Non - Car Rant

[Eric's Blue]

Okay seriously, The housing market is so F d up right now. A house in my small neighborhood of about 25 house (each with 1+ acre lots.) Short sold for 99K because the hard working gentlemen and all around decent guy got laid off due to the bad economy. Okay fine he short sells, it does some damage to his otherwise spotless credit score. Maybe he goes and rents a place for awhile. He ll be able to buy a new house in a year or 2. Fine, I hope it works out for the best, but here I am able to pay my mortgage with good credit. But what's the value of a house am I now paying on? Maybe one short sell in the neighborhood does not change much but if additional come.

So now here comes new legislation to further help the people who cant pay their mortgage. Loan modifications, new short sell laws... etc. Yet there is nothing for the people who can afford to keep paying on their now bad investments. Professional advice I recieved was keep paying on your house, you will recoup equity in 1-2 years when the market recovers. Right? So the guy down the street,that bought the 150K for 99K, is going to magically have 50,000 in equity in 1 to 2 years? While I break even on my equity for the exact same house?

Basically, if you are fortunate enough to keep paying your mortgage, there is no relief for you and you possibly keep paying on a devalued house. I highly doubt that my house has decreased that much at this moment, but we all stand the chance that something bad enough can happen in the area to put us well underwater. I guess when our parents told us our home would be our best investment, they did not see this coming...

End of rant...

[v6sonoma]

I "lost" $60K in "value" in my home do to the high rate of foreclosure in my area. It sucks but thats the way it goes. Thats why when you buy a house you need to buy a house you plan to live in for a long time. Houses are not like the stock market. The investment grows over time. Some people can flip one quick and make a buck, but thats not what happens most of the time. I don't plan to go anywhere for a few years and I've owned my house for 3 years now. The house next door to me foreclosed and it was bought for cheap. The young couple have been upgrading it like crazy. They will no doubt flip it for a good profit. Housing is tough. It's an emotional purchase. Mostly people buy more house than they can afford or go house shopping without knowing what there spending limit is and then do anything to get the house they want. Thats where a lot of people get into trouble. I wouldn't sweat it to much. There's really nothing we can do but sit and wait. Oh and have a few beers.

[Eric's Blue]

Mostly people buy more house than they can afford or go house shopping without knowing what there spending limit is and then do anything to get the house they want. Thats where a lot of people get into trouble. I wouldn't sweat it to much. There's really nothing we can do but sit and wait. Oh and have a few beers.

Or we have programs designed to give people loans who have bad credit already. These people they gave loans to A) Could not afford the houses they bought B) Did not care about their credit in the first place, so their is no motivation to worry about losing it.

[The_Blur]

That's unfortunate for the guy who had to sell his home. Regardless of the value of that land, the owner has lost the place in which he lived. His future home may never be a home to him like this place was.

At the end of the day, though, we would all take a deal that benefits us. No one wants to finance $150k. We're more comfortable with $90k, especially knowing that what we're financing is worth more than we are paying. The guy moving into the place is benefitting from a killer deal, and the rest of us, at least in a free market economy, are responsible for finding our own good deals and profiting from them. That's how capitalism functions. Is it right? That's up for historians and philosophers to decide. It is what it is.

[wylde1]

that is unfortunate... but believe it or not it could be worse.

I'm now in the position of trying to buy my first home. Graduated uni, have a good job, credit is in line, my fiancee also has a good job and credit to boot. You would think it'd be easy....

Up here a house for 150k almost doesn't exist. If you do find one... it's probably a 300 sq ft shack under the highway.

we are looking for a starter place, 1000-1200 sq ft bungalow, unfinished basement and small garage. best we've found so far is about 200k (could probably get in it for 180-190) but we do NOT want to live in that part of town.

Try getting IN to that market. Once you're in, you're good to go. Getting a foot in the door is damn near impossible. At least here in Canada anyways.

Realistically we'll probably be looking at 220k-230k by the time it's said and done. We can afford it, it just SUCKS!

[2010 SSRS]

that sux

[mth35115]

I closed on my house on 6 Nov 2010, if I had closed the next day I would have gotten a $6500 tax credit. A lot of misunderstanding caused by the laws wording. The law states closing the day after Nov 6th.

[BlackSunsine]

I was raised to believe in this - Work hard, and be an honest helping caring person. Life is sometimes a pain and a B*tch, and people will get shafted.

But, just work hard and be an honest person and things will work out.

And true, sometimes things do go into the crapper, but, if you have a good life going, good friends to talk to, and you continue to work hard, and be honest, it will be good again.

yes, things are tough. Help out a friend and you can still be OK.