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Our realtor told us recently (we were looking into condos), that condo loans can no longer be FHA, so finding qualified borrowers with 20% down for a conventional loan is becoming a huge challenge. Our best bet is to stay in our house until the market straightens out a bit. *sigh*Quote:
Originally Posted by indysteel
I wonder why FHA is getting out of the condo market.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pax
What scares me in my current home is our town is just rather small. Even during a "hot" period, I doubt a lot of homes were bought and sold. So, it will take that much longer for the market to recover. Ugh. I'm never going to get out of Franklin, Indiana. :(
The further irony in this: When bought the house, we could not talk the sellers down from their fantasy price. So, we made an offer that was contingent on the appraisal in that we agreed to pay up to a certain amount if the seller agreed to sell us the house down to a certain price. If the appaisal came in below that price, the seller had the option of walking, but he had to reimburse us for out of pockets. In making that offer, we had poured over the few available comps and felt that we knew what the house was "worth." This was right after the new appraisal rules had gone into effect, so we felt confident about how this would play out. As it turned out, the appraisal came back exactly--to the dollar--where we thought it would, and we got the house for exactly what we had offered in the first place (and the seller's had initialy rejected as "insulting."). Sometimes the comps work in your favor; sometimes they don't.
My house in Louisiana is for sale, and no-one has looked at it in over a month. At least it's rented out. But meanwhile, I'm stuck renting a house I don't want to stay in. For my sanity, I needed to leave my old office, but I hate being stuck with this current housing arrangement.
I may b*tch and moan about how I want a house of my own, but actually I'm content being a renter right now.
I have no equity, but I'm not tied down to a money-sink either. I don't have my own dirt, but I can move if the neighborhood wanes or a better job beckons.
So, really, I shouldn't complain. :o
I'd happily change places with you, Knott. I do think they got our square footage wrong, so I think we're going to challenge it. If we're successful, we might bump it by a $3-4k.
@Pax, I just saw your post about your brother. How awful. That really sickens me.
Thanks Indy, it's a pretty sad thing, we're all ten years or so from retirement and all of their plans are up in the air. I don't think any of us expected this.
I got a marriage proposal from my favorite elderly food pantry client today. I told him I suspected he just wanted me for my canned beans. We both cracked up. :D
Along the lines of Knotted's post, I'm a renter, too and very ambivalent about it. I've yet to own a house and feel I'm lacking for doing so, yet I have the freedom to move anywhere. I go back and forth between wondering if I should have something with equity built up or be happy that I'm able to contribute to my savings account every month, while if I had a house I know $$ would be tight for me.
The grass isn't always greener, no matter what side you're on!
After dealing with foundation repairs last winter I'm no longer in love with the idea of being a homeowner, but I do love the home we currently own. Thankfully our neighborhood seems to have held its value, but if we move again for DH's work we plan to rent ... if we can find something that is dog-friendly. Real estate is just not a good investment right now, and why tie up your savings? There are so many other ways to stash and grow your nest egg.
Ah, my son and DIL are looking for their first house. They have been approved for a first time buyer FHA loan, special program from the Commonwealth of MA. Condos are not excluded... he's looking at both single family, and condos.
Could this be a regional thing, based on the market? I was surprised they were approved for up to 325K, although he is looking at 250-275. He's seeing a lot of crap out there, and a bit discouraged.
LOL!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by BleeckerSt_Girl
It could be regional, here we have large numbers of unoccupied condos so their value has plummeted.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crankin
It is nationwide. It might be better or worse in some areas but nationwide.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pax
IMHO condo values have plummeted and are sitting vacant in part because the entry level market now is a single family home.
Why would you pay HOA fees when you can get a single family home for the cost of a car? Do you really hate mowing the lawn that much?
I bought very low for the market at the time.
No matter how fairly I'd price my recently remodeled condo even if a buyer wants my condo (for the location, bikeable to BART, AMTRAC, trains, farm markets, indie coffeeeee, shopping, Bay trail, lots of green space to walk the doggeee, walkable to schools ...) I am being undercut by short sales and repos.
Thing is short sales and repos are sold as is; no inspection, gaurantees and often in pi$$ poor shape. But if you have the cash and construction skills to fix them up, replace the fixtures, appliances, counters and lights distressed desperate sellers rip out to sell when they leave (go tour a repo open house :() you can snap them up, fix and rent it out.
You'll need both, the cash and skills because banks are not lending. Therefore Pax's brothers neighbor, the investor with lots of ready cash to snap up deals in good or good enough shape to rent it out? That's the norm. America is for sale my friends.
Nothing's selling, nobody is flipping except me, I'm flipping out. :o But if anyone on TETD wants to rent a beautiful bikeable condo in the Bay area let me know.
My mom, honey, and I were having a conversation about this last weekend. None of us (especially my mom) EVER expected to be living like this, in an abysmal economy with no sign of it getting even a little bit better. None of us expected to be rich, but we did expect that a lifetime of work would allow us to live without the fear of losing everything. Guess I should have been a banker.
Pax, I think very few professions are safe from the recession. Wall Street is a big scapegoat and rightfully so, but remember that a lot of rank-and-file to middle management in the financial sector lost their jobs in '07-'08, across the country (not just in financial centers). Many of the institutions that stayed afloat instituted hiring freezes, so they didn't necessarily absorb all of these new free agents. DH's company went through several rounds of layoffs and eventually went under. It was not pretty. Some people found other work, others are changing careers, and some are still hurting very badly. Some really excellent people have been out of work for far too long, and things are not looking better.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pax
One of the few people I know who says she has weathered this pretty well is my hairdresser. People still need to look good when they are interviewing for jobs, sometimes they are coming every 6 weeks instead of 4. Her DH is a bartender and he has stayed busy. Guess people still need to blow off steam and drown their sorrows.
And you can pay someone to mow the grass and do lots of other stuff for way less than the condo dues....Condos here are still going reasonably well, though - lots of students who have parents with a LOT of money (and not a lot of sense...)Quote:
Originally Posted by Trek420
True, that. With my condo near several colleges/universities (Duck on Wheels was on loan from her institute of higher learning to UCB for close to a year. She biked to her office sometimes. On days off biked to favorite bird sanctuaries to do photography) in the past I might have sold to a parent wanting the sweet 4 year tax deduction rather than pay rent.Quote:
Originally Posted by Blueberry
With the market now they'd better hope their student stays the full 4 in the same area, then a masters, go for a Phd ... on to be a TA ....:o
Trek -
Our market is lucky. It never went as high as CA, but it hasn't crashed. Some areas haven't lost value, a few are still appreciating. Days on the market are still not bad for good homes (the ones that are in bad shape sit there, and always would have).
Still....we're thinking of selling our home. Because - if things get worse (as I think they might well), who knows if we would remain stable. Real estate used to be safe - not so much anymore:(
Blueberry - we're in the same place, thinking about selling our home. Primarily because my SO's job is ending in November, she can make twice what I do so is looking at jobs around the country. Fortunately except for a tiny mortgage we're debt free, so if we end up staying here we can keep the house on my salary alone. It just puts her in a bad situation job/retirement wise.
Condos are actually selling well here. Because, maybe, you can still buy one cheaper than a house. When the average price is 300K, things are different... of course you can get a condo much more expensive than 300K, but there aren't tons of empty ones sitting around.
I am surprised by all of the negativity. The unemployment rate here is better than the national average, but still at 6-7%. But, truthfully, I don't know anyone , really know, who has lost a job. I got a job within 2 weeks of graduating in my new career. My son got a new job in 2010, just a year ago. He's had raises and other good things happen. My DH's company (software) is doing the best it has ever done. They are giving everyone double their stakeholder shares (it's a privately held company). This isn't bragging, but, I think this economy thing is very field specific and also regional. All I can say, is that I am glad I left AZ. The foreclosure signs on every block were just depressing. But, I saw that bubble waiting to burst many years ago. There's more to life than endless summer.
Crankin-
Some industries have been hit harder than others. I've been either unemployed or significantly underemployed (or working in a nightmare of a job where I might or might not actually see my paycheck) since June of 2008. I'm well qualified and I've been working my butt off in the jobs I've had/been able to get and trying to find others.
I understand this.
There are a lot of other people I graduated with, who are not employed. I decided to go on every interview I got and frankly, I am doing a type of therapy that is not what i want to do when I am done with my "residency," as I fondly call it. Given the fact that there aren't tons of options until one gets licensed, I decided the culture of the place I worked was the most important. And, I made a good choice. I love the flexibility of my job, and while I said I would "never" go into people's homes, I like it. I don't want to work with kids forever, but I do get work with the parents quite a bit; and it is filling in experience that I didn't get in my internships, where I was so focused on working with adults, because my previous career (teaching) was mostly with adolescents. I actually liked the work I did in my internship last year, better. But, my days go quickly and I can take 2 years of this.
I guess what I am saying is that compared to others I graduated with, I was not so picky in limiting myself to certain things. I want to get the licensing stuff done as soon as I can. It's not perfect. And the pay? Well, sometimes I hardly believe how much I made my last year of teaching. I'll never see that again, unless I open my own practice, and frankly, I'm not willing to do that.
The regional/industry specific thing is very true. Since I live in a place that focuses on health care, technology, and education, things are not so bad.
Busily practicing saying Rensselaer (ren-SEE-lear)
I now what everyone is saying - I've probably lost all my furniture with this move, but I'm working and liking Upstate so far, even though I 'm fairly broke for the next week or so (Had to get an advance just to get a place)
Work is doing good - we're actually in a old Grant's department store - i'm two miles away from work
God - this past month has been too crazy!
CrazyCanuck - take a look at the Google logo for French google today: it's a memorial to Freddy Mercury.
Here's an animation of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX2BQM0D01M
Pooh, all I got was the regular Google page. But the youtube video was cool.Quote:
Originally Posted by KnottedYet
Try http://www.google.fr/ It's still up right now. Probably won't be after midnight their time.
The "enhanced" page titles don't make it onto Google's secure site(s), either, so if you're using HTTPS Everywhere or another method of forcing secure login, you won't see the page.
Maybe you have a particular browser set aside for those "guilty" insecure pleasures. ;)
I have a few friends who have lost their jobs, and many of my other friends are making less money now than they used to. Some who lost good jobs are now working at jobs for only a portion of their previous salary. Almost every business owner on main street in my town says they are struggling because people are spending less. Our silent food pantry, which had plenty of food on the shelves two years ago and even last year, now looks half empty at any given time for the past several months- donations and supplies are still coming in like before, but the number of clients is rising steadily, and it's now hard to keep enough food stocked to go around for everyone.
The effects of the recession are plain to see in my town.
I blame Wal*Mart and Wall Street.
And the sheeple who handed them the power to f*ck us over.
"Oh, yes please beloved chain store, sell me that widget made in China for $2.93 rather than that one at the local independent hardware store made in Ohio for $3.50. I save and every one wins!" "Oh, yes please, give me that house loan for 1% down and adjustable interest! I can get that house immediately without being forced to have stable personal finances and everyone wins!" "I get what I want, and someone else will take care of it! Because everyone wins and Santa Claus is watching out for us!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKv6RcXa2UI
Of course, I had to learn from a European media that the recently touted Martin Luther King Jr. monument was made in China, and assembled in the US by Chinese workers brought to Washington DC to do the work. Truly, I find this deeply shameful. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-in-China.html
And .... it has shall we say an editorial error in it. Not spelling or even grammar but kind of like the oddly worded imported t'shirt something is wrong. One word makes a big difference. Carved in granite, oopsie :rolleyes: :
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/...153930799.html
They are plain all around and likely here for a long time. Thanks BSG for what you and your food pantry do.Quote:
Originally Posted by BleeckerSt_Girl
I truly was not trying to sound unfeeling. This is an article that was in the paper a day or so after I made my above post.
http://articles.boston.com/2011-09-0...-massachusetts
In the past, Massachusetts has lagged years behind the national economy in recovery, so I guess this is our turn.
Crankin, it's funny, but whenever we cross the border from NY and drive through Mass (which is very often, we are right near it and have family and friends in eastern MA), we see a huge difference immediately. The roads are repaired, bridges painted, houses and lawns well maintained, even the cars look newer. We can't help but notice this, it's always kind of obvious. Not that there aren't places in MA suffering from the recession, mind you. :o
You see that when you cross county and even sometimes township lines in Ohio.
Total speculation, but I wonder if more things are funded on a state level in Massachusetts, so there's more of a cushion and everyone shares the pain a little more equally???
Oak, check your post count. ;) I wonder that too--MA probably has a larger tax base than does Ohio, too.
I'm pretty sure we're all screwed. I've been e-mailing back and forth with one of my former professors (who wrote a couple of recommendation letters) for me. He asked why I wasn't in a PhD program--it's because the grant situation is so bad that no one is willing to spend money on people who they don't know or who aren't science rock stars. It's going to get worse before it gets better. And people whine about the US "falling behind."
They don't call it Taxachusetts for nuthin'. :p
Maybe MA also had someone on the congressional transportation committee for a while? That could help, too.
It was great - about 45 minutes - same as the bus -plus got in some exercise.
And I got my debit card from Cal EDD - i'm rich! :rolleyes:
I hate to tell you, but that Taxachusetts label went out the window several years ago. There have been several studies that show we are not up there in the top anymore. It is also a figure that can be calculated several ways. Besides, I get suspicious of anyone who complains about taxes. Really, how do people think we pay for roads, schools, public safety? New Hampshire brags about no income tax, but their property taxes make mine look like nothing. And they still don't have public school kindergarten.
I am not sure how much the state compares to others in the percentage that it contributes to different things. My only basis of comparison is public universities. Ours get almost no state support, due the the prevalent belief that you are a moron if you go to one :). Despite this, my older son got a stellar education at U Mass Amherst. But, when I look at my alumni magazine from ASU, I see billions of dollars in new construction, lots of new majors, and the university really being engaged in the community. How does a state that has a 50% foreclosure rate and high unemployment do this?
And, outside of eastern MA, maybe starting ten miles from where I live, it's really rural, except for 2 smaller cities that are terminally economically depressed. So, I am not sure how large our population is compared to Ohio. Most of the population is within a very small area.
Oak, we see the same variation from town to town here, too. In fact, it is stark. We have 351 cities and towns and none of them want to give up their own unique identity, in order to share resources. We have counties, but in name only.
I think the difference this time, as opposed to the recessions in 2000 and the early nineties (which I was here for) is that now, our economy, which is driven by health care, education, and technology, is just in the right spot at the right time. Before, these industries were losing jobs and we lost a huge manufacturing base. But, that happened a long time ago and it's never coming back. And, we are tolerant...
*sigh* i'm having one of those "will rehabbing this injury ever end :(" days..Somedays i'm totally cool with it...others..
I had a bone scan(no new trauma, just same area still inflamed) & saw the sports dr specialist the other day n was told no super duper activity (besides the core work, walking & stairs i've been doing) for at least another 3 months. I'm not even sure I want to take the normal anti inflams nor the natural ones (nalgesic) as I know this is going to take time to heal. I didn't rehabilitate the injury properly the first time as I had no clue. My knee was the main body part that was the focus of rehabbing...I had no idea a dislocated SC joint would come back to haunt me this way...
I'm the cause of my own circle..as soon as things feel like they've really improved, I go out and test my body a bit (no not by cycling or swimming but a very very short walk on hard sand) & find out that that wasn't such a good idea. Nothing like doing a long walk & getting searing pains through your collarbones...!
I have to carry my food w me to uni as i've changed my diet & that will have to change. I'm borrowing a business briefcase trolley from a friend so i can remove the pressure from my shoulders. I have one of those portable shopping bag trolleys for groceries etc. I even purchased a waist hydration pack as carrying a water bottle doesn't work either...
The worst thing...I hate being a "cager" :( & when I can get back into cycling, I won't feel as guilty...
Anywho, I just needed to get this off my chest..:o
Athletics. College football and men's basketball are cash cows, especially in the big conferences like the PAC-12. And they have to keep making bigger, shinier, more impressive facilities and programs to keep pace in the recruiting game, to make sure they keep the money rolling in from the marquee athletic programs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crankin
Yup, this has to be the answer. And you know what? I'd rather have the shabby 70's era concrete buildings than the glitz of Sun Devil football...
Yeah, but OSU has a huge football (and other stuff, but people only really care about the football!) program too, and while I confess I haven't looked recently, there certainly isn't the investment in new construction (maybe they're waiting for another building to burn down? :p) or much else. I realize it's subject to space constraints more than ASU might be (it sounds like it's trying to take over the whole of Tempe).
Ohio's public universities don't seem to get a whole lot of state funding either, and even our in-state tuition is pretty high for what you get. ASU's in-state tuition is next to nothing. UA's is pretty low too--even their graduate tuition is low. Out-of-state tuition, however, is insane. (I was considering doing a master's degree there, but that would have necessitated my moving there for a year and working to qualify for in-state tuition.)
Of course, I went to a university that was only vaguely aware that it had a football team (or any other team, for that matter), so what do I know? :o