Following Tuesday’s post on Starter Homes I thought we’d try to get some more reader involvement on their first home purchase. I think we’ll find every answer is very different. TiP made a very good point at the end of the comments in that post that we all come from different places. I didn’t experience high teen interest rates or a major recession. Please comment on your experience and refrain from editorializing other’s. I’ll start:
In 1994 I bought my first home with 100% of the inheritance from my grand mother and a match from my father which equalled a 20% down payment on a house on Boones Ferry Rd. My dad cosigned the loan. We sold it a few years ago in the $300s having paid $147k. It was a four bedroom home and my three roommates paid the mortgage. I was a college sophomore at the time and the purchase eliminated my housing cost for the next three years until I moved to the Bay Area for work. I’d take my grand mother any day over the $15,000 inheritance but I could have opted to do any number of things with the money.
WTF! Are you rubbing salt in the wound?
I’m 35, debt free and moving to PDX from LA. I have $86K saved for a down payment and think the Portland market is overvalued by as much as 40%. I plan to rent for at least a year and will wait until the market drops to a reasonable valuation before I purchase my first home. Even though home prices are way less in PDX than LA, they are still WAY overpriced!
Common on JP you’re smarter than that. I’m trying to illustrate that everyone comes from a different place. I think it will bring a better understanding on this blog if you know where people are coming from.
Maybe I misjudged the readership and will have to shut this down. I can’t honestly think you want everyone that has made money in ANY market to apologize for it. Should I be pissed off at the kid who sat next to me in high school chemistry and won $34M in the California Lottery? The guy that cashed out of the .com era at the right time? The admins at Nike who have worked there for 20 years and are worth seven figures due to stock options?
My answer is my reality. I can’t apologize for it. I played the hand I had. Jenny put put part of her down payment on a house in 1998 on a credit card! Ballsy and risky but it worked out- that couldn’t be replicated today.
Do you want to hear other people’s experiences or should I pull the plug?
Would you care you explain how you came up with 40% over valued number?
If we are in a number throwing game, let me throw that we are undervalued 20% compared to any major west coast city.
Go figure.
Daycare:
Portlad Overvalued by 41.4%
Your turn.
Can we stick to the topic?
Charles please dont pull the plug; this is a great blog.
I enjoy candid views from an intelligent realtor like you.
I smile at post that predict doomsday for PDX market and how stupid any/all buyers are that buy now; and then I see all independent reports suggest PDX is stable and appreciating in most areas.
I strongly believe that with the inventory available in PDX today and the interest rates, this is as good of a time to buy property here if you can afford.
So Daycare, did you miss Charles’ comment where he said the Portland condo market is going to take a huge hit? So much for stability.
Topic, topic, topic, pretty please.
Charles-
We were on topic yesterday, and you pulled the plug.
🙁
I moved here in 2002 to attend law school. Looking back it would have been nice to purchase a house, of course all of my savings was going towards school and payments. Even so, I bet a roommate and I could have swung one of those NINJA loans (with your help Charles?) and could have made quite a return upon graduating in 2005.
Now it’s 2007, I’m married and along with my wife making double the average income with no children. We rent in one of the nicest neighborhoods close in. The owner keeps trying to sell us the place and I would at 6% appreciation on the price he bought 4 years ago. ‘Course we wants 20% year over year for a 125%+ appreciation in just 4 years. Um no…
We are real buyers and we’re waiting. I have a roof over my head, a great address and I pay less rent than I would pay for a home mortgage of $225K… I’d buy this house for $350K. He’s asking $575… a more reasonable ask for the area is $495… but like I said my offer starts at $350. He purchased the house for $225 in 2003. That’s my benchmark.
Talking about pricing in relation to historical norms is not off topic, it’s the only topic for first time buyers.
Take a look at your home Charles… you were likely flat on appreciation for what 6-8 years and then popped up considerably in the last 3. 147,000 to the 300’s is about 8% year over year. a solid investment. Of course if you had 20% in the last year or so of ownership the year over year was a lot closer to 4-5-6% Still good for real estate, but not what everybody’s expects after bubble appreciation.
We’re at 4875 NASDAQ in housing. NASDAQ was under 2000 when I began trading stocks in college and you were a landlord. I watched a bubble start and burst. In RE it’s different only because average family is going to be hurt more.
40% overvalued is about where I see it, however, I’m not convinced that prices will actually go down 40% I think prices will go down about 20% but the dollar will be devalued another 30% by this time next year.
You have cut too deep.
I am looking for a new real estate e-home.
Charles, you have a good blog that attracts attention and controversy. Why try and control that or shut it down due to some negativity? Like normal conversation, there are tangents.
That said, i would like to point out that the idea of Portland being undervalued due to being the cheapest (?) west coast city is a weak argument. An analogy: Providence RI is a cheap east coast city that many have flocked to in recent years for its less expensive RE. RI is now going through a strong reversal of RE prices, worse than it’s more expensive neighbors like Boston.
I think the key to daycare’s post is the phrase “if you can afford”. Without the freaky loans and speculators, demand will have to drop which will probably have an effect on prices.
Ok, to play nice: I bought my first house in 86 for 58K with a 9.75% 15 year loan. After living there for 7 years I sold it for 85K. It was not in Portland but was in a major city back east. After moving here it was not financially advatangeous for me to buy and when it became so, prices had reached a level that made it much less attractive. Having owned 2 houses before (there was another after the first) I knew how much money they suck out of your wallet for repairs, maintenance, remodeling etc. and the time one needs to spend working on a house. Plus, anything I could comfortably afford (I resist debt and high payments that inflict damage on my lifestyle) was too far outside the urban core. I also noticed from my previous ownership periods that the tax benefits were nowhere near the level touted by the culture and the RE industry.
So I decided to rent which has worked out for me. My interest in the whole housing thing is the damage quickly rising prices and ownership hysteria is bringing to the country, the effects of which will eventually be devastating, in my opinion.
I have never sensored the blog comments. The topic went from stater homes to name calling over something that appeared to be settled so I shut it down.
I thought we’d be able to have display of how people entered the makert at the time they did and we might all learn something but I was wrong. Never have we said there was a “problem” with renting.
I’m sorry JP is leaving. Jenny has made the same decision not to post on this fourm.
Well, I said that but I will still post. 🙂 I learned yesterday that you REALLY have to think through what you say or people read it wrong. Good lesson. And one that I knew from the days of online college courses but had forgotten. I will post as the subject is appropriate for me.
Plus, JP, you are one of the most interesting reads….
Hey Charles,
Great Topic! My first place was the purchase of a condo in Mountain Park, and it did appreciate, but slowly. I am currently renting and looking to buy another home, but am waiting for the right home at the right price. I would love to buy a place in Sellwood, but for what I want, it is too expensive for me, but I don’t think it is going to go down. The good neighborhoods always hold up!
Well – I already talked about my first home purchase earlier but I’ll elaborate a little more.
I bought my house in 2004 at age 31 with some of that “easy” financing that was available – I did two loans one for 80% of the purchase and one for 20% – so I paid no money down. Paying nothing down was fine for us because the combined payment wasn’t more than we had conservatively figured we could pay and we were willing to stay in the house for awhile and hoped to see some appreciation in value.
I paid $172,000 for a small 3 bedroom 50 year old ranch in close-in Beaverton. It has a huge yard and is on a quiet street, both of which were important to us.
The reason to buy a house wasn’t entirely based on finances for me (although I did decide to buy the same month I had to write a huge check to the IRS, go figure). Having small children who need a lot of room to run and wanting to be able to make improvements to my living environment that weren’t going to benefit someone else were also important to me.
I really feel like I’m a “typical” example of a lot of young homebuyers in our region.
bearlee’s first home purchase: Spouse and I just out of school with a whopping 4K in savings. The year, 1999, and houses shooting up in price. Paid 180K in Buckman with a VA loan w/ zero down and financed closing costs. 7% interest rate. Took bad advice from sibling: buy a little more than you think you can afford because you will always make more money. We were young, naive and flush w/ ‘great’ paying jobs (more than min wage). Also had student loans up the ass coming due, 35K between the two of us. Since we were in over our heads we were never able to save with our big housing responsibility. Tide turned and spouse got big raise. Lived large the 18 months my spouse had great tech contracts then the layoffs hit hard. Held on for a while and then decided to sell in early ’07 at $350K. After paying off debts with 10K accumlated in the past 3 months (furnace, H2O heater, painting, sewer line, electrical box, etc) we zero’d our debt and have a 6 month emergency fund and some for down payment on next purchase in approx 2-3 years depending on the market.
I wonder how many folks have been getting in over their heads these past 5 years?! We aint unique in our situation.
Prices are going down in Sellwood. I have noticed a few homes being offered for less than purchased for. There is a Trolly barn condo on the market now for 10K less than purchased.
I, too, have enjoyed both Jenny’s and JP’s recent posts, and hope both keep posting!
Purchased my first home in Mesa, AZ in 1991 (give or take a year), from RTC during the last real estate crash. It was three units: house and duplex all on one lot in a crummy part of town (gunshots every weekend, broken into four-five times). I had an ARM that was something like 4% — I think payment was $400/month. After doing some repairs I rented out the house and lived in one of the duplex units. MAJOR positive cash flow! I sold it when I moved overseas — I worried about it too much — but selling the house was one of my biggest financial regrets.
I’m 26 years old, married almost three years. Fortunate enough to make over twice the median HH Income. No kids. Only student loan debt. We’ve been looking to buy our first home since June of ’07. We’ve had two sale fails in that time frame, the most recent in September when the home inspection turned up the need for a new roof and the seller refused to replace it. After some negotiation they let us walk over about $5k. Six months later that house is still on the market with listing price considerably below our original offer. I am of course happy about this.
Our plan now is similar to what “readyandable” described above. We’re just waiting for the right time. See, market timing is far more important for a fist time buyer than a current owner making a transition or move up. For example, a buyer who currently owns in the market is off loading their current home in whatever market they are buying in, i.e. buying AND selling at any point in the market. A first time buyer like me isn’t taking a hit on the backside of their sale. Thus, first timers have the economic incentive to be more conscious of market timing, as they can only benefit from the deterioration of the market.
Hey JP, don’t go – you’ve got some good insights.
My first house? Bought in early 90’s. I was about 30. Put 20% down (saved up money – no gifts or inheritances or co-signs). 3BR, 2BA Beaverton. $88K. 15 year loan at 9.5% – refied a couple of years later to 7.5%. Paid off loan in 1999. Still live in the same house. Eventually I would like to get another house and rent this one out, but, like others here I’m waiting for some declines; it’ll be 3 or 4 years I suspect before I’ll be looking.
Slightly off topic, but maybe an interesting one for another thread: Bearlee mentioned an emergency fund and I’ve got a six-month emergency fund as well – it’s a must. However, recently I got the idea that I need a separate emergency fund for the house – for example, what if the plumbing goes bad (and that’s possible – it’s happened to some neighbors) and that results in a $10K bill. Then there’s the roof; that’s gonna be a $12K hit at least when that needs to be done. So I started an emergency fund for the house – put $150/week into it via one of those automatic savings plans. The goal is to get that fund up to at least $20K. Then I’ll feel safer about buying another house (after the declines) and renting this one out. The way I figure it, the 6 month emergency fund is for living expenses if I lose my job, not for home repair expenses (which can be quite large) because in the worst case scenario you can lose your job AND have need some major home repair. I’m now convinced that if you own a house you need a home-repair emergency fund.
Yeah, until the market deteriorates to the point the economy tanks so badly that you lose your job.
Like it or not, we’ve all crawled into the boat with the bubble makers.
Wow, Blake, you sound just like me, except you make more money. My wife and I are 27 and trying to buy our first home since last October. We make just above the median income, yet can’t realistically afford a median-priced house (hmm). We’re stubbornly looking in the few close-in neightborhoods that are still within reach for first-timers, and have been outbid on 4 different offers. In hindsight though, I’m glad they all fell through, because there were problems with some that would have gotten us in over our heads. We’ve cooled off, thought things through, and are going to wait a few months to see if prices really start to come down, although I kind of doubt it at this point, for the particular market we’re looking in.
Yeah, until the market deteriorates to the point the economy tanks so badly that you lose your job.
Good point, Naysayer. At the moment my job seems pretty safe, but who knows about six months from now? In 1999 most of us in tech just couldn’t imagine ever losing a job because our skilz “were in such high demand”. Now I’m older & wiser and much more wary. In fact, the thought of getting into another mortgage (after a few years of significant home price declines) is a bit scary at this point – you’re signing up for at least 15 years of payments. I’m not sure there’s that much stability left in our economy.
Anyway, it’s something we all need to be thinking about at this point even if it seems that our jobs are “safe”. The economy right now is very precarious.
I think I know what my problem is. I read too much about the economy and it’s driving me nuts. The sources of this news run the range from internet to mags, liberal opinion to conservative. All are predicting even more gloom and doom than me! It makes me feel like one of the riders on a train that is out of control and careening towards the cliffs.
I’ve lived through harder times and it wasn’t fun.
Perhaps some Xanax is in order…….
Perhaps some Xanax is in order…….
Careful Naysayer, if you start doing Xanax you might come here and post as ‘daycare’.
Maybe there was too much Xanax and Prozac being taking in recent years and that’s what got us into this mess. They’re finding that stuff in the water supply now… This is no joke, you can’t make this stuff up: The other night I was watching TV when one of those ubiquitous drug ads came on. This one was for RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome) and, as I recall, it was for women only for some reason. Anyway, one of the caveats was something like “If while taking X you feel the compulsive urge to gamble or take risks call your doctor…” – I checked and I was not watching SNL, this appeared to be a real side effect of this particular drug. Makes you wonder.
Yeah, until the market deteriorates to the point the economy tanks so badly that you lose your job.
If you are a first time home buyer right now you better be damn confident in your job security before even thinking about buying a house. I am. Many aren’t.
My husband and I bought our first home only a little over a year ago. It’s a classic condo located in the Northwest neighborhood, between the 23rd Ave. area and the Pearl District.
Because it’s a condo and we bought only a year ago, you’d think we’re in deep trouble as the market turns, right? I think we bought well and paid under market value. We paid around $175,000 and it’s said to be worth more than that today, though if we were to try to sell it would probably sit on the market for some time because of low moving numbers. Because it’s appraised at a higher value than we paid and we’ve paid down a good portion of the principal in this first year, we don’t need PMI.
Our HOA dues are low and we have tax abated status. We’ve refied into a 15 year fixed @ 5.3% with a payment that is only a couple of hundred more than we’d pay for rent, and we’ve upgraded our place from the cursory upgrades performed by the developer; IOW, I’ve never lived in a rental this nice, even when we lived in “luxury” apartments.
Rents continue to rise. In a few years, I have no doubt our mortgage will be less than rent.
Before we purchased, neither my husband nor I were aware there was any such thing as no down payment. For the year before we bought, we were saving every day for a down payment on a place. I guess we really missed the marketing techniques during the boom, huh?
We plan to rent this place out when we’ve built up a down payment for a house. Though the value may go down in the short term, in the long term we believe the value will rise. The vast majority of condos are ridiculously overpriced, I agree with the consensus. However ours looks to us like an exception.
The benefit of owning a home to us was perceived stability. We own this place and can stay here as long as we want – no leases, no rent increases. The monthly payment is not large and if something were to happen like both of us losing our jobs, we have enough savings to cover it for a good long time. We didn’t want a yard to take care of, but we’ve gradually shifted in that regard and we’re ready for house ownership in the next couple of years, though it will be more work.
Our first home (1989) was a 3/2 in a defunct logging town basically on welfare. We paid $67,500 on a VA loan w/ $1,200 “down”. It was on an ARM and the payments were like $485 (all in)
We were afraid the neighborhood would only go down hill and bought a MUCH bigger place after only about 3-4 years. What mistake. Much higher maint. and too far to walk home from the bar. (Note to self)
Had we STAYED there it would have been long paid off but NO… We bought during OR’s darkest hour and it was actually 2 days from the courthouse steps (Saturday and Sunday) I did a lot of work on it and sold for 109k but then again I was a younger man then? Now I want a houseboat on Lake Mead! Hon? Have you seen my sun block?
I think I know what my problem is. I read too much about the economy and it’s driving me nuts.
Me too Naysayer…I had a thick skin when I came into this and I’ve been worn down.
I’ve been battling with anger and depression for a number of months now and it has kept me from truly enjoying the good things which happen to me and my wife.
It’s become clear that I’ve read far too many depressing things about global economics and politics…delved to deep.
What really drives me crazy though is the deep-rooted classism I encounter every day. The western brand of classism is particularly insidious to me because those who engage in it *pretend* they’re not classist. At least the Chinese and Indians are up front about it, we can’t even admit that is what we’re doing.
If you are a first time home buyer right now you better be damn confident in your job security before even thinking about buying a house. I am. Many aren’t.
Like I said, Blake, it’s tough to be “damn confident in your job security” looking out for several years. A lot of us were “damn confident” in 1999 and damn broke in 2003. That swing only took 4 years.
To be honest, unless you’re a doctor or lawyer in PDX, I don’t know of any sort of job I could be “damn confident” about for, say, over a 15 year period. And I think that’s a bigger problem here in PDX than it would be in Seattle or the Bay Area, for example.
In fact, as I was looking over my taxes recently, I realized that in 2007 we had finally gotten back up to the income level we had back in 1999 and 2000. Things can get ugly and they can stay ugly for several years.
Welcome DinOR.
To be honest, unless you’re a doctor or lawyer in PDX, I don’t know of any sort of job I could be “damn confident” about
Lawyers and Doctors are probably safe, but the rest of the Hospital staff are not. Hospitals are always building and they raise capital through municipal bonds. Well, the cost of that money is getting more expensive by the day and it is only a matter of time before they too will start laying off. IT staff will be one of the first to get hit when that happens.
On the Subject of IT wages, I am making a little more (accounting for inflation) than I was when I began this career in 2000. I also happen to work for a healthcare provider (Providence). I fully expect that I will be looking for “some other job” within three years if not sooner.
Well, PDX Renter, look at the bright side. Plenty of flippers and others made out like bandits in this housing bubble. We should be happy for them and do whatever it is we can to make sure their gains are secured.
If one guy still has money then capitalism claims success!
Our first property was in Florida in 1999 right after my graduation; a 2/2 condo on a golf course; about 1800 sqft. Great views and neighborhood. We paid just $72K!
The company I was working for laid off people and because I was in IT and it was 2000, I had multiple job offers. After taking a two month vacation I moved to OR and committed a big mistake. I sold the condo when I moved; last year it was valued at $170K. I stayed in rentals for about 3 years in Portland and finally (and thankfully) bought a house for about 300K in 2004. It is valued at about 460K now.
I dont want to sell this one and will lease it when we move up.
Isn’t Florida taking a big hit?
I’m 25. I got married before graduating from OSU. I landed my first job at a top 3 builder in Portland. They offered a large discount to employees on their homes, and I ended up with a 290k house for 237k. The downpayment came from a body jewelry business I started in college. I have since quite that job and started my own home design/planning/architecture business. The house is now worth 330k, and I’ve only owned it for 2 years.
“valued at…”, “worth…” I would be hestitant to state these numbers since you really can’t say for certain until it sells and in today’s market you maybe disappointed.
“valued at…”, “worth…” I would be hestitant to state these numbers since you really can’t say for certain until it sells and in today’s market you maybe disappointed.
While this is true bearlee – it can still help homeowners. We just refinanced our house and were able to get our payments much lower – based in large part on how much the bank considers our home worth now versus when we bought it. We didn’t pull equity out when we refinanced, so it was very positive for us.
Good point, Tamar. I should have added that the value of your home is also determined by the appraiser for your refi/HELOC. And that may be disappointing for the homeowner these days. Real life example, a fellow RN up on pill hill was having trouble selling her split level in Hillsboro and just shocked that it did not sell in 6 months…with so many people wanting to move to Portland you know, she was perplexed (I wanted to say, yeah, but they want to live in the Pearl, Hawthorne, Alberta, etc) Any way, so she took it off the market and refinance her 80/20 and landed a great rate of 5.5% but now she has to pay PMI because values have slipped this past year and even though she has been in the house numerous years (6, I think) her equity dropped. The loan officer said she would have been better off if she refinanced last summer.
Have you folks heard that the FBI is investigating 18+ banks, companies, etc for fraud related to appraisal of properties? Heres is an example for that: my brother lives in Greeley, Colorado, neighbor across the street bought the house for approx 75K over comps! moved in, a month later came home with two new SUVs, month later the couple is gone and the house is foreclosed…we speculate that the realtor, the appraiser, the lender, and the homeowner were all in on it. Sounds criminal, huh?
More criminal activity right here in Portland, the appraiser should go to jail on this one: (editor deleted #) NE Russell for sale for $550k but the loan amounts equal $620k.
It looks like this house was bought for $314,550 in 2004, with about 8% down. The house was refinanced on 3/31/2006 for $504k (a 60% increase in 15 months!) with a second loan of $116k taken out on 11/10/2006 for a total of $620k. (thanks PDXOutsider)
I think the owners should sell their new SUVs with the house. Looks like it might be a foreclosure soon. I guess these folks were in the Prices NEVER Drop camp
Not sure how PDXOutsider knows the loan amounts and I did delete the street number from bearlee’s comment (not sure that it is appropriate for it to be there (will continue to consider… it is an active listing (having moral/legal/ethical conflict))).
BUT to play devil’s advocate… Portlandmaps shows two permits in 2005 (convert spare room to master bath and an electrical permit (neither one have passed final inspection)). It is not possible to tell what other remodeling was done that didn’t require a permit (or that did and one wasn’t pulled). I can see the pictures from the sold listing and the active listing. Hard to tell what was done. Kitchen is beautiful.
In 2006, almost any homeowner could have walked into a bank and taken out 100% of the equity based on an appraisal. It was listed for $650,000 Jan 21st, 2008, canceled and relisted at $550,000 with the same Realtor (oh, just figured out the seller is a Realtor). The listing shows third party approval(possible short sale, well, short sale. Here’s a recent post on
short sales.
Interesting but criminal behavior? I think that is a stretch. Current market stats at the time might have supported it.
Something doesn’t add up here. Bearlee, you are always putting people to the flame over their choices, so it should be pointed out. You bought a home for $180k and sold it eight years later. You rent today for around $1000/month.
How were your payments not less than rent eight years later?
Our principle, interest, insurance, taxes, utilities were about $1740 from the start in 1999. We refinanced a year into the layoffs and took out money for business start up costs and money for a safety net since we did not know how long the slow down would last. Remember, we were in over our heads at the start so we were not able to save for the rainy day that was coming our way. The great year of tech contracts was going to last forever, right, so we did not save then (hind sight 20/20). Business never took off, hard to compete w/ 10K other laid off engineers. Had a baby, accrued debt there and debt fixing up the place. Thought we were going to have to relocate for spouses schooling and predicted the stagnant market and drop in prices so got out in early 07. Paid off debt, created an emergency fund, stuck some $ aside for DP in a few years. Go ahead, throw it at me.
My living expenses now: $1300/month including utilities and insurance vs $2000 in the house.
Key point: in over our heads from the start, bought too much house so never really able to get on top of things. Young and naive.
If I would have taken our the remaining equity and then walked…criminal.
Charles, aka …, you have restoration experience. Do you think it could have cost $300K to restore that place?
Maybe the realtors/owners of the Russell house took the money out to buy another flip?
Sorry, but I will remain critical of folks who refuse to see the red flags.
There are three questions here:
1) Would I, as a general contractor spend $300,000? No.
2) Would a general contractor bidding out a complete job invoice $300,000? Don’t know but would think not. Not impossible though. We don’t work on stuff we don’t own. Not to say we wouldn’t in the future.
3) Would a homeowner doing the work spend that much if they did the work?
Market conditions would probably account account for nearly $100,000 of the gain if you are trying to justify the math. Not to say good or bad but probably reality.
Bearlee, what was previously considered criminal is now pretty much considered savvy “investing”. Buying a place with no money down, pulling out the paper equity after a short time, buying lots of stuff then walking away, that’s the new road to riches. Congress and the Fed even want to reward you for it like when they removed the tax consequences involved in foreclosure.
Now we wring our hands over how to keep others from doing it.
It’s a little like bankruptcy. I have friends and acquaintances who lived very well, the luxury life, then declared bankruptcy. One only had to pay back about 11K of a 65K debt. And she complained! And no, the bills weren’t from medical expenses. I’ve also known a millionaire who declared BK after squandering his wealth (from selling a business) on the wife’s jewelry, fancy trips for the family (Alp skiing, etc), LOTS of cars, furs a McMansion, pool, you name it. Then when his new endeavor fell apart he declared. I would have put him in JAIL.
There’s little reward in playing by the rules or being honest in The Cheating Culture.
http://www.cheatingculture.com/
Hearing posters here talk about how much their house is worth is really entertaining.
I love home debtors!
If it were not for home-debtors like you I would not have made a 70% return on my investments in 2007.
My favorite investment with alot of upside!
SRS, seeing the link to your favorite investment is SRS, what is your connection and what is it?
UltraShort Real Estate ProShares
$152 high, $73 low and currently at $113? Sounds like your favorite investment is a lot like buying a bubblerific mcmansion, son. Except with a lot more volatility and inability to live in it or rent it out.
Here’s a thought for potential buyers. I know many of you guys are smarter and wiser than spouse and I to get in over your heads w/ the first home;O) And sure, your job may be very secure. So here’s a new thought…job satisfaction. Polls tell us less than half are satisfied with their jobs. Where do you stand? One of the lay-offs that we endured was from Intel. Spouse came home with a smile, he hated the work environment. Will you as new homeowners be in a position to take a risk and switch jobs? Can your household survive on one income?
Another thought for potential parents…especially mommies. Can you afford a pay cut. I took a 20% pay cut not only because I stopped putting in so much OT, I cutback to 32hrs a week because I wanted more time w/ junior.
It comes down to values and with this huge financial decision I hope you know what you value most and put it first or else life will SUCK!
Your money or your life!
Except with a lot more volatility and inability to live in it or rent it out.
Its called a moving average, daytrader.
100 and 200 MVA
Your handle makes it clear that you’ve got heck of alot to learn about the market.
I know what moving averages are. I also know short-term averages mean little.
Your spelling and punctuation make it clear you’ve a lot to learn, period.
I know what moving averages are. I also know short-term averages mean little.
LOLZ!
Your spelling and punctuation make it clear you’ve a lot to learn, period.
I can haz ur money tomorrow!
>>I love home debtors!
>>If it were not for home-debtors like you I would not have made a 70% return on my investments in 2007.
guys please keep this civil. Wash your dirty laundry somewhere else.
Remember a blog etiquette: If you cant/wont say something in front of a person, dont post it.
daycare,
Phrasing borrowed from Jenny Turner.
Owners (and esp. sellers) should be aware that a lot of smart money is betting that real estate will not turn the corner in ’08 (or ’09). It might help people make wiser decisions.
IMO, the real problems in the PDX market have yet to manifest. PDX has a lot of toxic IO/option loans that are just beginning to recast. Its going to get interesting.
Cheers,
SRS