Home Sales Fall in 38 States, Data Shows

Yahoo! Finance ^ | November 20, 2006 | Lauren Villagran

[goldstategop]

And don't forget any mortgage outstanding on the home. That will leave most people with a very small profit when they walk away from the home - certainly nothing to allow them to start life all over again.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[expat_panama]

"California does have a few other assets I can think of..."

You may be confusing bottom line assets with up-front balances

[ladyjane]

Yes, I knew what you meant, I was just being a bit snitty. I apologize.

Real estate is such an inefficient market some people could have overpaid by 20% two years ago. Also, some markets had already begun their decline back then.

Not everybody has seen the run up in prices that happened in Florida and California but some of them are feeling the decline. In Massachusetts if you bought 3 or 4 years ago you still could be hurting big time in some of their markets. If you have to sell now you could be in big trouble.

OTOH, in NC where all the New Englanders seem to be moving the market appears to be booming. Real estate, like politics, is local.

[Toddsterpatriot]

That 1.2% year over year decline means that a person who brought a house a year ago with 5% down

Only if they sell. Don't forget, with a 5% sales commission, they've lost 124% of their investment!!!!!!!

[RockinRight]

And NC is still reasonable outside the Raleigh area, at least for now.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Bank wouldn't close cause I was unemployed. Took 10 months to find a job - at $14K less salary. Payments going up, got behind on payments, got a 2nd mortgage to catch up.

If the bank wouldn't close, how could you fall behind on the payments?

[Proud_USA_Republican]

So far inventory of homes for sale on the market has doubled since May, and prices still continue to rise.

Supply and Demand got thrown under the bus a long time ago in this city as well.

[ladyjane]

Reasonable is an understatement.

I could buy three places in NC for what a condominium in Boston would sell for. And they'd be newer and nicer. Much nicer.

[ladyjane]

Seriously, not all markets went up the way they did in places like Florida, Arizona and California.

In MA where the population declined three years in a row the markets flattened out and started drifting down long before the national trend began. Some of those people have had real losses, not just paper losses.

[RockinRight]

Payments on her old loan, she was refinancing.

[RockinRight]

What city?

[Toddsterpatriot]

Beaches covered in silicon?

[Toddsterpatriot]

Oh, wait, guess it just means they aren't moving. They still have a house.

Shhhhhh. WE'RE DOOMED!!

[Toddsterpatriot]

It simple means that the difference between the lowest and the highest prices was slightly lower.

Median is the house in the middle, half sold for more, half for less.

[Lakeshark]

Fortunately, even liberals can't make that happen.......

They can simply tax you to death to make sure no one can afford anything ever again.......cept them, of course.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Thanks for clearing that up.

[GYPSY286]

It was a refi - I already owned the house. Had and still have an adjustable rate mortgage I can't get out of.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Thanks, sorry for my confusion.

[dashing doofus]

Bush caused it all. His transparent attempt to wipe out vast portions of the nation's housing stock by dynamiting the levees in New Orleans was inadequate.

[Comico Atómico]

Not to mention the transaction costs. Just imagine what the market would look like if you had to pay 3-7% of the price to a gaggle of middlemen every time you sold a stock or mutual fund.