patrick.net

Also I had to make a new account, my account didn't move over from old forum. :(

As little as $1500??? Jesus, no wonder CA is broke.

Even within LA metro area, house price varies quite a bit. If you look at area like Pasadena, Arcadia and San Gabriel alike, house price barely drops. May be around 5-10% from the peak. If you went little further to the east like La Verne, Claremont, Upland and Rancho, house prices are down more as you move east. Rancho and upland probably back to 2003-2004 level in general but are still overpriced in my opinion. Good luck.

Well it turned out to be a joke. Inside of the house was trashed and needed at least 20k-30k in work. Funny that the photos of the place online that the agent used didn’t not show the extent of the damage which was everywhere, and nothing in listing eluded to it being a fixer-upper. When we pulled up there were at least 20 other people waiting to go in and look at it, and I could tell that many others had looked at it earlier in the day.

When we pulled up and I saw all the people waiting to look at it, I told my wife forget it, because it looked like a bidding war setup, which caused us to get in a fight with her arguing with me and calling me negative. I think I am just going to have to find a house and buy it and show up with the keys because it is too stressful looking at houses with my wife, she really wants to move out of where we are and I think she would take anything, she becomes far too emotional over the whole issue. Every time I shoot down a house that we look at or give a lowball offer I have to hear how I am negative and a downer on the whole issue and that we are never going to get a house yada yada yada. I think in a couple of months I am just going to have to find a three bedroom place to rent, I was really trying to delay moving out of our two bedroom apartment until we found a house, but with 6 month and a 2 year old our two bedroom is just bursting at the seams.

I am so sick of this housing market and wish it would just die already!!!

I am so sick of this housing market and wish it would just die already!!!

I don't know if you know or got this far in the process of any bank owned/REO homes, but they will (after jumping through hoops to get the best price) most likely make you sign an addendum which will include only a 7 day inspection contingency period.

This may be barely enough time for a house, but it is completely insane for lots/land. I tried to buy one and they would just not move on the inspection period...now it is listed for 25% less of the previous asking price.

I am sure there are some good deals, but banks are sitting on a lot of inventory and everyone seems to think this is a good time to get a deal, so it is probably an uphill battle for anyone without inside knowledge of the market.

You know, it sounds like your wife drank the RE cool-aid. Or it's just a strong nesting instinct. I've owned two houses and rent now and can tell you there is little difference, except as a renter I don't spent my weekends (and money) at Lowe's.

Rpanic01 - just rent. Your wife will be happy with the extra space, and you won't face the situation of resenting her for the rest of your lives together for making you buy a house that immediately lost 20% of its value. Rent a place and just tell her you're going to have your pick of the litter when the market bottoms in a few years. It's going to overshoot big time, and it's going to stay at the bottom for years.

I haven't seen any stories about people finding gems out there in the foreclosure swamp. I think that finding a gem is rare. More than likely is the same story you tell about houses that need work because as the forclosure was looming the "owners" trashed the place on their way out. Even if they didn't destroy the cosmetics what other problems await someone who buys a house that was likely built cheaply in the boom and never maintained in any meaningful way. I'd want to walk the place with my home inspector first to learn what he or she looks for and also to get a real time look at any issues even small ones. I think the approach is to look for the really wrecked place knowing that you have to fix it. That way you won't have any competiton from people looking to move into a bigger place. I can't help be think we still have a couple of years before prices settle. Don't catch the falling knife! (I sold my San Jose house last July and have been renting a bigger house since)

I use 1997-98 prebubble plus inflation. Check the trend line in the chart.

http://www.housingbubblebust.com/OFHEO/Major/SoCal.html

I would also look at the mediams in your city/county and not specific homes.
That 320K home may well be worth only 200K. Again check 1997-98 prices and factor in inflation.

For Ventura median prices, I see currently at 475K but should fall down to 300K.

All spectrum of price ranges were effected during the bubble years and all will recover downwards as prices fall into the long term trend.

"I see ads on Craigslist for 2 bedroom homes renting for as little as $1500"

If investors are picking up all the REO i expect more rental supply to hit the market driving rentals downward. This weekend.. its been anounced that my region has the highest unemployment in history at 11.5%. Far more than 1991. We only added 400 new resturant and bartender jobs. im talking about Silicon Valley here.

We are in deep shift!