Posted on 12/13/2006 4:40:07 AM PST by GodGunsGuts
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Falling prices trap new homebuyers
Neighbors in a new Garden Grove tract say a developer's plan to slash prices by about $140,000 has left them owing more for their homes than they're now worth.
By JEFF COLLINS
The Orange County Register
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
What are ya saying?
You could substitute Harris County, Texas, Guilford County, NC, Greenville County, SC or hundreds of other places for Summit County and my point remains.
;-)
" Their stock prices will fall? So what? "
So what??
Nothing, I guess...
You go ahead and put your savings into the stock market, and keep your job at a publicly traded company...
Best of luck to ya.....
I guess how this affects you depends on where you are in your life more than anything else.
----
exactly. where you are at a specific time in life.
I retired 4 years ago and at a similar circumstance as you I was lucky to be able to sell high in a high cost area, move down to a smaller retirement property, buying low in a warmer and lower cost area and now I'm set for life. I couldn't do that today. It all boils down to what's going on at a particular time in your life.
You're lucky you have one whole cylinder. Count your blessings.
(28.8 here)
This was true when my wife and I got married. We were paying ~$600 per month for a part of a farmhouse on 200 secluded acres. We now own albeit, a larger home on 11 acres surrounded by neighbors paying approximately $1700 per month (all costs included). Plus I didn't have to pay or do repairs.
Even at 12 or 13% at worst their payment might go up a hundred bucks, IF they took it back to 30 years.
Point being, the risk of a balloon is mild compared to the types of loans out there now.
Well, I'm sure some people prefer the weather in California to that in Ohio. And yes, there are other places with moderate prices; large cities tend to have more opportunities, and rural areas have better quality of life. That's why I'm working in the former, so I can retire to the latter. :)
Keep that money under your bed. Or better yet.....BUY GOLD!
Best of luck to ya.....
Right back at ya....
You're right there are worse things but my post was a direct response to a question asking what a balloon loan is.
Wow...contrasts don't get any more stark than that!
Well, if we don't demand them, we're not going to get them!
The Republicans are just as bad as the Democrats, these days. They all want more and more money, all the time.
Thanks for the anecdote. Having said that, I envy your house on 11 acres for only $1700 a month!!!
You said:
"And btw, we are also starting to push on a string here in the USA."
Somehow, I doubt that your opinion factors in the report in yesterday's WSJ that the number of homes for sale in November FELL at a rate that was TWO HUNDRED PERCENT of the "normal" rate of decrease from October to November.
IMHO, this statistic proves that the so-called "housing "bust" is now over. My opinion should be confirmed by the spreading of price appreciation from "many markets" now to "most markets" in the first quarter of 2007.
Time will tell which of us has been engaging in analysis -- and which has been engaged in "wishful thinking".
I can live with that...
Houston is a large city with plenty of opportunity and good prices.
All I was really pointing out though, in the post comparing LA county to Summit is how incomes are NO DIFFERENT and I have no idea how people are buying those houses.
Fairfax County I believe has the highest household income in the country, but it also has very high real estate costs. Although it's cheaper than much of CA and incomes are higher.
I still stand by my belief that for SOME careers, it's better, but for others, you're better off with a lower paying job in a cheaper area, you have to do the math and figure it out for yourself!
Didn't catch that.
Sorry.
"If you can't afford it in the first place, then don't buy it to begin with."
BINGO!
Uncommon common sense.
There has been an uptick in rental rates in the city of San Francisco lately
I owned a duplex in SF and seldom rented the other 1/2 because of the liberal laws that favor renters and always stick it to the so called "Rich Property Owners" who rape and rob the poor renters. I once went two years without renting my unit for fear that once in you CAN NOT get them out sometimes for years and often at the expense of your rental property which will be trashed and ruined.
I'm so glad to be out of that city. SF government stinks, the board of supervisors stink, the mayor stinks, the city stinks and the entire bay area isn't much better. Beauty it has, nothing else.
No personal responsibility bump. It's nobody's fault - nothing ever is. It's those doggone falling prices that trap people. No one ever traps themselves. Quick - where's FEMA? We need some mamma-guv'mint debit cards!
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