Joe Friday wrote on January 01, 2008 07:59 AM: Jo Bob,

Hopefully you are relocating to a place where your remaining equity will have more purchasing power there also.

I am sure you have pondered the alternatives but all is not lost. Similar thing happened to me in 1992 when the market tanked in San Diego. I recall the median price dropping $70k in a short time. I had to sell and move to maintain my career...which looking back was the right thing to do. I walked out of escrow with only $5k in hand after selling the house for $185k.

I would think hard about retaining the house and not selling at the bottom. Things will change and real estate goes in cycles like everything else. Las Vegas has always been on an upward trend and this is the first real cycle people are experiencing here. In places like Phoenix or San Diego the market has been up and down many times. The house I sold in SD for $185k was worth $600k only 8 years later! Ah, if I had only rented it out and weathered the storm!

Another good alternative is to rent and SAVE and INVEST. There will be another downturn in the future and if you have money you can benefit from it. I haven't owned a home since the diaster of 1992 but just recently bought a foreclosure home that had been in the $350k range for $240k and I paid cash.

Now it all looks like a lot of sleepless nights back there for nothing.

Hang in there, best wishes, and Happy New Year!

Jo Bob wrote on December 31, 2007 12:33 PM: Thank you realtors, lenders, and builders. There is a small percentage of us who were transfered here for work in 2005 right at the peak and got caught up in the mess. Now that we are getting transfered back out before this all turns, we are getting hosed by the greed that created this mess in the first place. I am not upside down on my house either. I put down over 20% with a 5.75% 30 year fixed and now I am going to take a huge loss just to get out of this town. Lenders screwed us by making loans to fricking people with no verifiable income and now those of us who did it the "right way" are paying for that. Yes, I should have rented, but had no idea that I would be out of here in 2 years.

This SUCKS

Joe Friday wrote on December 28, 2007 04:47 PM: The whole issue isn't worth all the fuss I currently see. For every idiot that made a foolish choice and has an overpriced home go into foreclosure there is a buyer who benefits by being able to purchase. For every seller there is a buyer!

Those of us who sat out the bubble histeria and rented are now reaping the rewards of our patience and wisdom.

All the fools who listened to the realtors are going to hear a big sucking sound in 2008.

Happy New Year Suckers!!

Andrew wrote on December 28, 2007 11:49 AM: Yes Mike, subject to will be coming back in a big way. Hopefully there's some people left out there with good fixed rate loans for the taking.

mike wrote on December 27, 2007 08:16 PM: Yep, and the lenders are only going to get more desperate. Supply should start dropping since the new home market is out of business. Foreclosures will replace that supply stream but the prices will be much better than the builders can offer. Then the appraisals will be slashed on everything. Homes will be worth more than the appraisals, due to the archaic appraisal techniques. Lenders will lend less than the buyers are willing to pay. Soon sellers that bought in 2000&2001 will be lucky to sell over what they paid!

Can you say "subject to existing finance"? hope so. That will be their only way out.

Joe Friday wrote on December 27, 2007 07:43 AM: Yes, banks and lenders are taking the hit. I just bid on a home that went into foreclosure and it had $338k of total debt. The bank listed it at $240k asking price. You do the math.

The idiot that lost it paid $315k a little over a year ago and subsequently listed it for $365k. The "owner" kept dropping the price, on the market for over 200 days, and with months of unpaid payments, finally let it go into foreclosure.

The Shiller report released yesterday had Las Vegas real estate dropping 11% in the past year...look for another 10% in the coming year as all the conditions that affected the past year are still out there and will be for awhile.

mike wrote on December 25, 2007 07:40 PM: Oh yea. Many can't reduce their prices. The banks/lenders have to take the hit.

Many existing homes(and more to come) are selling at $100/ sq ft. in good areas. That's the problem for builders.

Mike wrote on December 25, 2007 07:14 PM:

now we're getting somewhere! believe me i know what has been going on. I understand the whole financial system has the full potential for a collapse. But, what does that mean? Nothing will have any value. nobody will have credit cards or mortgages. Maybe some longer drawn out collapse? Who knows? If that happens who cares, everyone will lose. Excluding that possibility, we must live and hope the end of the economy doesn't destroy everything. Now the fear and loss of trust is what makes for a large profit. That is how booms and busts work. Some will lose and others will reap huge gains. That is more likely the outcome. Ask the guys who have milked the USA(and the rest of the world) of all the funny money. Credit systems have mandatory losers. Hence, mandatory winners.

The cash went somewhere. Gas, cars, taxes, and every other kind of junk people buy.

Fear is great. Depending on your perspective.

Credit is still easy. Most likely will be easier in a market that is more in line with real fundamentals.

I plan on being here in 5 years. I'm sure the vegas market will be in a better situation in a few years.

Until then. Builders will stop building or go out of business.

Our population will more than likely increase.

That is my only point.

Glimmerman wrote on December 25, 2007 12:28 PM: Mike: You need to read these posts more carefully! I never said that builders "would sell homes at $100/sq/ft. I indicated what it would cost(based upon 30 years financing developments and business ventures) to build a quality home in an upscale community. Now the fact that up until now bulders and sellers have now been willing to acknowledge these numbers has nothing to do with the reality of costs. THAT IS THE CORE PROBLEM WITH HOUSING BUBBLES! Specualtion and greed push pricing well above actual costs/profit levels. THAT IS WHY IT CALLED IT A "BUBBLE." Unless sellers and builders aggressively adjust back down to historic and ecomomically driven price levels, their product will sit, homes wont sell and yes some big developers may go bankrupt! All this may very well happen! Hell many national builders have already marked down the valuations of their land portfolios by billions! MY god man, all across the world, major central banks have been scrambleing to shore up their failing/collapsing financial systems by infusions of money and credit. My point is only that either sellers prices adjust or they will be forced by the unfolding housing depression! Believe it or not, but just watch what is happening. Behind all the political posturing folks I know in the financing community are frankly scared to death! In August the financial system almost collapsed! Thre are trillions of dollars of junk floating around the world from all these liar loans in the form of SIV's and worthless debt derivitives that were foisted off investors. Many large banks have turned to foreign investors to add liquidity to stay afloat! Jesus, wake up man! The least of our problems is the cost of a lot! The whole system could tumble into chaos!

Brent wrote on December 25, 2007 11:40 AM: Mike,
You are just wasting your time here because most people have no idea what it takes to get a piece of raw land in Nevada developed. 1/4 acre, (10,000sq ft),$100k,Summerlin, not in the past several years and I doubt in the future either. Developers only sell in blocks of 20 or more and then only to certain builders.If you were real lucky you may pick up a burned home in a tract on 1/4 acre!

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