[2banana]

"Our office had four sales in one week that failed to close because the seller didn't have the cash," said the real estate agent, who declined to be identified because she feared office repercussions.

Yes - the seller

Mortgage resets get alot worse in 2008. This game is in the 1st inning...

[Brilliant]

It’s not really a “new one.” I guess to folks who’ve never had a mortgage before, though, it might seem like it though.

[ClearCase_guy]

I know a seller who had to come to the closing with a check for $5000 which he had to give to the buyer. His house had been on the marker (Ohio) for 3 years.

Crazy times.

[RachelFaith]

I work in a Bank. Yer right... it’s gonna get soooo Much worse.

[VOA]

bump

[Anonymous Rex]

We had a house down the street go into foreclosure because the woman couldn’t sell it for the going market rate since it was less than what she owed. She had a number of offers that were close but the bank wouldn’t let her sell opting instead to wait until she stopped paying on the mortgage so they could take posession and sell it themselves.

Idiotic from the banks standpoint because instead of losing just a few thousand they will now lose upwards of $20,000 - $30,000 because it sat on the market so long.

[willgolfforfood]

A "new" one, my butt!!

I had to do this TWICE in 3 years, back in the 1980's. That's what it was like buying a house in Texas when the mid-80's oil bust was on.

It sure was hard buying that 3rd home, a couple of years later. You get a little gun shy...

[chaos_5]

Hate to say it, but first time buyers like my self cant wait for the market to tank.

[gridlock]

When I bought my house 15 years ago, the seller had to write personal checks to cover the last $1,000 to each of the real estate agents at closing, because there was not enough money in the house.

My agent took the check and said she might as well tear it up, because there is no way it would clear. She was right. She never got her money.

But that was a really ugly case. The husband in an impending divorce stopped paying on five different car loans and a business loan, and all the liens came in the morning of the closing. Needless to say, his soon-to-be-ex wife was pretty PO’ed.

[MooseMan]

We’re all doomed. Where’s my popcorn?

[Glenn]

When I moved to Pennsylvania, I was amused to learn that both the buyer and the seller have to pay the state 1% of the purchase price of the house. In some municipalities, it is even more. I’ve owned houses in four other states that didn’t have such a tax.

2% on every real estate transaction is one pot-full of money. For someone trying to sell a home, it can make the difference.

Vultures.

[FreedomPoster]

I’m thinking 1-2 years is the right time to buy.

I’m sitting on cash.

[AppyPappy]

I know several people who screwed themselves royally. They either were building a house when the market crashed or got into a no principal loan. When they complain, I remind myself they made the decision to do those things. You have to plan for stuff like that.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is not true.

Meanwhile, we are making lots of home improvements.

[melissa_in_ga]

I have a relative in another state who owes 1.2 million on a house he purchased 7 years ago for $600,000. That’s right, he’s eaten into the equity for 7 years. He can’t possibly at this point make enough money on the house to pay what he owes and settlement costs on top of that. I don’t know how he makes the house payment.

He hopes he can get 1.3 mil. I’ve looked. Now that the market tanked, I think he can get 875k - if he’s lucky.

[trebb]

I keep hearing about the disaster of falling home prices, but I haven't heard it put into perspective by telling us how the values compare with the pre-orgy "boom" we had that led up to the "POP!"

I guess that sometimes it's great to be a seller and sometimes it's great to be a buyer - too bad I'm not in the market. I'm one of those freaks who bought within my means and am thinking of writing a check to pay mine off 14 years early. That makes it hard to cry for those who thought that paying half their income on a house note for a couple years and then hoping that it wouldn't actually rise to 90% of their income when the ARM "matured".

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

Sometimes I really hate the internet. Most people say “here where I am” as if I can read their minds or see their zip code identified in their post. Is it laziness? Is it paranoia? Why can’t people say “I’m selling here in Mudzilla, Puerto Rico”, instead of giving us an incomplete and therefore meaningless picture.

I have no freaking clue if they are in downtown Manhattan or living on Montana’s Canadian border.

You would think intelligent people of the caliber who post on Free Republic would realize the rest of us can’t possibly know where “here” is in all the various posts anytime someone refers to the location they live or work.

Very frustrating. All I will say is home prices are still very high here and sales are still relatively OK. See how worthless it is when I don’t say “here in San Francisco...”?

Please, if you are going to post relevant information about your neighborhood, could all of you please give us some tiny clue as to where that neighborhood is, be it a Dallas suburb or the heart of a Colorado rocky mountain ski resort. It kind of helps. SHEESH!

[BearCub]

Our office had four sales in one week that failed to close because the seller didn't have the cash

When I bought my house the seller had to come to the table with $14,000. I basically captured all of his equity. When he and his realtor found out my realtor was giving me a kickback of 1/3 of her commission they were furious. C'est la vie.

[old and tired]

This article portrays the problem as the 0 to 5 percent that folks have been putting down. I don't think that's the problem at all. FOr years, first time home buyers have been putting down 5 percent or less - VA and FHA loans have been available for years. I think people got ridiculous about what their first home, and its accompanying mortgage, should be. First homes should be a tiny little row home in a safe area. A house you can afford working at the local grocer if you lose your job. That house may never appreciate much, but after a few years you haven't been flushing rent money down a toilet and you've got 10 or 20 percent in equity to put down on a nicer house. But people don't think they need to live that way anymore.

Something the article touches on is somthing I've noticed - People just don't drive junker cars anymore. Even if you drive through West Philadelphia you're more likely to see a 2007 Camry than a vehicle from the 90's.

[doug from upland]

Shame on any broker who will not work out some kind of a deal for commission rather than kill it and harm his client. In thirty years of creative real estate, I never let a commission stand in the way of a deal. I have negotiated the amount, taken paper, sometimes even taken personal property. After all the work, the broker has a choice of taking nothing or working out a deal.

[ozzymandus]

I have no sympathy for people who bought a house they couldn’t afford just because they thought they could make easy money. These speculators are going to damage us all.

[Lancey Howard]

she notes that the seller had to cover $1,800 in title insurance

Since when do sellers pay for the buyer's title insurance?