[pingflood]

Well pingflood, while the knife is in the proverbial back I am going to twist it. (You knew that already though) Built my house in 99 and it's up in value almost double right now.

It's worth exactly what somebody is willing to pay for it, but I do hope you are right. No sense in everyone being in the same situation we're in!

It's worth exactly what somebody is willing to pay for it, but I do hope you are right. No sense in everyone being in the same situation we're in!

That's what I have always believed also. It was recently appraised and that's what they said it was worth. During the hayday of the housing boom it would have sold for about $450, 000. I always knew what it was really worth and that's what it appraised at. To me it really doesn't matter because I have no intention of selling any time soon. But it was good because I took a little equity out for the most worthwhile project I have ever undertaken and was successful in that project.
Pingflood, it was meant in a playful manner though. I hope you at least break even. And I really hope once you are back home you stay in touch on the forum. May God Bless You and watch over you in your journey

[pingflood]

Thank you, and I will most certainly stay in touch. You guys put up with me after going Canonite, so I can't imagine moving to socialist haven being much worse.

As for breaking even, not a chance.. thankfully we saved like maniacs over the years so can afford to take the hit, though I wish we didn't need to!

At least you'll save on air conditioning.

[rparmar]

I know exactly how you feel, believe me. Here in Ireland prices crashed right after we bought our house. And now there are no jobs to be found to pay for the mortgages.

I'm betting quite a few of the overspending, overconsuming people walking away from their homes will end up taking less of a hit on the books than we are.

But be sure that a lot of those people did not walk away from it unscathed. They lost all their savings and maybe their family's savings too.

[cardinal43]

Yeah, don't want to try to manage a rental from overseas. Plus, there are signs the area is going downhill, and I don't want to be stuck with the place forever when that happens.

That is sad to think that an area like Hilton Head is going downhill. My wife and I visited there quite a bit when we lived in NC.

Thank you, and I will most certainly stay in touch. You guys put up with me after going Canonite, so I can't imagine moving to socialist haven being much worse.

As for breaking even, not a chance.. thankfully we saved like maniacs over the years so can afford to take the hit, though I wish we didn't need to!

Yeah but you've never been a canikon snob.

[pingflood]

That is sad to think that an area like Hilton Head is going downhill. My wife and I visited there quite a bit when we lived in NC.

Hilton Head is fine, our house is in the Atlanta 'burbs though. We're just crashing here for six months or so before heading overseas.

[cardinal43]

Hilton Head is fine, our house is in the Atlanta 'burbs though. We're just crashing here for six months or so before heading overseas.

I knew you used to be in Atlanta and someone remarked that you needed to "update" your profile and you updated it to "HHI". Didn't realize that you still had a house in Hotlanta. Anyway, good luck in selling it and I hope everything goes well for you in moving back home.

[reeftool]

I guess I should feel fortunate. I bought my house in 2000 for $57,500 and was appraised this year at $110,000. When I bought my house, the International Paper Co. had just closed down the mill which had operated for over 100 years and left half the town unemployed. The biggest business in town was "For Sale" signs. The city of Saratoga Springs nearby has been booming and has had the highly inflated real estate prices many other areas have so people began moving out to Corinth and Lake Luzerne as more and more people moved away after the mill closed. Houses are still selling well around here. The house next door just sold for $97K and it is half the size of mine and no garage.

I guess I should feel fortunate. I bought my house in 2000 for $57,500 and was appraised this year at $110,000. When I bought my house, the International Paper Co. had just closed down the mill which had operated for over 100 years and left half the town unemployed. The biggest business in town was "For Sale" signs. The city of Saratoga Springs nearby has been booming and has had the highly inflated real estate prices many other areas have so people began moving out to Corinth and Lake Luzerne as more and more people moved away after the mill closed. Houses are still selling well around here. The house next door just sold for $97K and it is half the size of mine and no garage.

More jobs that went overseas.

[Ratmagiclady]

This is just pissing me off to no end.. we're trying to sell our place so we can head overseas, but no luck so far.

We bought a house that we could easily afford back in 2002. Meanwhile, people around us were loading up on larger places with creative (ARM, interest only etc) loans and could barely afford them. We bought cheap cars we could easily afford. Meanwhile, people around us used the equity in their now value inflated homes to buy Lexuses. Builders threw up new subdivisions all around us, with houses going for more than twice what we paid.

Fast forward a few years...

The builders have gone bankrupt, leaving half finished subdivisions behind.

The banks are firesaling the houses, so those previously 400k+ homes can now be bought for half that.

The people who lived paycheck to paycheck and had a lifestyle they couldn't reasonably support are now crashing financially, and foreclosures are popping up everywhere.

Home values are now around 30% lower than they were in _2002_ in the area.

We tried to be responsible and do the right thing, and here we are getting screwed. I'm betting quite a few of the overspending, overconsuming people walking away from their homes will end up taking less of a hit on the books than we are.

It just isn't fun.

Well, people who *really* speculated or were counting on what 'the market' was saying, quite often got it coming and going, so it could be worse. Corporations may demand their bailouts, (or else) but that wouldn't stop them taking both your money and your house, if you had been overextended. The idea was pushed out there that the safest place to put your money, if you possibly could, was in real estate: any real estate. This is how the predatory lenders got a lot of people. 'Anything's better than paying rent,' was the notion.

My sweetie and I got hosed, anyway: despite living simply, half the nest egg evaporated even though it was in supposedly-conservative funds, cause *those* were, surprise, surprise, based in real estate speculation. We went from house-shopping in a place where real estate was never really inflated to sorta stuck here in the South paying rent in a neighborhood that's otherwise near-deserted. I get the distinct impression the landlord's having to gamble when a tree's going to fall on the place as opposed to when he can afford the maintenance.

It's been commented that the American economy has been too long entirely based on us selling each other houses.

So it seems.

Jobs going overseas? That's what deregulation did all along the past decades. Being only concerned with money and not with substance. Housing values were always bound to crash. If it's still your *house,* at least you have something to show for it.

The idea was pushed out there that the safest place to put your money, if you possibly could, was in real estate: any real estate. This is how the predatory lenders got a lot of people. 'Anything's better than paying rent,' was the notion.

They forgot to mention that you have to own the property outright for it to be safe.
It was the loans that caused the problem. Freely available loans caused artificial inflation in property prices.
Boom and bust, the vicious cycle that keeps getting repeated and it's the middle class and poor who suffer every time while the rich bide their time and ride out the storm because they know that pretty soon they'll be able to clean up and become even richer.

Jobs going overseas? That's what deregulation did all along the past decades. Being only concerned with money and not with substance. Housing values were always bound to crash. If it's still your *house,* at least you have something to show for it.

And where did the deregulation come from? Well if you guessed the conservatives you'd be........wrong again.

Wasn;t it Slick Willy that pushed trade with the Communist Chinese? Hmmm. He was a conservative I think. Wasn't he. No wait. He's a LIBERAL!!!!

They forgot to mention that you have to own the property outright for it to be safe.
It was the loans that caused the problem. Freely available loans caused artificial inflation in property prices.
Boom and bust, the vicious cycle that keeps getting repeated and it's the middle class and poor who suffer every time while the rich bide their time and ride out the storm because they know that pretty soon they'll be able to clean up and become even richer.

Well Gary again you can thank your buddies Barney and Chris for that.