patrick.net

Every broken clock is right every 12 hours...

If you keep being a doom and gloomer...you will be right at some point, if you are bullish you will also we right.

I have been a bear on real estate ever since 2003, when we first looked into buying and got terribly frustrated here in LA, not to sound like a broken record but of course all realtors were laughing at me, CA would NEVER crash...maybe level out...yeah right, I don't call a 35% drop leveling out - I was stubbron back then and I am very happy to have waited it out...the fact is though...I have lived in a crappy rental for 6 years, landlord is a pain in the ass, I work from home and would love to setup a nice office alla new floors, cabinets, possible break down a wall and extend - all the things I cannot do in a rental. I am in escrow now on a much much nicer house (w/pool), even better neighborhood and my mortgage is going to be only slightly higher than my rent is. (20%down 30yr loan) -

I don't care what anybody says...I don't see how that is not a no brainer. And if the market goes down further - so what? If I don't buy, I still have to pay the rent, in essence I am still paying a mortgage, somebody else's mortgage because I have to live somewhere. I'd rather pay my own. Been on the sidelines way too long. We rented a really nice house for a while in 2003...then the landlord had to sell - BAM, we had to move. Totally sucks living with that uncertainty! And moving sucks anyways...

Funny Thing is...I have kept all 45 listings that we looked at in 2003 and just looked them up on zillow and guess what...that's exactly where we are now here in LA. 2003 prices. Amazing!! Of course, back then I didn't have the downpayment like now so it still helped to have rented all these years.

Don't be a bear forever! I have a few older friends that have been bearish on real estate for 30 years...I almost became one of them :)

Buy a house for the right reason - because you need a place to live. If you are waiting for the market to be at the very bottom then you are speculating just like you would with a stock. That mindset is what has caused the bubble in the first place. Don't expect to make big money with your home. Buy it so you have a place for your kids to grow up. And once its free and clear in 30 years, the kids can have it and rent it out and get a head start like some of you in this forum who were lucky enough to inherit a rental prop.

…Deals are out there!

The only person I feel bad for is the next tenant in this crappy rental house with a landlord that hates to fix anything...but there is always a sucka out there. I was that sucka for a long time...

Now, go and buy a house! The time has come.

#housing