Well, thanks to these stupid banks with their idiotic programs to give people big mortgages they could not afford after the first couple years, my house value has dropped an incredible amount!! I've been just sick to my stomach the last couple of days ever since learning that in just the last years time the value of my house has dropped an incredible $139,000!!! And that's after already dropping $50,000 over the prior couple of years. Now, the good news for me is that it is still valued at much more than I paid but I did eat up some equity over the years when the value initially skyrocketed. I think it's current value is more along the lines of what it is truly worth but Man it stinks to see it drop so quickly due to all the foreclosures.... That equity was going to be my ticket out of this area in a few years but it looks like I will actually have to save some money now. I really feel sorry for all the people that bought houses when the market peaked and now are way upside down on their houses.
I'm glad I'm done BOMBing because I will need all that money in the bank instead....
So, anybody that was thinking the same as me may want to check the comps in your neighborhood and see what your property is really valued at. My next stop is to the county building to protest my tax rate that says the house is worth much more still......

 

It's not the same down here at least it wasn't for me. We bought our 30 year old home in nov 2005 for 165,000 and it appraised then for 171,000. We just refinanced it at 5.75 % becasue our old loan was 7.25 and it appraised at 185,000. The funny thing is I have not done anything to it to increase the value. I do feel sorry for the folks who are upside down especially the one's who could not see it coming. Realestate can be a tricky thing to invest in. The one thing that is always bound to go up is land.. I think that is where I will park some of my modding money now, at lest i can go out there and run around on it and enjoy it.. Oh yeah forgot about the taxes though

 

Well, I'm not sure it will work but you CAN protest your tax rate if you feel it is in error. We'll see what happens. It can't hurt to try...
I'm sure the market will turn back around but it just stinks right now....

 

I saw this when I sold one of our properties last year.....

A 3 br Split-Level that would have sold for over $700K three years ago, sat for 3 months until it sold for $500K.

In the heyday, For Sale signs went up in the morning, and by nightfall, they would have a contract, with two or three "backups" in case the first one fell through.
Now many properties in my area are sitting on the market for months and months.

If you get out in the boonies, property an still be had on the cheap.

 

The only thing I can say is do your best to hold on to it. The market is going to continue to fall till late 2009 from what I have read. It will go up after that. If you can weather the storm you can come out ok.

 

A big reason the economy is the way it is in our area is just from this type of BULL. They raise your appraisal so you pay more tax but in reality you property is not worth what they say. Its horrible and local government has caused a big part of the recession we are in. Go get em Mike, I got your back....

 

Banks handing out money like it was going out of style is also another reason for
false value and inflated home prices.

 

Ha Ha!! Let's storm the county building!!!!!

There is one house in my neighborhood that has been on the market without a break for the last 3 years!! They started out asking about $50,000 more than market value and steadily dropped the price but now it will never sell because of how long it has been on the market. It is a very nice kept up house but the strange thing is that they have stuck with the same realtor the entire time!! There is nothing selling in my neighborhood right now except for the foreclosures but you knew which houses would be the ones going through this. The ones with 5 taxicabs in the driveway or with 14 cars parked in the yard. You would think that with so many people living in one house the house note would be easy to make.......
I'll hold on to mine for a few more years and I'll stick this out. I was just floored when I got the appraisel done......

 

See, this is where I have all you guys beat.
I simply move my house to a location where the housing market hasnt been hit as hard!

 

That's about what I've heard. Caterpillar is telling their dealers that 2010 is going to be a boom, we'll see. I just hope I can hang on until then.

 

Let's hope.........

I almost moved right at the height of the boom. I was going to start my own business and this company I currently work for gave me a great incentive package to stay with them. That all worked out OK but I wish I still would have sold my house when it was worth so much more.......

 

Are You Kidding Me!!!

A $500K - $700K home here in my area would be much more than a 3 br Split-level. Holy Cow, I thought home prices here were getting outrageous. It's no wonder the flood gates are opened and the population here is starting to soar.

 

The home I am in right now is a 4 bedroom 4 1/2 bath with full finished basement. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 3K square ft. Went for right around 1 million, now worth about 880K. Not mine, its the in laws, the wife and I live here because of housing prices like that!

 

All I can say is WOW!!!

I hope the economy in the area is strong. It sounds like it would be very tough for young folks just starting out. A salary would have to be pretty handsome to afford a Mortgage like that!!!

 

We actually looked into getting a condo when we got married. 250K would get us a decent 1 bedroom 1 bath in an ok neighborhood and still not have to commute over an hour to work.