"lost" $30,000 today

[mhsjax]

Then do not buy a house in that situation. There is god given right to own a house. Let alone having it gain value.

They should be renting then.

Let me be clear on one thing with these people. They are doing fine, in fact better than fine. However I was just using them as an example. And from what I can tell they are here for good. And thanks to all of his transfers, making incredible money. So please don't come on here and say that they should be renting, you don't know them or their situation. And trust me,d they are great with their money, 6 kids and one SAHM, beautiful house. They do just fine. thank you.

Oh wait, I just went back and reread the first page. You are the same person that seems to assume that the OP was flipping a house. Man how do you know so much?

 

[disneyfans95]

Let me be clear on one thing with these people. They are doing fine, in fact better than fine. However I was just using them as an example. And from what I can tell they are here for good. And thanks to all of his transfers, making incredible money. So please don't come on here and say that they should be renting, you don't know them or their situation. And trust me,d they are great with their money, 6 kids and one SAHM, beautiful house. They do just fine. thank you.

Oh wait, I just went back and reread the first page. You are the same person that seems to assume that the OP was flipping a house. Man how do you know so much?

Yet you are using them as an example of the type of people that are having issues with the housing crisis and whatnot.

You never did address the points that nobody forces you to buy a home. It is a long term investment, not a get rich quick scheme (even if it worked that way for a little while). People have choices and of course you have to live with them. One of the realities is that owning a home, by no means, promises you a profit. There are risks associated with it.

 

[MommaSnowwhite]

How is not wanting to lose a ton of money a get rich quick scheme?

 

[mhsjax]

Yet you are using them as an example of the type of people that are having issues with the housing crisis and whatnot.

You never did address the points that nobody forces you to buy a home. It is a long term investment, not a get rich quick scheme (even if it worked that way for a little while). People have choices and of course you have to live with them. One of the realities is that owning a home, by no means, promises you a profit. There are risks associated with it.

But I never said that anyone promises you a profit did I. I am stating that for some if they lose a lot of money it can cause real problems if for some reason they are needing to move. You are the one that mentioned flipping. And there you go again mentioning the get rich quick scheme. NOT EVERYONE IS USING HOME OWNERSHIP AS A GET RICH QUICK SCHEME. I don't know why you can't understand that.

 

[mhsjax]

How is not wanting to lose a ton of money a get rich quick scheme?

Apparently according to this poster, everyone is on a get rich quick scheme.

 

[Pastamom]

OP here - I wasn't talking about flipping a house....I was just wondering how many of us were in the same predicament. Sometimes it helps to know you're not alone.

We built our house in 1996. They value has increased as I would have expected it to in 14 years..then in the last year the assessed value dropped $30,000

 

[mhsjax]

OP here - I wasn't talking about flipping a house....I was just wondering how many of us were in the same predicament. Sometimes it helps to know you're not alone.

We built our house in 1996. They value has increased as I would have expected it to in 14 years..then in the last year the assessed value dropped $30,000

I think most of us realize that you weren't talking about flipping a house. Just a few righteous ones have to educate us on how we don't have a right to own a home. Everyone where I live has lost an extreme amount, and even the ones that no plans to move are still disturbed by it. True there was an extreme over inflation but still, it isn't fun to look at.

 

[disneyfans95]

I think most of us realize that you weren't talking about flipping a house. Just a few righteous ones have to educate us on how we don't have a right to own a home. Everyone where I live has lost an extreme amount, and even the ones that no plans to move are still disturbed by it. True there was an extreme over inflation but still, it isn't fun to look at.

Extreme over inflation.. Bingo. If you bought during the height of the boom, you had to understand that there is a ceiling and now you are seeing the corrrection to market values

 

[djgeffers1]

I also live in Wisconsin, in Beloit which has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state and ours went down by $ 10,000 as did my daughters .

 

[brerrabbit]

We are extremly lucky to live in an area that has not suffered the devaluation in prices that many areas across the US has. But at the same time over the past 5 to 6 years I have followed a report that was generated by a mortgage bank that was the clearest indicator of the impending fall I ever saw. I can't find the report anymore but a friend and I at work used to download it every quarter. What it showed was the cummulative value of real estate (residential) in numerous market areas across the country. It also used federal wage information and tax information to calculate what the earnings (wages) in a particular area could support. Basically on a micro level it was the same as the review a mortgage lender does. Based on your family income and the idea that you can afford payments up to say 28% of your monthly income. (I don't remember the right percentage and am using 28% because it sounds close) This study did the same thing on a macro level. The areas like California, Nevada, and Florida where the financial crisis has hit housing the worst were consistantly at the top of the list meaning that the property values far exceeded the ability of wage earners in that area to support. The areas like Texas where the real estate bubble never really went crazy actually showed that the earnings could support much higher values. As we read that report we could see clearly that there were areas where it mad absolutely no sense to jump into the market because values were very over inflated.

I know it's to little to late for many but my friend looked at these stats for a long time before commiting to the house he bought three years ago and his value has increased 15% in three years dispite all that has happened. His brother had taken a job in California during this time and he strongly urged him not to buy. He took the advice and saved himself a lot of money becuase he only recently purchased a home and saved himself a lot of money.

 

[mhsjax]

Extreme over inflation.. Bingo. If you bought during the height of the boom, you had to understand that there is a ceiling and now you are seeing the corrrection to market values

I never said you didn't. I just really don't understand you at all. I haven't mentioned one word about my property have I. I never said that I didn't understand it, for the 4th, 5th or 6th time. I am talking about those that have to sell for what ever reason, it can cause some real problems.

Also news flash, we didn't buy in the height of the boom. We bought well before it actually. Then I saw it go way up and now down again. It doesn't affect me right now, but then again, I never said it did. Again you seem to assume so much.

 

[pixiewings71]

We didn't buy at the height of the boom either.....we bought well before it and now our house has fallen under that value. And if you read my other posts disneyfans95, you will see we bought with the intent not to sell it before at least 20 years had passed....but since I have now lost my job and have NO prospects in sight we are considering moving to Idaho. My family is in Idaho, there are jobs in Idaho, it's a serious thought, not one we "want" to do as much as we might "have" to do it. Most of us who are posting on this thread are people who purchased with the intent to live in our homes for years to come, but as others have said (thank you mhsjax) sometimes you can't help it and life happens. No one said anything about flipping our homes, that was an assumption made incorrectly.

 

[disneyfans95]

I never said you didn't. I just really don't understand you at all. I haven't mentioned one word about my property have I. I never said that I didn't understand it, for the 4th, 5th or 6th time. I am talking about those that have to sell for what ever reason, it can cause some real problems.

Also news flash, we didn't buy in the height of the boom. We bought well before it actually. Then I saw it go way up and now down again. It doesn't affect me right now, but then again, I never said it did. Again you seem to assume so much.

News flash, selling your house can be risky. Nothing new there, yet you do seem very suprised by that fact.

Pixie I am sorry about your situation and I do hope you land a job ASAP.

 

[Tina]

You do realize that 2007 is simply 3 years ago and you brought at the beginning of the recession. Your life savings have not "disappeared". You still have your house, hopefully you are still paying on the mortgage (which means you are building equity) and the market will go up. It will not bounce back 50% in 1 year, it was never meant to do that.

One of the myths I think gets perpetuated is that "everyone" should be a homeowner. that is not true. If you think you will be job hopping and relocating alot over the next 10 years home ownership may not be right for you.

Of course I'm still paying on my mortgage! Why wouldn't I? I'm not a freaking moron.

Also, I never said I was planning to be job hopping and relocating a lot. What I said was that I had an opportunity offered to me. If I weren't upside down on my house and hadn't lost $130k in just 3 years time, I could have sold my house and taken the new position.

Some people here are talking about paper gains and losses. Those are the people who bought before the boom, saw the prices rise, then saw them fall back down. I bought after prices began to decline. I had no idea that they would continue to fall so drastically. I was even pleased to have negotiated my price down nearly $20k from the asking price. I don't think I will ever see this house grow back to the price I paid for it, so yes, I did lose my money. However, it was my decision to buy. I'm a big girl. I'm living in my overpriced house, making my payments, and living my life.

I must say I am quite bothered by the fact that you just assume anyone who is upside down on their mortgage is in financial trouble and will stop making payments. Just because my house is worth less than my mortgage, that doesn't mean I cannot make my payments. You are just RUDE.

 

[mhsjax]

News flash, selling your house can be risky. Nothing new there, yet you do seem very suprised by that fact.

Pixie I am sorry about your situation and I do hope you land a job ASAP.

I am not surprised, I don't know where you are getting this stuff. I really just don't get you. I think you are trying to be argumentative. However up until about 2 years ago, they couldn't build them fast enough and about 5 years ago it wasn't unusual for realtors to call us and our neighbors to see if we wanted to sell because they had buyers that wanted into our neighborhood. And also some houses were going literally within hours of being listed. AGAIN, this isn't my situation.
PS.
Why are you so nasty?

 

[AZMermaid]

My husband bought his first home in 2004 for 165,000. There was a time when he could have sold it for $325,000, I want to say 2007. He just sold it last fall for 175,000 and we bought a bigger family home. Our current house is down about $10,000 since we bought it, but we don't really care because a) we plan to live here for the next 20+ years and b) even if we did have to sell now, we would be able to pay off the mortgage, but would still be out overall.

We are 30 years old and most of our friends were in the housing market in 06/07. They did the right things- put 20% down, fixed rate etc. They all bought smaller family starter homes. Now, they are all totally stuck.
Friend A) bought for $325,000- house is now worth $175,000
Friend B) bought for $275,000- house is now worth $165,000
Friend C) built new for $250,000- house is now worth $150,000

Friend C is especially stuck because their house is a new build and their neighborhood is ridden with foreclosures. They could have sold their house when it was finished (so like 6-9 months after they bought) for $350,000. So, there are people in their subdivision who did buy at 350K and now have houses worth 150K. They are not super far out, but a good 45 minutes from downtown Phoenix. We were just talking about this with them and they are considering paying cash for a $50K house in the way out suburbs and letting that appreciate so they can maybe break even between the gain on that house and the loss on their current house in 3-5 years.

Both friends A and C would like to move as they have outgrown their houses, but they just can't. I have little sympathy for people who refinanced their houses in 2007, pulled out a lot of $$ and then walked away later. Now, this is how we got our current house. It was a foreclosure and we never would have been able to afford it otherwise. But, I do really feel for people like my friends who are truly stuck and did everything "right." Friend A thought they might have to move to another state and was very stressed about what to do about the house.

 

[disneyfans95]

I am not surprised, I don't know where you are getting this stuff. I really just don't get you. I think you are trying to be argumentative. However up until about 2 years ago, they couldn't build them fast enough and about 5 years ago it wasn't unusual for realtors to call us and our neighbors to see if we wanted to sell because they had buyers that wanted into our neighborhood. And also some houses were going literally within hours of being listed. AGAIN, this isn't my situation.
PS.
Why are you so nasty?

Nobody is being nasty. We might not agree on the topic at hand, but there has been nothing personal about it. I am sorry you feel that way and will avoid your posts and you can avoid mine in the future.

 

[a1tinkfans]

We got our house assessment today. Our house and land went down about $30,000 this year (Although I'm sure our property taxes will not go down )
We live in Wisconsin.

Just wondering how bad it is for everyone else???

no assessment here but when I see houses in our area at 450K when they were all about 750K and up, and hardly ANYthing is even getting looked at, never mind selling....and I see NO good coming soon either, sorry!

 

[mhsjax]

Nobody is being nasty. We might not agree on the topic at hand, but there has been nothing personal about it. I am sorry you feel that way and will avoid your posts and you can avoid mine in the future.

Oh, I will avoid you like the plague. I can disagree with lots of people, but you take the cake. All you have done is put words in my mouth. I don't appreciate it one bit.

 

[eliza61]

Of course I'm still paying on my mortgage! Why wouldn't I? I'm not a freaking moron.

Also, I never said I was planning to be job hopping and relocating a lot. What I said was that I had an opportunity offered to me. If I weren't upside down on my house and hadn't lost $130k in just 3 years time, I could have sold my house and taken the new position.

Some people here are talking about paper gains and losses. Those are the people who bought before the boom, saw the prices rise, then saw them fall back down. I bought after prices began to decline. I had no idea that they would continue to fall so drastically. I was even pleased to have negotiated my price down nearly $20k from the asking price. I don't think I will ever see this house grow back to the price I paid for it, so yes, I did lose my money. However, it was my decision to buy. I'm a big girl. I'm living in my overpriced house, making my payments, and living my life.

I must say I am quite bothered by the fact that you just assume anyone who is upside down on their mortgage is in financial trouble and will stop making payments. Just because my house is worth less than my mortgage, that doesn't mean I cannot make my payments. You are just RUDE.

Please, gimme a break I was most definitely not rude. YOU were the one who said you lost every thing and that you felt trapped. I was simply saying that assuming you are still making mortgage payments and plan on being in your house for some time, the market will bounce back and you will have equity in it. This was in response to your post of losing your life savings.

I didn't say one thing about you being upside down, inside out or any thing else. Nor did I say you couldn't make your payments. I did not claim any thing about your intelligence or any thing else.



and my answer was totally on the topic of gains and loss. It's a down market every where. the majority of housing lost money and if the pattern follows the normal up and down motions the majority of those houses will go up in value.