The real estate market is truly depressing.

[TwoBees]

It pains me when I think about how much money we have put into our house, versus the price that other homes in our neighborhood are listed/selling for. Oy. The value of our home is probably 50k greater than the listing price of some of these other homes. Yes, I know we have overimproved for the neighborhood (we knew that when we began), but we are making the home better for US, since we won't be going anywhere for a while (unfortunately, that's another BP entirely). But, OUCH!

[wellyes]

I have a friend who bought a house, flipped it for $100,000 profit after a few months, quit his job and spent two years travelling. Obviously this was during the boom. It's all about timing. NOT FAIR.

[TwoBees]

I have a friend who bought a house, flipped it for $100,000 profit after a few months, quit his job and spent two years travelling. Obviously this was during the boom. It's all about timing. NOT FAIR.

Fortunately, we bought close to (but not at) the bottom of the market. But man, things are just NOT moving.

[crl]

This is so regional. We are under contract and things are HOT where we bought. Inventory is really, really low and there are bidding wars on every decent property.

We made money on our first place, but lost on our second. We are hoping this is it, at least for a very long time (planning a bathroom remodel and I'm looking at grab bars and the like if that tells you how long we hope to stay).

Catherine

[infocrazy]

This is so regional. We are under contract and things are HOT where we bought. Inventory is really, really low and there are bidding wars on every decent property.

Surprisingly, this is true near us in MI (for our suburb at least). I know quite a few families that have had difficulty getting a home and required making offers multiple times etc. However, they are still selling significantly less than they did before the crash. We aren't underwater, but we can't refi (without PMI) because we no longer have 20% down like we did 7+ years ago, even after paying on the principal for 7 years. Plus, in that time, we have upgraded a bathroom, painted most of the house, new carpet, new windows, siding, new front door, etc...but none of that is reflected in the price and it doesn't even outprice us in the neighborhood, just keeps us current.

Would we be able to sell quickly, most likely, but at a considerable loss.

[hellokitty]

I feel your pain. We bought our current house at then peak of the boom and we have essentially updated out house past what is typical of a house in our price range. We wouldn't even be able to sell our house for what we bought it for without the improvements. I feel like we are going to be stuck here forever...

[Tenasparkl]

This is so regional. We are under contract and things are HOT where we bought. Inventory is really, really low and there are bidding wars on every decent property.

We just bought over the summer and that was the case here too. We really wanted a certain school district (and really one elementary school in particular) and we had to jump on our house to get it.

[mommylamb]

We bought at close to the top of the market too, and it sucks. It has come back a fair bit in our area, but not to where it was when we bought. I really would like to move at some point too because we're in a townhouse and I'd like a single family, but not sure if that will happen for us. If it doesn't that's ok because we like our neighborhood and our house has enough interior space for us. But it's not what I want.

Of course, we also sold our old condo at the height of the market and made a lot of money on it, so we're still ahead of the game in the real estate market if you look at how much our house is down and compare it to how much we made on the condo.

[gatorsmom]

Well, at least you know you aren't alone. But yeah, the markets really sucks.


In our last house, which we still own unfortunately, we bought t the top of the market, and when the twins were born we decided to build over the garage to make room for them. We spent $75k on that. This is in addition to the kitchen and Master bath remodel we did right after we moved in. We never thought we'd leave that neighborhood. Never say never.

We nearly sold it this summer for $50k less than what we originally paid. The sale fell through and now we have a 2yr lease signed on it, THANK GOD.

Op, I soooo understand!

[niccig]

I totally agree. We didn't buy at peak, but close enough that our house value has dropped a lot. We got it appraised for refinance and it was sickening how much it's valued at. We don't have 20%, but were able to secure a 90-10 loan so don't need PMI and can refi to nearly 2 points lower. It's going to save us a lot each month. But there is no way we're moving anytime soon.

I try to not compare to friends that bought low, sold high, made $500k, bought a bigger place only using part of $500K as downpayment and the rest is now being used to remodel their kitchen/dining room/family room. We've been here nearly 8 yrs and I don't think we'll ever be able to do the kitchen.

Our timing sucks.

[arivecchi]

The market in my area is very segmented. Nice updated houses in the mid-range area fly off the market. Older ones which need a lot of work - even if priced really well - sit for a long time. The upper end of the market is still a bloodbath. I've seen several houses listed at nearly half of what the existing owners paid at the height of the market - and to add insult to injury - they still have the sky-high taxes.

In this day and age, one truly has to buy for the long term, so OP, I think you will be ok if you are in there for the long haul. Just enjoy your home.

[AnnieW625]

I totally agree. We didn't buy at peak, but close enough that our house value has dropped a lot. We got it appraised for refinance and it was sickening how much it's valued at. We don't have 20%, but were able to secure a 90-10 loan so don't need PMI and can refi to nearly 2 points lower. It's going to save us a lot each month. But there is no way we're moving anytime soon.

I try to not compare to friends that bought low, sold high, made $500k, bought a bigger place only using part of $500K as downpayment and the rest is now being used to remodel their kitchen/dining room/family room. We've been here nearly 8 yrs and I don't think we'll ever be able to do the kitchen.

Our timing sucks.

This is almost our story to the T except we haven't tried to refinance. We are in the LA burbs as well. I know of three or families who moved from the LBC to the ritzy well manicured lawns and large houses with pools and good schools (Rossmoor section of Seal Beach/Los Alamitos), and one family still took a loss on their LBC house, but still redid the floors of the new place, and added a pool. I don't get it. I live in a 1200 sq. ft. house with 1 bathroom. I want out, but to no avail. because I don't have 100k extra money sitting around. That family is the same age as myself and DH. The only satisfaction I get about having my place vs. theirs is that the freeway is almost in their backyards.

[flashy09]

I feel your pain. I bought this house and remodeled the kitched, replaced the windows, and got a new roof. House across the street that is bigger and has SIX bedrooms just sold as a foreclosure for 100k less than mine....with the sales ads screaming new windows! New roof! Granite kitchen! Awesome, I could have bought that house for so much less and not put a ton into it. Not only that, but the house comparison prices are going to look terrible when I go to sell this house.

[ZeeBaby]

We are also in the we will never move category. I was really distraught last year when I realized we would not be able to sell and get into one of better school districts. This year I am over all of that and formulating a plan for both girls which involved private school and will allow us a breather for the next few years in the hopes that the market gets better in that time. Thankfully we have plenty of space in our home and we really like our neighborhood.

[niccig]

This is almost our story to the T except we haven't tried to refinance. We are in the LA burbs as well. I know of three or families who moved from the LBC to the ritzy well manicured lawns and large houses with pools and good schools (Rossmoor section of Seal Beach/Los Alamitos), and one family still took a loss on their LBC house, but still redid the floors of the new place, and added a pool. I don't get it. I live in a 1200 sq. ft. house with 1 bathroom. I want out, but to no avail. because I don't have 100k extra money sitting around. That family is the same age as myself and DH. The only satisfaction I get about having my place vs. theirs is that the freeway is almost in their backyards.

We have friends like this too. Turns out the parents either gave them the downpayment for their house or loaned it to them and they're paying back over time. One family bought over 15 years ago, so even with drop in prices their house is worth more than when they bought, so they were able to get home equity loan to remodel.. Our issue is our timing sucked and we didn't have family to gift us the downpayment

[Snow mom]

If you aren't planning on selling in the next several years I just wouldn't worry about it. It's kind of like the stock market--they always say you shouldn't follow your gains and losses unless you are looking to liquify soon.

[mom3boys]

So sorry, feel your pain. Our house is probably one of the nicest and most updated on our block, and we spent a huge amount of time and money on it, and sold it for much less then we thought when we bought it. Actually, it is not sold, it is under contract. We are HOPING the appraisal comes in at what we sold it for, and at the same time feeling the buyers got the bargain of the century. We remind ourselves that our improvements did help sell it, and that even with all the money we put into it, we did gain some equity and we would have spent more renting for 8 years. (and, we made money on our first house--we shouldn't have expected that would happen again).

It might sell for higher in a year, we got sick of waiting. We are hoping the next house is our house until our last kid leaves for college, so a little less worried about it as an investment. No way to predict how things will be so far in the future (That said, the property taxes on the new house are based on a value nearly $240K HIGHER than what we bought it for--the last assessment was right before the crash. We are filing a grievance).