Housing market blues (Ok, rant)

[golightly1118]

First off, I know DH and I are lucky. We live in an area where home properties have held on decently (as in, we may actually get the price paid when we go to sell and won't lose tens of thousands), our only real debt is our mortgage, and we've been able to live on just his income. However, I hate that it feels like we're being punished for having made a responsible choice when we bought our home by not buying more than we could afford. We bought our townhome eight years ago well before the bubble burst. At the time, put together we made less money than he makes now, so we decided to not buy a McMansion (which we were approved for) and to buy a sensible townhome with the idea of hopefully relocating back home or moving when were ready/needed the extra space. Well, we now have DD and would love to have another child within a year and a half-two years, but feel trapped by the market. Homes in our neighborhood sit for ages, and it isn't because we live in a bad area-we bought in an area close to parks, public transit, easy to get to major highways and in a great school system. We followed all the rules and feel like we're stuck. And it sucks. And maybe this is a petty and whiny bitch, but I feel like we deserve to be able to move up the property ladder now and it ain't happening :(

[niccig]

We followed all the rules and feel like we're stuck. And it sucks. And maybe this is a petty and whiny bitch, but I feel like we deserve to be able to move up the property ladder now and it ain't happening :(

I understand. We're in the same spot. We bought near the top of the market, thankfully not at the top, but still high enough that we've lost a lot of equity. We're not underwater, but after selling costs we wouldn't walk away with 20% down for the next house.

By now, we thought we would have either moved on to next house, or have done some work to current house..neither of those are in the cards. We're having to deal with downsizing of our housing expectations...and yes it's frustrating and annoying...

[sste]

It is frustrating! We bought at around the same time as you and sold for our buying price plus a few thousand dollars. But, like you, we count ourselves lucky as I know many people with six figure property losses.

We anticipated this and spent a year aggressively saving - - we basically direct deposited most of one earner's paycheck for a year. We were able to save for a new down payment this way. You may want to try direct deposit or someone in the family taking on extra work for a while, etc.

It does suck. But, stay focused on all the money you will save when you do buy that more expensive house!

[WatchingThemGrow]

:hug: We're in the same situation - kinda stuck here because people are not putting their homes ON the market. Sure, some are, but not the ones we can afford to move to. Can you make it work with another DC in the place you're in now, even though it isn't ideal? We're doing that and just holding out hope that the right thing will come along at the right time.

[wellyes]

Us too.

Just remember that it's not just that you LOST something - the bigger house. You also GAINED something - eight years of increased cash flow that would have gone to McMansion payments. You can put that money towards experiences (vacations, camps) and financial security (retirement and college funds) that will enrich your family's life immeasurably, much more so than living in a big house.

[golightly1118]

Glad to know I'm not the only one who feels this way! And due to having had a lower house payment, we were able to do things that our friends who overbought weren't able to (took two trips to Europe before DD, for example). Unfortunately there really isn't any way to make it work with a second child in our current home-we'd have to give up the office/man cave and I know DH isn't down with that, plus there just isn't room for two kids and all their stuff-we're maxed out on storage space as it is. I guess it's just frustrating because we feel like we made the right choice at the time, and now that we need more space it just isn't happening. It also doesn't help that our family back home loves to point out how much lower COL/home prices are down there, but that's another rant altogether ;)

[Melanie]

I hear you. And I'm sorry.

We are actually renting b/c there's just no market to sell our house but we needed to move. It's a bummer.

[mctlaw]

Misery loves company. Just know you are not alone. I posted my own bitch recently about the same issue.

[sariana]

Yep, it sucks. We put down 20%, bought a house we could afford, live in a really nice neighborhood with good amenities and great schools, and we still most likely are underwater.

Tens of thousands? Try hundreds of thousands. That's right, we lost almost $300,000 on our house. Right now we estimate that we are down about $200,000. But prices are expected to drop again. And we can't even take advantage of the lower rates to refiance because we have negative equity. (We actually could afford to eat the difference to get a lower rate, but DH refuses to sink more money into this house.)

The worst part? My in-laws were our real estate agents, and they pushed us into buying so we wouldn't miss out. DH knew prices were going to continue to go down, but he trusted his parents. Now it is a sore spot between them.

Sorry, this turned into my own BP.

[Melanie]

Yep, it sucks. We put down 20%, bought a house we could afford, live in a really nice neighborhood with good amenities and great schools, and we still most likely are underwater.

Tens of thousands? Try hundreds of thousands. That's right, we lost almost $300,000 on our house. Right now we estimate that we are down about $200,000. But prices are expected to drop again. And we can't even take advantage of the lower rates to refiance because we have negative equity.

I hear you! I've spent hours on the phones with our mortgage company and various gov't agencies. Apparently if you pay your mortgage and have negative equity - there is no hope for you (unless you have a freddie or fannie loan - and we all know it's not like you can CHOOSE your mortgage investor!).

It is SO frustrating.

[MrsMcGwire]

That's not petty and whiny at all! I hear all too often how people are stuck when they bought a "starter" home and planned on a forever home down the road. I'm in the Cleveland area and some people here are buying new homes, moving in to them and letting their house that didn't/wouldn't sell just go into foreclosure. It's just awful!