[DuncanWaring]

What happened to all the houses built five years ago during the bubble, when people were buying every house they could get their hands on, because house prices never decreased and they were guaranteed to make money flipping them a few days later?

[Abathar]

You mean when a they let a ditch digger buy a McMansion for almost nothing down with an interest only mortgage that they couldn't possibly afford when the balloon kicked in, refinanced with a second mortgage to about 150% of the ballooned value back then, used the money to pay off their student loans which aren't excused in bankruptcy, squatted for another couple of years then walked away free as a bird?

Those homes?

[tanknetter]

Look at it this way, if the choice is between buying a house that’s been owned by someone who’s underwater, or foreclosed upun (and possibly sitting vacant) and building new, what path would you take?

I recently moved, and out of 60+ houses I looked at only two weren’t crap, with most having what I would term serious neglect if not outright malicious damage by the previous owners. Of the two remaining both were very well kept, with one being too small and the other ( which I bought) just about perfect.

If I hadn’t landed the near-perfect house, I absolutely would have built.