The sucky housing market (a little long)

[ritacheetah]

Just a bitch, but I'm so mad that this is the one time in our lives we'll probably sell a house and we had to do it during the worst housing market ever. I've been wanting to move back to our home town for a few years now for a lot of reasons, mainly because we have kids now and we really miss having family around. Also miss the seasons and it's too expensive in Florida now.

It just makes me so angry that we are so careful with money and we don't owe much on our mortgage and always pay our bills on time and our plans were totally derailled by a million other people who bought more house than they could afford, builders who went crazy building expensive houses and condos that no one could afford, and the banks that let them do it. Now we are stuck here in the miserable heat and mosquitos and no one is even looking at our house because there are a million foreclosures for sale. I hardly have any freinds to talk to because all the ones I made in 15 years here all moved away because that's what people do in Florida, they move constantly. I have given up making new ones. I just want to get out of here! I want my kids to be around their family because they won't move away and they'll always be there.

We want to buy a business back home and found the perfect one but DH is too afraid to move before the house sells so we'll probably lose it.

And my 15 month old broke my backspace key off my laptop and I'm a crappy typist so I have that to deal with. ha ha.

I know I should be thankful at least I won't lose money on my house and had we sold two years ago we would have overpaid for a house back home. And at least we are all healthy. But I just really needed to bitch a little and I'm probably PMS'sing as well and it feels good to get it out in writing.

Thanks for listening....

[ellies mom]

I'm sorry. It really sucks. My parents are in a similar situation. They live in Sacramento and are getting ready to retire and move up to Washington. But their houses value has plummeted. They still aren't in "losing money" stage but they won't have enough money to do the things they need to do.

[ritacheetah]

I think what bothers me the most is that DH keeps changing his mind (I mean DAILY if not more often) about moving before the house sells. One minutes he's like "I've let it go, lets get out of here" and we start planning the move and then two hours later he's afraid to do it. And this has happened literally about 15 times, if not more.

So I get all excited about moving and then I keep getting let down because noone is even looking at the house so I have no idea if and when we would move if we wait until the house sells. And I mean, big disappointed. I feel like someone kicked me in the stomach. And he does it over and over again. And he says he feels bad about putting me through it, as if that helps because he'll just do it again and again.

I'm frustrated because I decided to be a SAHM so since I don't have an income I feel like I have no say in the decision. Ugh. I don't know how much longer I can stand it. It just makes an already stressful situation (trying to sell the house) that much more stressful. Eventually he's got to say yes or no to buying the business and the seller won't wait forever but DH sure has a way of putting off a decision for months while making everyone wait for him. WTF???

[kozachka]

Just because you don't have an income now does not mean that you should not have a say in financial decisions.

Hugs on the real estate market situation.

[Melbel]

I am serving as the PR for the estate of my grandmother, and have been unsuccessfully trying to sell her home located in West Palm Beach, FL for well over a year. Notwithstanding aggressive pricing, we have only had a few showings and no offers. The situation is all the more bleak based upon the never ending flood of foreclosures and banks willing to accept .30 on the dollar. The forecasts I have heard still show that it will continue to get worse before it gets better. Friends in other parts of the state are facing similar scenarios. Unless you can afford to either sell the house for a rock bottom price or pay for two houses for a year or more, I would hold off on moving. It sounds like you are desperate to move, but unfortunately you cannot control the market. Your DH seems to be torn between making you happy by moving right away, and the probability that the house will not sell right away. You certainly deserve a voice in the decision. I am sure your DH feels additional pressure as the sole income earner these days. Perhaps you could sit down with your DH to discuss best/worst case scenarios and determine whether or not it is feasible to carry two houses and/or purchase a new business.

[kijip]

Could you swing two housing payments for very long? If not, I'd stay. And I say this as someone that really hates the weather in Florida. I could not live there, not for a million dollars, I get crabby enough when it gets up to 85-90 in Seattle. :)

:hug: Here's to some real estate luck soon.

[khm]

The market does stink, and I'm sorry!

You do have to look at both sides of the coin though. If you can stand to sell very low in FL, will you be able to BUY very low where you are going?

To a much, much lesser degree we went through this when we moved last year. The market was just starting to weaken, and the writing was on the wall. My husband couldn't STAND that we were going to "lose" X amount that he was sure the house was lowered due to the market situation vs. 1 year prior.

But, we also were able to turn around and buy in a way that made up for that "loss". The market was also weakening where we were going, so I had to force him to see what we were GAINING here because of the weak market. It was hard though. He was just fixated on the fact that we "could have sold for more last year". Yeah, but the house we bought would have also sold for more, making things a wash in our overall situation!

I know Florida is a unique mess though. :( Is there any possibility you can rent it out? I know it isn't ideal, but some neighbors of ours are renting out their last house in another state and are happy with the way it's working out.

[ritacheetah]

That's the thing, we have a place to stay up there that is practically free until we sell the house here so we wouldn't have two mortgages (I would never expect him to carry that burden). Everything is really close up there and would be way better than the 2 hours a day 6 days a week he commutes now. We can use the equity in our house (we don't owe very much) to buy the business plus we have several friends/family members who want to invest. He is really freaked out about using credit for anything. I'm like "that's what credit is for - using it when you need it!" He also is worried about leaving the house behind with no one to watch it.

My DH has the same "we could have gotten this much 2 years ago" thing as well and I did remind him that we would have paid way too much for a house where we are moving if we had done it back then. And probably way too much for a business, too. He is really attached to this house because he did a lot of work on it. He talks about is "blood sweat and tears." I never thought I'd pull the childbirth card but I have to say "talk about blood sweat and tears, I gave birth to two kids and we still have a lot of work to do on them. Which is more important?"

I think it's the indecisiveness that really bugs me. I mean, if you don't want to move tell me you don't want to move. I'll deal with it, even though I hate it here, I can at least come up with some kind of goal, get a job or whatever to at least distract me. That's how I made it for the last 15 years. Just make up your friggin' mind!

I know there is a lot of pressure on him being the sole earner but I'd feel much better getting a job, even part time, if we had family around to help take care of the kids so I don't have strangers watching them 10 hours a day (I know some of you have to or want to - it's just not for me). I can't do it while we are here and he works ALL THE TIME (because I know he won't work any LESS if I get a job). Then I have the same burden of watching the kids AND working full time. I just can't do it.

Thanks for all your input. I'm sure it will work out if one of us can make up our minds...

[Staraglimmer]

I feel your pain. We are living in PA. As soon as my husband is finished whith school, we ironically want to move to Florida. But we'll never sell our house. It is no fun having a infant and no family. I know that people do it, I'm sure you know how I feel. But I hope that you sell your house!! I really do. Good luck!