What is Digg?300 Comments
- Condemned, on 01/29/2008, -2/+50It'll probably go down even further in 2008
- Wargalas, on 01/29/2008, -2/+25And those of us who played it conservatively, got fixed mortgages, didn't over extend ourselves, and more, are now sitting pretty. Those of you who bought houses you couldn't afford, got wild mortgages, or didn't plan on even dumb things like losing your job, this is going to sound harsh, but sell your place, move into an apartment, and chalk it up to a valuable life lesson learned.
The government doesn't owe you anything. The mortgage companies aren't owed anything. The government wouldn't do anything if interest rates stayed low and people got to keep their McMansions, so why should they do anything when you made a bad financial decision?
Me personally, I'm looking for an upgrade. I doubt severely that I'll be able to sell in this market, however, houses that were once out of reach, are now easily within reach.
Sorry guys, but you deserve nothing but a harsh fiscal lesson. - sinurgy, on 01/29/2008, -3/+23At the risk of sounding bitter, I kinda want to send a big "f u, I told you so" to all those people who argued with me so vehemently the past couple of years.
- ScottDaMan, on 01/29/2008, -3/+22I would like to thank those that said I was making the stupidest mistake of my life selling my house 2 years ago and renting just to buy now. I'm a total moron. You were right.
- puter, on 01/29/2008, -1/+18They'll just have to stop giving out sub-prime loans, and bring housing prices back to a reasonable level. What do they expect when a middle class family has to get a sub-prime loan to buy a middle class home, and pay more than it's worth. I feel sorry for those who bought houses that are going to come down in worth because they paid more than the house is worth in the first place. They get the option of selling their house for a loss or holding onto a bad investment
- d3dm, on 01/29/2008, -3/+17OMG! What will all the illegal alien carpenters and sheetrockers do now?
- protodon, on 01/29/2008, -1/+14Don't worry guys, I watched the State of the Union address and everything's fine. Then I went and sold my house for some magic beans!
- senfo, on 01/29/2008, -1/+14I'm in the same situation as you. For my own benefit, I would love to see the housing market come tumbling down to what it was back in 2000.
The housing market is absolutely ridiculous in my area. Houses that were going for $175,000 in 2000 are now going for $500,000. Houses that were worth $350,000 are now going for well over $1,000,000. This is great for anybody that already owns a house, but horrible for anybody looking to buy one. Salaries over the last 8 years haven't gone up anywhere near as much as the housing market. It makes me sick to think about it. - jetblackz4, on 01/29/2008, -1/+14Hopefully we will not be bombarded with House flip shows anymore. I am so sick of them....
- inactive, on 01/29/2008, -1/+13This is news? I knew this when my neighbor jumped out of his 3rd story window last week.
- liquisoft, on 01/29/2008, -2/+14Like they say, it's a buyer's market.
Which means that there are so many idiots who bought houses they couldn't afford there is a surplus of homes for sale, and very few people actually willing to go to the bank and try to get a ridiculous loan so they can buy a home they can't afford. - StaticThunder, on 01/29/2008, -1/+12Seven years ago you would have made a killing as the value of your home appreciated up through 2006 (some markets more than others). Even now you'ld STILL be way ahead for buying in 2000/2001. So be sure to thank your friend for his bad advice.
- Look4Truth, on 01/29/2008, -7/+17This is just the beginning. The dollar is crashing and the economy will follow.
http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=NYBOT_DX&v=dmax - inactive, on 01/29/2008, -2/+12Help combat soaring food prices by picking lettuce for $0.25/hr.
- FredFredrickson, on 01/29/2008, -1/+10Sounds good to me... then I can finally afford one myself. :D
- greevar, on 01/29/2008, -0/+9Recover? The market is finally falling back to prices that existed before they were artificially inflated.
- Rufunki, on 01/29/2008, -0/+8Housing prices double, triple and quadruple what they were just 5 years ago, they then wonder why the housing prices drop. I for one am happy to see the market finally start balancing it's self out. There isn't a shortage of buyers, just a shortage of stupid buyers in a position to buy again (all being foreclosed on)
- Locke2053, on 01/30/2008, -1/+9You're wrong. I'll give you a simple example.
If one person had listened to the "throwing money away" nonsense and bought a house last year instead of renting, and another person just rented (all other things equal), the person who rented would have a substantially higher net worth than the person who bought a home. It's not about flipping. You are fooling yourself if you think you are ahead vs. renting when your net worth is lower than it would have been if you rented.
Also, if someone who bought a house that dropped in value, and now he has to move because of his job, he could end up owing more money to the bank than his house is worth. When he moves to a new area, he will still have to pay on his old mortgage, and he won't be able to qualify for a new mortgage because he already has one that is under water.
Buying a house is like buying stocks with leverage. You borrow to purchase more shares/house than you can afford. If the price goes down, you can end up losing more money than you initially invested! Houses are eve more leveraged than stocks because most people borrow much more than double their equity value. - ausfahrt, on 01/29/2008, -0/+8Even further could be an extra 1%. Meaning it's not likely to recover this year.
- choopie911, on 01/29/2008, -0/+8Considering housing went up 99% in the last 10 years here in BC, I couldn't be happier to hear this :D
- SuperGhost, on 01/29/2008, -0/+8Quit acting like the recession is coming... it's already here. Really though... I have a family friend who purchased a $450,000 house - they're gonna drop it like it's hot and buy another smaller home before their credit takes a hit. ARM for the lose!
- inactive, on 01/29/2008, -5/+13For who? People that want to buy a home? I'm sick of hearing that *****. It's only bad for people that own homes.
This is very good news for me, and will make "times" for me, very easy. I don't own a home and if I did I would have sold it a long time ago when the real estate market was dropping. - KingGorilla, on 01/29/2008, -1/+9Yay I can afford to buy a house soon
- inactive, on 01/29/2008, -0/+7So basically people who cannot afford a home arent buying one! So the market is correcting itself!
btw folks read this
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jCC-iZOxHuYLWk ... - 3tcp, on 01/29/2008, -1/+8Developers won't build new homes to sell if there is a huge surplus of existing homes for sale (and under foreclosure).
- Locke2053, on 01/29/2008, -2/+7I'll add to that sentiment and direct it to the people who told me I was "throwing money away" by renting these past two years. Now you home owners are the ones throwing money away with interest and leverage! Don't worry, you can crash in the spare room in my large, luxury apartment after you get evicted :-)
- petebot, on 01/29/2008, -0/+5Yeah, I was thinking the same thing about condos in Chicago...there are new ones still being built on just about every other corner.
- puter, on 01/29/2008, -1/+6The low prices are still not down to what the homes are worth
The drop in prices will only be welcomed because it will make the market reasonable, rather than stupid.
Maybe if the housing market gets bad enough it will actually be worth it to buy a home. - inactive, on 01/29/2008, -1/+6It's good for the U.S. economy to shake off the dead wood now and again. So the know nothing speculators, market timers, and stock pickers got whooped -- GOOD! Efficient markets killed the quant funds. Eugene Fama should run for president.
- Butros, on 01/30/2008, -0/+5It will feel good to be able to afford a starter home on a good income
- StaticThunder, on 01/30/2008, -0/+5It really only makes sense if you are going to stay in the same area for 5 years, otherwise you get nailed on closing costs. Most of the first couple years is all interest even with a reasonable down-payment.
But figuring out whether it makes sense to buy or rent is a pretty simple calculation, anybody who says you should never buy, and anyone who says you should never rent is oversimplifying.
But if you are renting, you should consider banking the difference between that and a house payment. Thats the part that everyone seems to forget. - ScottMitchell, on 01/29/2008, -0/+5Yes, because the supply of homes far exceeds the real demand. The housing bubble was not propped up by an explosion in population, but rather by the access to easy money with nothing down.
- StaticThunder, on 01/29/2008, -3/+8And then it will come back up, just as always. People have to live somewhere and there's more of them every year. The trick is holding during the down-times.
The time to buy is when people are saying "real estate will never go anywhere, you're an idiot if you buy." The time to sell is when people say "buy now, you can't lose in real estate!" - FredFredrickson, on 01/29/2008, -1/+6There comes a time when merely posting "***** the _____" on Digg stops doing any good, and you actually have to get up, move away from the computer, and do something about things.
- sinurgy, on 01/29/2008, -1/+6"Once you see the bandwagon, you're to late"
- Spero, on 01/29/2008, -1/+6New news? No.
- ferrariman60, on 01/29/2008, -2/+6Well, don't look at this leading economic indicator, but I think the writing is on the wall (even more). Whatever the government does, we're going into a recession. It will probably be more severe than some, but really now, it's not unhealthy. That's how the business cycle works. It hurts, but it is just part of the economic cycle. Of course, the whole mortgage crisis thing really didn't help. ARMs are a bad idea, people. Don't do it unless you have the ability to convert at any time to a fixed rate.
- shcotttty, on 01/29/2008, -2/+6I guess people don't like to buy houses when the economy is crashing/we are in war/our gov't doesnt give damn about us...who woulda thought - ill keep livin w/ my pops
- dan222555, on 01/29/2008, -2/+6Prophecy is not for you, don't quit your day job.
- kingmanic, on 01/29/2008, -1/+5He's on Digg. Better then even odds he lived in his mums basement for 7 years.
- Locke2053, on 01/29/2008, -3/+7Actually, developers are STILL building and selling houses, sometimes at a loss, to keep their business and employees in working condition to make money once the market inevitably turns back around.
This is why housing inventories have not fallen despite the fact that houses are still selling (just more slowly). Interviews I've heard with builders echo this sentiment. - Drax0n, on 01/30/2008, -0/+3"when the time comes that the banks can pay" *cough* You do realize the banks have been making reccord profits every year. Infact the banks can afford to pay RIGHT now, and the only thing that would happen is their sharer price / profits would drop. But you can't expect them to pay for their own mistakes.. just borrow the money and get the government to fix it.
How the hell can some of the most greedy, (see large atm fees) , profitible buisness get grants and government assistance. Do you americans realise that every year houndreds of millions of dollars are given to exxon in the US? (Note exxons profits are already in the billions each year) and the banks recieve huge tax breaks? Any company that can PROFIT 1 billion + per yeaer does not need government tax breaks and incentives.. but yet their lobbiests make it happen and no one seems to care. - RetlawST, on 01/29/2008, -11/+14***** the market, ***** the buyers who would offer ridiculous prices for houses that weren't worth half of that, and ***** the banks who would allow them to do it. Unfortunately it's at the point that we HAVE to do something to help them out or it's just going to screw us over more in the long term.
But, when the time comes that the banks can pay, we sure as hell better make them pay. - theutopian, on 01/30/2008, -1/+4The 20's saw the rise of large amounts personal debt. Stock market speculators bet big on risky investments that crashed. The government created a lax regulatory environment for business. International trade decline. Decline in the value of the dollar. Mass inequality of wealth and income amongst the classes. Could easily be applied to today as well at the 20's.
- 3tcp, on 01/29/2008, -4/+7You're missing about 20 pages of research and analysis after that first sentence in order to come to reasonably come to your conclusion in the second sentence. It doesn't help that you're wrong either, stagnation isn't the same as 'crashing'.
- aliengoods, on 01/29/2008, -1/+4You're right, and that tiny section of the world is called the US, which is why the article appeared in the New York Times. Got it?
- OrangeTide, on 01/29/2008, -0/+3More likely people don't want to buy a house when nobody will extend obscene amounts of credit to us anymore. Median home price is 720K where I live, I don't think it's practical to get a loan for 5x my salary to buy a house. And apparently neither does anyone else.
- FredFredrickson, on 01/29/2008, -3/+6Apple IS in trouble right now.
- andy3109, on 01/29/2008, -0/+3In tons of cities housing prices were going up 50% a year!!! Thank god they are going down. 25% loss = nothing compared to how much they went up from 2002-2006
- norman619, on 01/29/2008, -1/+4HINT: Google the title and you will find the same information on other sites.
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