2011 Update: The housing crash has affected us. We closed on our town home in the Fall of 2007 and as you guys know, that was about the peak of the bubble. We purchased our home for $205,000 and now (Summer of 2011) our home is valued at $195,000.
This has affected us because we don’t feel like we can sell our home and swallow the $10,000 hit, plus realtor fees. Even though we would probably make the money back on the purchase of a new home, there are no guarantees. For now, we’ve just got a big unrealized lost on our hands.
We plan to make lemonade out of these lemons though. We are going to become landlords and turn this place into an investment. Luckily our neighborhood has solid rent value. Also, we were able to refinance our mortgage and bring our payment down by $150. Now we can “cash flow” this place as a rental.
But before we do that, we need to save up for a down payment on a new home. Wish us luck.
Original Post: In another “real-estate bubble” article from the WSJ Online that Yahoo Finance (one of my favorite sites) just posted, entitled, “Realtors Forecast Falling Home Prices“, Realtors forecast this:
“… prices for previously occupied homes will slip 0.7% this year from the 2006 level.”
The article goes on to say:
“Prices won’t fall throughout the country, of course.” “…they have continued to rise in some cities, including Houston, Portland, Seattle and New York, where job growth has been relatively strong and supplies of unsold homes generally lean.”
That second quote is the one I’m always happy to see in these articles. We’re buying a home this year. In fact, our offer for a three-bedroom town home was accepted last December.
We’re just waiting on the builder to finish it up (should be ready in October). Luckily, it’s a new home in Texas, where the housing bubble isn’t really an issue. I should probably stop reading real estate articles.
Last Edited: July 26, 2011 @ 9:20 amDid You Like This Article? Get free email updates! Sign up now and receive exclusive content and a FREE COPY of my eBook '31 Days to Improve Your Financial Life'. Enter your name and email address below: |  |
