ErnestSw

I want to sell my GT about as much as I'd like to have hemorrhoid surgery, but that doesn't change things.

Candleman

What is DFW? Anyone? Anyone?

I don't understand why all of you are sabotaging yourselves moving from one cold state to the next. Don't you know there is a better place for all of us here in Florida and Texas? The only thing wrong with Florida is it doesn't have 20,000 miles of good long country roads like Texas. If you choose Florida like me I think it is more necessary to supercharge so that you can get to 170 before you either run out of road or approach the usual speed-trap locations on I 75. Honestly it's not THAT bad. Once you explore the roads a bit you will inevitably find a nice stretch of road that is seldom monitored and you can have your fun without too much worry of spending the night in jail.

Bill51sdr

DFW = Dallas/Fort Worth, home of Yoko Romo

AO

Ernie... you didn't get caught up in that sub-prime mess did you? That's about the only 'real' reason I could think of for selling your car.

ErnestSw

Andrew,
Only indirectly. New Hampshire is an expensive place to live and the sub-prime mess and looming recession has killed the real estate market. My income is, to say the least, "limited".

IcemanG17

Ya the "market" is SHOT...... A relative of mine made huge $$$$$ in subprime lending.....was living the good life for a couple years.....then it all came crashing down....now he makes ZERO.......thats gotta hurt....

On that note.... "If" I can make some $$$$$ from my real estate license I might be able to afford another 928.....well if the "boss" lets me anyway :>(

928ntslow

Now (meaning NOW through next year depending on where you reside) is the best time in the last 30 years to buy real estate. Many millionaires will be made by the investments they make today. I urge ALL of you to do what ever it takes to acquire properties. It's a GREAT time to invest in Real Estate!

dr bob

I'll second Keith's assessment. In the most recent real estate depression here (early 1990's) properties were 30-40% off their previous peaks. Five years to "recover", the equivalent of 12%+ ROI, and pretty much using the banks' monies for a lot less. Rental income never faltered during that time, and in fact was very good as folks fell from home ownership they shouldn't have tried to 'afford' anyway. This may sound cold-hearted but it's real.

The current predictions look at a year to maybe two before the RE market turns back up to current levels, much faster turnaround than last time. These times with be tough on folks with sub-prime or flex mortgage contracts and balloons in interest rates looming. Again as before, many speculated that the market would continue to boom at an unsustainable rate, and overexposed themselves.


Expect to see a glut of "interesting" cars and other assets hit the market as folks try to recover cash from their assets, either to save theircurrent home investment or to get into distressed and fire-sale properties now. Cash is and will be king, coupled with a great track record at your bank.


This is a --great-- time to invest in property.

largecar379

not yet-----maybe late this summer or next fall.

--Russ

IcemanG17

The way I see it.....Real Estate is a long term investment....if the long term prospect for a given area are solid....then its a good bet....for example the county where I live in Norcal is expected to triple in the next 40 years.......the people have to live somewhere...might as well live in a rental I OWN.....

Lets say you buy a rental, rent it for about the mortgage......over time the rent will increase, but the mortgage stays the same.....so in 30 years some renters will have paid your mortgage and put a few bucks in your pocket along the way...with a couple headaches too I'm sure.....then you own a property worth around triple what you paid 30 years ago (probably more)....that someone ELSE paid the mortgage on all that time......... Not even counting the tax write offs that go with it.....

The market around here needs to drop just a shade more to really hit that break even point in mortgage vs rent.....once it does.....I'm in!!

example...my parents 1st house in 1970...custom built 1800 sqft in a brand new neighborhood on the north boundary of town(now centrally located)...paid $29k.......at the height of the market in 2005....it was close to $400k.....even today its around $250-300k....nice 1000% gain!

marton

You still have quite high mortgage rates in US, like 5% for 10years?
Here you can lock in a 10 year mortgage from a reputable lender like Swiss Post Office for 4.15% fixed rate, which is higher than was available for the last 3/4 years.

Marton

dr bob

Marton--

We have to have interest high enough to at least cover the inflation! That's part of the problem here. Money was too cheap, so lots of folks who couldn't afford houses were able to buy them (barely). As interest rates started to come back to a larger fraction of the true inflation rate, what was 'barely' affordable is now backbreaking. Folks who were into marginal mortgages depended on being able to sell at a much higher inflation-driven price, but with all of their friends trying to sell at the same time for the same reason, the market is both slow and depressed in value.

Meanwhile, it will be tough to rent out a recently-purchased home for the equivalent of the payments. You need to have at least three properties to play at this as a real business, at least in the eyes of the taxing authorities. Appreciation in values will be back soon, just not next week. Once the market turns up again even a little, there will be a pile-on effect and we'll be off for another roller-coaster ride.


I sold one property two years ago, with enough gain to more than equal the purchase costs of all the single-family properties I've purchased in the last 25 years. That's how out-of-control home prices became. Kinda like the tech stock insanity, where you can easily figure out that there just isn't enough M2 available to support the paper valuations of all these homes (or all those companies...). Reality is knocking now, and maybe for another year. Remember that age-old business saying -- buy low, sell high? It's "buy low" time.

marton

Dr Bob

Feel sorry for "Folks who were into marginal mortgages depended..." they are suffering.

There is also a problem that folks like us who are more cautious and look deeper into offers & contracts are hit from the other side. The highly reputable financial institutions that we trusted with our cash are also suffering. One of the largest Swiss banks UBS lost billions; newspaper rumour has it that they are paying certain Middle East sovereign funds around 9% interest for the billions borrowed to fill the hole. Meanwhile old & reputable customers like me get a princely 0.85% on our "high rate" savings accounts. Wonder how to move my money into a reputable sovereign fund.....

myself, I do not think the bottom "buy low" time is here yet for properties but maybe "low enough" time is here?

I think Mark Twain was correct; many years ago he wrote "buy land, they ain't making it anymore".

Incidentally do not ever dig too deep into how Governments calculate the inflation rate; I did once & found the process had more holes than our Swiss cheeses.
The trends reported are not too bad as a guide but the absolute values.....

Marton

Marton