Half a million tax free is half a million. There is no two ways about it. Its lot of dough, lots of $100 bills.. You won't be able to get that if you worked all your life and kept renting from Uncle Joe. Here is an interest stat: The networth of an average renter in the US is $6,350 and the networth of a homeowner is $160,000. At least thats what I remember, you can correct me on it if you have newer figures.
This is a NEGATIVE thread started by renter who is probably shut out from the home ownership for some reason. I have seen losers like these in my line of work and lending . They always blame the world and have this sour taste in life.
Read your sentence again. Who can afford to buy your house? How many people have fico 700+? How many have 10% for a down payment? Which banks are giving ARMs or NegAms or interest only? So how much does your house worth? Did you get that figure from zillow?
I'm telling ya! Its cool when the banks agree to give you something right now, and then let you pay them back with dollars that are losing value faster and faster. Here, Mr. Banker, have some more money...it's worth half of what you thought it would be worth right now... SM
It's not so bad here, at least not yet. Most people were buying houses with option ARMs and 5 to 7 year resets, they're still paying teaser rates. The mythology around here is that housing prices never drop significantly in the Bay Area, until those teaser rates start resetting it may just hold true. I think we're going to get nailed in the 2010 or so, when a lot of those houses are underwater and can't be refinanced out of their balloon payments. There are a few ways out though, for example if there's a strong recovery in housing before then, or rock bottom interest rates and renewed interest in mortgage lending, or if the tech industry bucks the trend of the oncoming recession. Martin
My net worth is only about $250K. No home ownership. Most of my income from a stable IT job in Silicon Valley goes into investment somewhere else. I am looking to buy. Let me know when.
http://patrick.net/housing/contrib/percent_in_foreclosure.html Number of listing in Foreclosures in CA. http://www.erica.biz/2008/real-esta...losures-strikes-the-bay-area/?ref=patrick.net Nice article about the SF Bay Area http://patrick.net/housing/contrib/bankowned.html Graphic gory details. http://patrick.net/housing/contrib/discounts.html