Housing Market - Buy vs. Rent??

[Buoy]

Here's a thougth.

You can rent my house for a while. Room for a boat on the side and 2 car garage. Fenced yard. I even pick up my dogs doo-doos before you come. :03:

Ah, but if we move to FL now, it's permanent, and I don't plan on another move unless it's a nicer house in the area.

sick of those living within their means getting screwed all the time. Should have bought a $1M house, had it appraised at $550K right now, have the bank forgive the rest and lower my rate to 4.5% Indy Mac style.

That's what I've been saying this whole time.
5 yrs ago we should have just bought double the house we could afford.
This whole living within your means get's you screwed every time...

well Tim I hope this thread helps you out:dupe:

Actually has brought up some very good points on both sides of topic.
Usually when it comes to any significant purchase of any sort, I tell her I want something, and she tells me if we can afford it - or what we need to do to get it.
If she want's something, I just ask her if we can afford it? I don't know what the payments are on anything. I just keep an eye on the bank balance.
I let her worry about all the financial stuff.

 

[Buoy]

I've always liked Baltic Av.
Cheap way to get into a source of modest extra income.

 

[Mark]

But if you shop properly in this market, the 200K house should be between 20 to 30% less than comparable sales in the immediate area at a minimum (especially in S FL where several areas are 50% of prices 3 years ago).

So say the 200K house appreciates at only 3% over the next 4 years.

It is a gamble but homes sales are horrible now, but have risen over the last 2 months, albeit at a much lower average price. ( which hints at the pricing bottom in some locations.

If you still are stuck with it after 4 years, rent it out (or burn it down) and I will bring over and share my humble pie

My first store to shop at would be a bank in the area I wanted to move to.

The last major real estate scare was New England in the late 80s. It took 5 years to settle at the longest and S FL has already been through 2 years.

I was a realtor in SW Florida for a spell. Prices are 50% or less what they were "3" years ago. But don't be misled. That $200,000 home was really NEVER worth more than $100,000 to begin with - if you know what I mean. South Florida will still be cheap in 3 years. Just in time for Buoy to buy after leaving AZ. It would be OK to buy and plan on renting out at a later time. But, have you seen what the Mexican / Cuban / White Trash, etc. PIGS do to a home within months??? It's utterly disgusting! Plan on spending thousands after those types move out each and every year. It's not worth it.

BTW - Have fun dealing with the banks..... you must be a seasoned pro with serious inside contacts. If it were that easy, everybody would be doing it. Look at all the suckers who thought they could....

 

[masher44]

BTW - Have fun dealing with the banks..... you must be a seasoned pro with serious inside contacts. If it were that easy, everybody would be doing it. Look at all the suckers who thought they could....

Banks are more than happy to work with ready, willing and able Buyers right now in an effort to move some bad or soon to be bad paper.

 

[Mark]

Banks are more than happy to work with ready, willing and able Buyers right now in an effort to move some bad or soon to be bad paper.

It's been a year since I delt with them, but they were impossible then as they were really starting foreclosures. I spent hours on the phone and got absolutely nowhere, because they only serviced the loans, and did'nt know their azz from a hole in the ground. In regards to inside connections, that refers to getting the bank to take a TRUE loss (more complex than one would guess). Only the best I have ever met have been able to TRULY do so. My parents were true pros at this in the past - but even they don't have the connections to get the bank to take .30 to .60 on the dollar. Yes, you can get a deal, but I'm talking a DEAL YOU CAN MAKE MONEY ON NOW.

Example: The best local guy I know (Ohio) bought a home next to my parents for $216,000 after the bank bought it back for $325K at auction (parents went up to $275K). He spent $40K - $50K to clean it up a bit and deck it out and sold it for $375K. Not a bad profit for 3 months. Yet, if you initially dealt with the bank and / or went to auction - you would have paid $325K in OK condition. His, and only his connections got him the deal at $216K. Everything was legal.

 

[tommymonza]

We are to far from the bottom in SW Florida to buy now and think you are going to sell it for a profit.The little bit of activity you are seeing are the uninformed and out of the loop people who are just getting into the game because they watched some late night informercial and now they think is the time to buy.