Would you buy a house in this market?

[mommy111]

I am just wondering if you would buy a house in this market, given the talks of a double dip recession and a further decline in home values, vs rent for a year or so and wait?

[Melanie]

If I didn't have to sell one now, sure! Though of course it depends upon where you are in the country. I fear that prices may have hit bottom in our high COL area and worry we will never be able to afford here, if *this* is the bottom.

Curious what others think.

[happymomma]

If I didn't have to sell one now, sure! Though of course it depends upon where you are in the country. I fear that prices may have hit bottom in our high COL area and worry we will never be able to afford here, if *this* is the bottom.

Curious what others think.

:yeahthat: I agree with the previous post. I think that in certain parts of the country, prices may go down even more than other parts. However, prices may go down further, but if interest rates go up then at the end of the day, you may be paying about the same. So it coudl be a trade off.

[MoJo]

I'm with Melaine. . . I wouldn't hesitate to buy (because our next house is likely our last) if I didn't have to sell one first. I'm mostly afraid selling this one is never going to get easier.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Absolutely. Though, location would impact my choice. My area has held just fine this whole time with home values. Job growth is ok too. So, my market wouldn't concern me,

Beth

[BeachBum]

I did and would again. Just don't settle.

But, I got exactly what I wanted at the price I wanted to pay. It's our forever house and regardless of what the market does I'm happy.

[Mommy_Mea]

We just did. We have been sitting on the "sidelines" and watching the market for 7 years, happily renting. We finally decided it was time, especially with DS2 on the way (the rental market for 3 bedrooms is non existent here). The market here didn't see the same highs and lows, and regardless we are in this house for the long haul. If the stars align in 10 years to allow us to move up, great, if not, we are perfectly happy here.

There is never any guarantee about job security, so we just decided we couldn't worry about that, and burn that bridge if we got to it (as DH would say).

[TwoBees]

Yes, as long as I didn't have to sell a house as well. Just don't get an adjustable mortgage. Lock in a good rate, and refinance later if rates dip significantly lower.

[mytwosons]

No; I've been burned too badly to give it another go. When we bought 16 yrs ago, we paid $110k, then put in quite a bit of money finishing the basement, landscaping, etc. The prices in our area topped out in about 2004 and 2005 and we could have gotten $210k for our house. Now homes in our sub are being priced under $100k and the foreclosures and shortsales just aren't moving.

Maybe I would buy again if we moved to another part of the country?

[JMS]

I just did. Luckily the fact that I also sold is diluting my fear of further reductions in value.

[Moneypenny]

I absolutely would buy now, but I'd be sure we had plenty of money to put down so we wouldn't end up upside down if we had to sell quickly in a short time frame.

[sunshine873]

I think it completely depends on your circumstances. If you know you're going to stay in the area - then yes. Just learn a lesson from many over the past 10 years - don't buy more than you can afford.

We just moved, but it's a short term move (2 years or so.) It was painful to see so many great houses for sale for really reasonable prices & not take advantage of it. But having to turn around & sell in 2 years is a horrifying thought when there are so many houses out there for sale. So...we're renting. & we're also in the "trying to sell" boat with our old house (in a different state.) Ugh.

[JamiMac]

Yes, we absolutely would. Prices in our area are down, but not terribly so. I think they could go down again, but you never know.

[khalloc]

Definitely. I dont think prices are going to go that much lower. Really I cant imagine renting. If I could buy I would buy.

[mommy111]

Not our forever house. We would not be able to afford that much. We anticpate 3 years in this house, so the question is whether we should buy now and then sell or just rent and save for the forever house.
My concern is when we try to sell, that we may not make our money back and I am paralyzed by that fear :)

[BeachBum]

For a 3 yr stay I would not buy. You may not loose, but you aren't going to make any significant money. Best case is you break even. Too much risk for limited upside potential. I would rent without a doubt.

[Jo..]

In a heartbeat if I wouldn't have to sell mine first. What a bargain!

[brgnmom]

Yes, we've been renting for 6+ years, and we've been saving up for the downpayment.... because the housing market has bottomed out in our area (according to some real estate professionals Dh and I have been in touch w/), we'll probably make our first home purchase sooner rather than later.

[LMPC]

I would buy in a second if I could sell our house!

[crayonblue]

No. And that's why we are renting! I'm sure there are honest real estate people out there but I distinctly remember realtors (around let's say 2006) absolutely giddy about the housing increases. They insisted that prices were going to keep going up and up and up. Same realtors are now insisting that the decline has ended and now is a fantastic time to buy.

I know sooooo many people who are losing their houses. There are soooo many houses in foreclosure in the D.C. area and now I see them in the San Diego area.

My humble opinion is that prices are still going down and if I'm wrong, I'm betting they will stay down, level off and it will be a "great" time to buy for a very long time yet.

(I'm basing this on the totally overpriced DC and CA markets, not on markets that have largely been unaffected.)

[kaharris83]

I'm in the DC area and we are putting our place on the market in the next few weeks and looking for the next place to buy. We live on the Metro now so for us the demand for the place we have now is there. Works in our favor, allowing us to take advantage of the low intrest rate right now. In our case any future move would be work related and if we couldn't sell our house the company would take care of it. You can't find a nice SFH rental around here to save your life that doesn't cost almost double what you can pay for a mortgage pyayment.

[brittone2]

For a 3 yr stay I would not buy. You may not loose, but you aren't going to make any significant money. Best case is you break even. Too much risk for limited upside potential. I would rent without a doubt.
:yeahthat:

If your neighborhood is one where there would be a high turnover, maybe it could work, but I still think it could be risky.

We bought a home when DH was in grad school even though we were only going to be there for 5 years. We were in a low COL, not inflated market, and just barely broke even considering closing costs on the initial transaction.

If you factor in closing costs and then perhaps buying again in 3 years, I'd be hesitant.

We just bought earlier this year, but will likely be staying for a while.

[twowhat?]

Yes, cuz we just did:) And we are selling a home in the process. I think that it completely depends on the market. Prices are ever so slightly down in our market (for the home we are selling) but it has essentially been holding steady. The neighborhood our new home is in - prices have actually been slowly RISING, so we certainly didn't choose to buy a new home in hopes of getting a great deal - the incentive really was to lock in at a low interest rate. There's still a possibility that prices could drop at some point, and then we'd be underwater. I don't know. That's the risk. We decided that it was worth the risk to get in at a low interest rate for our forever home.

[arivecchi]

Definitely rent. I would not buy in this market unless you are planning to stay put for over 10 years at the very least.

[niccig]

Definitely rent. I would not buy in this market unless you are planning to stay put for over 10 years at the very least.

:yeahthat: We bought end 2004 and best advice we got was to make sure we could stay in the house for 10 yrs if market crashed. Our friend went through crash in the 90's and lost a lot of money. We've been her 7 years and can't see us moving for another 10 years.

[mackmama]

I would buy if we didn't need to sell first and if we'd stay in the next house for a long time. There are some great deals out there right now imo.

[pinay]

I think the OP's plan to stay for only 3 years would make me hesitate to buy now if I was in her shoes- it seems like the market is recovering VERY slowly in many parts of the country and 3 years may not be long enough to recoup any potential losses or even make much $$ if housing prices in the area actually did go up.

[mackmama]

Oops I missed the 3 years piece. I would not buy if I was going to stay for only 3 years. I think the market's just too volatile and that you could lose money when you sell in 3 years. I would rent in this scenario.

[hellokitty]

Definitely rent. I would not buy in this market unless you are planning to stay put for over 10 years at the very least.

ITA, I almost wished we were renters, b/c the houses here are such a good price now (and still dropping lower, economy is really baaaad here compared to the rest of the country and we are in a low COL area), for what we paid for our current house, we could have gotten at least another 500 extra sq ft or more property. If we didn't have to sell our house, we would upgrade our house. Alas, there are like 8 houses in our neighborhood that have been sitting on the market for YEARS (only one that sold was the foreclosure), and while our house has a lot of updates that other houses don't have, I still think we'd lose a lot selling. We're just buckling down and doing our second big round of renovations and home projects and are assuming that we'll be stuck in this house either until my DH loses or changes his job or the older boys go off to college and we can get a smaller home with just DS3 at home.

[AnnieW625]

I think there are plusses and minusses to both options. We pay a mortgage on our home, but if we had to sell now to move to another area we'd most likely rent for a year or two to build up a bigger down payment because that was a mistake we made the first time; we had a not so big down payment.

As someone who bought in May, 2005 (about 18 months before it really peaked in our area) I really wish I would've waiting longer to buy. We'd be able to buy a house in turn key condition for about $100,000 to maybe even $120,000 less than what we paid for our place:gloomy::crying: . We did know that when we bought our place we'd stay in our area for at least 5 yrs. because we wanted DH to get vested in his retirement so we thought we would be safe, but we aren't. It makes me sad, but we deal. So in short yes I would buy right now because it's hard for me to see that prices will go lower and I hate to say if they do financing will become more a b!tch than it already is.

[BabyH]

Sigh. Our house is going on the market tomorrow. We have been actively looking, but we definitely, definitely do not want to put an offer on anything until we get solid offers (fingers crossed) on our house.

As we price it, we will be taking a loss (not terribly significant, but still) but the market here is stuck. And people are not looking for houses like mine anymore...

In my heart I know now is the time, before we would have to take even more of a loss, or worse, never find a solution (get out of here and into our forever home). Everyone and their mother has a comment about how now is a horrible time to sell, and yeah, maybe it is - but when will be an "awesome time to sell?" Today especially, I feel like it's me against the world with putting the house up......

Another sigh.

And my answer - yes, I would buy. I have seen amazing houses for affordable prices around here. Everything we are looking for.... hopefully someone out there is looking for everything my house has to offer...

[Reina]

From a strictly economic standpoint, ABSOLUTELY NO! I will not buy another house. No, I will not. (this is not a criticism or commentary on anybody else's home buying. It's about my personal experiences.)

We bought a condo in 2005 in Northern New Jersey, About 20 miles from NYC. Back then I worked in NJ, DH worked in NYC. Now we both work in NYC.

It was the top of the market. We just thought "yay, :yay: awesome, we are home owners." We put 20% down with a fixed 30 yr plan.
The taxes in 2005 were $5000 for this condo. The maintenance fee was $4800 per year. We put in about $50,000 in repairs and upgrades. (we do not own the property, yard, or the outer walls or the roof.)
As of this year, the maintenance fee is $6000 a year, the taxes are $8000... The value of the condo is down 38% of the original purchase price because the developer built another set of condos 2 streets down from us. Last week 12 of these brand new condos went on sale at 38% less than my purchasing price in 2005. (no comment)

The bank foreclosed on my next door neighbor's condo last year. 3 months after she moved out, the bank rented her condo. Very cheap. Very very very cheap. (did I mention VERY CHEAP?) So we have a new flavor of neighbors now. There are 7 adults and 3 children living in the newly rented condo on the other side of my walls. It's a sight to see... HOA can't do a thing about it. HOA keeps sending notices to the new neighbors to not hang their underwear on the patio and not change the oil in their car in the shared parking lot, not let their 2 cats roam free and pee on everyone's doorstep, not to let their kids toss golf balls at the neighbors' cars. But apparently these people are deaf, blind, and illiterate and somehow untouchable when it comes to obeying simple rules... (Our neighbor who lost the condo to foreclosure was a smoker. That was the only wrong thing about her. Otherwise she was a great neighbor. I should have NEVER complained about her smoking in the bitching post here. Karma just came and bit me in the ass and took a giant chunk out... Thanks karma.)

On top of it, we now live in New York City half the month (renting). :bouncy:

So, No.. I will never buy another house, property or anything that has walls ever again.

[mommy111]

Reina, that is a horrible situation :( I feel for you. That would be my nightmare situation since we're looking at a townhouse/condo as well. It just seems like in my neck of the woods, people have not come to reality in terms of what the market value of their homes is. They're hoping to sell at a profit from where they bought at the top of the real estate bubble. Combine that with high rental prices and they over-value their homes :( I KNOW the houses we've looked at will not sell for what I buy it for 3 years from now so my calculation involves the loss that I know I will have to sell the house for and then figuring if its still better to buy than rent. And it doesn't help that I hate hate hate our rental right now and its way overpriced for what it is but it is such a convenient location. Sigh.

[crayonblue]

Reina, that is a horrible situation :( I feel for you. That would be my nightmare situation since we're looking at a townhouse/condo as well. It just seems like in my neck of the woods, people have not come to reality in terms of what the market value of their homes is. They're hoping to sell at a profit from where they bought at the top of the real estate bubble. Combine that with high rental prices and they over-value their homes :( I KNOW the houses we've looked at will not sell for what I buy it for 3 years from now so my calculation involves the loss that I know I will have to sell the house for and then figuring if its still better to buy than rent. And it doesn't help that I hate hate hate our rental right now and its way overpriced for what it is but it is such a convenient location. Sigh.

Any chance you can find another rental that you like better? That's the beauty of renting! You aren't stuck.

Our country is soooooo focused on buying. It's the American dream but it's more like a nightmare for many people right now who are upside down on their mortgages or losing their houses.

I get the frustration. We are renting. I wish we could tear out all the carpet and paint the whole house. I suppose we could but we don't really want to put money into something we don't own. On the flip side, that's a plus. We've owned a few places and found houses can be money pits...even newer houses. Cause there is always something that you want to change!

[crayonblue]

From a strictly economic standpoint, ABSOLUTELY NO! I will not buy another house. No, I will not. (this is not a criticism or commentary on anybody else's home buying. It's about my personal experiences.)

We bought a condo in 2005 in Northern New Jersey, About 20 miles from NYC. Back then I worked in NJ, DH worked in NYC. Now we both work in NYC.

It was the top of the market. We just thought "yay, :yay: awesome, we are home owners." We put 20% down with a fixed 30 yr plan.
The taxes in 2005 were $5000 for this condo. The maintenance fee was $4800 per year. We put in about $50,000 in repairs and upgrades. (we do not own the property, yard, or the outer walls or the roof.)
As of this year, the maintenance fee is $6000 a year, the taxes are $8000... The value of the condo is down 38% of the original purchase price because the developer built another set of condos 2 streets down from us. Last week 12 of these brand new condos went on sale at 38% less than my purchasing price in 2005. (no comment)

The bank foreclosed on my next door neighbor's condo last year. 3 months after she moved out, the bank rented her condo. Very cheap. Very very very cheap. (did I mention VERY CHEAP?) So we have a new flavor of neighbors now. There are 7 adults and 3 children living in the newly rented condo on the other side of my walls. It's a sight to see... HOA can't do a thing about it. HOA keeps sending notices to the new neighbors to not hang their underwear on the patio and not change the oil in their car in the shared parking lot, not let their 2 cats roam free and pee on everyone's doorstep, not to let their kids toss golf balls at the neighbors' cars. But apparently these people are deaf, blind, and illiterate and somehow untouchable when it comes to obeying simple rules... (Our neighbor who lost the condo to foreclosure was a smoker. That was the only wrong thing about her. Otherwise she was a great neighbor. I should have NEVER complained about her smoking in the bitching post here. Karma just came and bit me in the ass and took a giant chunk out... Thanks karma.)

On top of it, we now live in New York City half the month (renting). :bouncy:

So, No.. I will never buy another house, property or anything that has walls ever again.

Reina- that just stinks!!!!!!!!!!!!

[essnce629]

We just did 8 months ago and would do it again. We didn't have another house to sell though and were able to hold out for 6 whole months until the price of the house dropped to exactly what we wanted to pay (down $120K from their original listing price)! We plan on staying in this house for a long time though and it's plenty big enough for the four of us and would even fit a 3rd child just fine if that ever happened.

ETA: There's no way we would even think of buying if we only planned on staying for 3 years. We just spent three years in VA for DBF to go to law school and the thought of buying never even crossed our mind. Way too risky and a pain in that situation.

[arivecchi]

Our country is soooooo focused on buying. It's the American dream but it's more like a nightmare for many people right now who are upside down on their mortgages or losing their houses. Yes, sometimes, it's not smart to buy. I think that is the lesson everyone is slowly coming to grips with. I certainly wish I had not bought our last house. It was a horrible decision and I will not buy again until we are 1000% sure that that is where we will be staying for a very long time.

[janine]

Sure why not? If you have the need (family expanding), thinking long term, have the funds then it's a great time to buy. Rates are low, prices low, lots of supply.

[Reina]

Our country is soooooo focused on buying. It's the American dream but it's more like a nightmare for many people right now who are upside down on their mortgages or losing their houses.


We are living that nightmare! Very well put Crayonblue!
Our situation is: we did not over extend to purchase, we bought what we could afford, and made the improvements with cash. (as well as the cash down payment). We make our payments on time, yet the place is worth a lot less than what we owe. We do not qualify for any federal help because of how much we make and the fact that we can pay our mortgage. The bank offered to lower our mortgage rate, but we need to pay a whole bunch more cash to the bank in order to catch up (or actually down) to the current value in order to qualify. There is no way I'm putting another nickel into this condo.
It's so f&%@ed up!
We got caught up in the hype back then. All our friends were buying, so we just jumped in. I regret every moment of that decision now. I make good money, but there is a financial black cloud over my head because of the dumb financial decisions I have made with this house...

[HIU8]

If I knew I could get a little more than I paid for my house then yes I would. However, NOTHING is selling in my neighborhood at this time. There are several houses for sale just sitting there. Nothing has been updated in any of them (which I'm sure is part of the reason). Our issue is that everything we see that we would want (5 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms and a 2 car garage) is about $200,000 more than we paid for our current house and on one income it's just not going to work. I cannot wait to be done with my certification and finally get back into the job market looking for work where there actually are jobs. Our goal is to save up enough over the next 7-10 years for a nice downpayment on a bigger house.

[Melanie]

Our country is soooooo focused on buying. It's the American dream but it's more like a nightmare for many people right now who are upside down on their mortgages or losing their houses.


Yep, we are paying hundreds a month (difference between rent we receive and mortgage we pay) basically as 'insurance' to keep our credit rating good should we ever need to use it for something. The mortgage company doesn't want to talk to us as long as we are paying (and I just wanted to refinance! I wasn't even asking for a forgiving of debt amount), the government programs aren't for us. It just stinks. If we didn't have to move for Dh to get a job, we would have just stayed there and rode out the values until they regain. I should have tried to talk to the mortgage company when he wasn't employed, but I just didn't get my act together in time.