sell this year for around 160K but I think I will do better for the money later on. I’m starting to think SFR (no HOA) may be doable in a few years. I’m going to sign a new lease in the next week.

The bank asking price is already 33% off the 2005 sale price. My offer was over 53% off peak, or an additional 30% off the current asking price. I think 2000-2001 prices seem reasonable as well but it will just take a few more years of chasing the market down for banks to get it.

[people_are_smart]

Regarding similar YOY inventory, I would take a look at the percentage of distressed sales out of total listings. Have you noted the distinct shift in the character of the listings since last year?

The peak was specifically noted by posters on this forum and it didn’t seem too complicated at the time. I don’t think the bottom will be that hard either. Listen to Bugs about the two sides of supply and demand. Consider the further impact of tightening credit, coupled with ever mounting foreclosures. Do you really not have enough data to make an informed decision? There are no signs of price stability. The only thing left to do is discuss how fast, how much, and how long.

If we are near the bottom, what does that mean? Are we looking forward to 10%+ YOY appreciation again? Ask yourself how that is even possible. Loans have to be repaid. Prices now are divorced from this concept.

I for one, hope for at least a 50% reduction in prices but not to make a fortune flipping the market. I am looking to eventully reduce my overall cost of living by owning. ~50% is how far prices have to drop from a basic affordability standpoint. Most of the “Rah Rah Rah” on this board is cheering for the return of sanity instead of the previous speculative mania.

[people_are_smart]

Wow! I’m going out right now and buying a dozen homes!

[people_are_smart]

Wow! I’m going out right now and buying a dozen homes!

[people_are_smart]

Wow! I’m going out right now and buying a dozen homes!

[people_are_smart]

I was checking out Alder Woods Condos at 1423 Graves Ave, El Cajon. These are condo conversions. The sales office is advertising a $20,000 incentive. Actually, the flyer had $15,000 which was lined out and the greater amount hand written with a pen. These are offered in the 300K range so that would be around 6% or just over, depending on the unit. I was told by the sales kid that that is the limit the lender will allow. They are still advertising 0 down and 0 closing costs. The other interesting part is this final phase is being priced higher than the previous sales from earlier this year. Apparently they are still finding buyers who don’t bother to even research the complex they are considering buying in. Allegedly it is because the pool is closer to these units. Oh yeah, the “preferred” lender you have to use to get all the perks is really a mortgage broker. Seems weird.

I posted a thread on Alder Woods a few weeks ago under a different name. I couldn’t take the ditech.com ads anymore as they are so funny on so many levels. So I had to change it.

[people_are_smart]

I was checking out Alder Woods Condos at 1423 Graves Ave, El Cajon. These are condo conversions. The sales office is advertising a $20,000 incentive. Actually, the flyer had $15,000 which was lined out and the greater amount hand written with a pen. These are offered in the 300K range so that would be around 6% or just over, depending on the unit. I was told by the sales kid that that is the limit the lender will allow. They are still advertising 0 down and 0 closing costs. The other interesting part is this final phase is being priced higher than the previous sales from earlier this year. Apparently they are still finding buyers who don’t bother to even research the complex they are considering buying in. Allegedly it is because the pool is closer to these units. Oh yeah, the “preferred” lender you have to use to get all the perks is really a mortgage broker. Seems weird.

I posted a thread on Alder Woods a few weeks ago under a different name. I couldn’t take the ditech.com ads anymore as they are so funny on so many levels. So I had to change it.

[people_are_smart]

I was checking out Alder Woods Condos at 1423 Graves Ave, El Cajon. These are condo conversions. The sales office is advertising a $20,000 incentive. Actually, the flyer had $15,000 which was lined out and the greater amount hand written with a pen. These are offered in the 300K range so that would be around 6% or just over, depending on the unit. I was told by the sales kid that that is the limit the lender will allow. They are still advertising 0 down and 0 closing costs. The other interesting part is this final phase is being priced higher than the previous sales from earlier this year. Apparently they are still finding buyers who don’t bother to even research the complex they are considering buying in. Allegedly it is because the pool is closer to these units. Oh yeah, the “preferred” lender you have to use to get all the perks is really a mortgage broker. Seems weird.

I posted a thread on Alder Woods a few weeks ago under a different name. I couldn’t take the ditech.com ads anymore as they are so funny on so many levels. So I had to change it.

[Author]

Posts