never said i was betting on a collapse as i`m still bullish on real estate.............long 3 units....2 family rental & great $ maker,BOT`96................& 2 single family............1 rental & 1 in which i reside so i know what it is you`re trying to say. as to the 1st part of your post,a 20% to 30% hair cut is not out of the realm of reason on the condo in addition to being up 50K net as well as 2 to 3 years of saved mort/tax/maint/upgrades puts me way ahead of the game regardless of a higher rate down the road if/when i decide to rebuy.........................simple arithmatic!
There is still plenty of room for real estate to fall, for people to think this area is still booming should think twice. House down the block from me has been up for sale for about 6 months, hes finally taking it off the market to rent. Im thinking housing falls another 5% by the end of 2006.
A buddy of mine lives in Solana Beach, N Of San Diego. *** 8 of 10 *** of the houses on his street are listed on MLS.
I think the Real Estate bargain hunting will happen soon (3-4 years) and at that time, screw that market, I'm taking a dive into the real estate market California was never invincible. I think when markets crack, Vegas, Florida and California will be one of the few that will get hit the hardest.
I see alot of people trying to get out, many sale signs, but prices are dropping back from the inflated prices to around where they should be one thing i did see is the house passed a bill that fha can now get into the subprime market with 0 down and up to 417,000.00 if somebody has a subprime loan for 9-10% they can refi with fha for 6-7% and the qualifiers are going to be a lot less restrictive, if the fed has to start cutting rates next year, this and the 50 year notes could cause a little speculation to come back into the 400,000 market place, so maybe we have some things coming around to try to make it a soft landing I haven't been getting any builder letters to buy my lot for awhile but last week I got 2, so i'm hoping the fed won't kill things
Never forget that "where they should be" is wherever current perception is and that the same exuberance that takes them above a "fair value" will take them below it in the other direction. Falling knives are bloody things to catch in any market
"where they should be".. i believe when prices are at the level where it is making sense to buy than to rent (not using exotic loans, etc.) in many markets, it will take 20, 30, 50% discounts to bring these houses back to that level
I'd still rather pay 15% on a 200K home than 5% on a 400-500K overpriced pig. At worst I still only have a max of 200K in debt, instead of 400+. How do you think a 20-40% correction would affect an owners feeling of "wealth" if they own the 400-500K pig? I've been through three of these cycles and EVERYONE that says it will drop a max of 20% better go look at some old data. My home went from 125K to 220K to 140K to 475K in the span from 1986-2004. Home dropped 40% in the last cycle down. This run up has been even more extreme than prior periods. Food for thought . Something I think will happen is rents will not rise in my area as more underwater owners place their units available for occupancy, hoping market value increases. My 2 cents