Moving

[Trek420]

wow, thanks for the replies ladies. I hadn't even thought of the administration's effect on the housing market. That's more food for thought....

Well, I have no real estate or economics training whatsoever. Here in high priced sunny CA my totally unfounded theory is:

one reason the housing market's tanked is new housing being built driven by the attitude that prices would always rise. So buy build sell turn that joint, what could possibly go wrong?

Well it's cyclical folks, what goes up will come down and vice versa. Nothing will boom forever.

much of the buying and selling above was fueled and financed by these variable rate loans, interest only loans and other smoke and mirrors.

Now a year later these buyers MUST get out of those loans .... and the markets flooded with housing ..... and tanked.

My neighbor for example is selling her home, already bought a new one, her mortgage on this one probably rises monthly and now .... she has two to pay

Now, if I had enough money to buy another place that'd be cool ;-)

As for the political thing not to politicize the board, simply the market hates uncertainty, who will win, who will loose ... and war's rarely good for the economy unless you're making munitions.

But also people hate uncertainty.

We also have thousands of troops whose family can't make plans. I have a coworker in the Army reserves. He's served his entire term in the reserves, then was pulled back in to go to Iraq. He served there for a year and a half and is now back at home and newly married.

But they can't plan to buy a house because he could be called up yet again And he's surely one of many

[Tuckervill]

My neighbor for example is selling her home, already bought a new one, her mortgage on this one probably rises monthly and now .... she has two to pay

She really can't blame anyone but herself for buying a new house before she sold the old one. Poor choices are poor choices.

I agree with you about the variable and interest-only loans. Some people do NOT consider all the possibilities when making such decisions. The fact that the interest rate could rise (will rise) is often discounted in favor of having the newer or bigger or lovelier place. Add on people financing cars for 7-10 years these days, and all I see in our economy is a house of cards that many in middle America have built. One foul wind....

Karen

[Trek420]

She really can't blame anyone but herself for buying a new house before she sold the old one. Poor choices are poor choices.

True dat, I don't know her situation, we only waved "hi".

But often you can sell contingent on your finding another place to live so if she's not leaving the area she coulda stayed.

[Mr. Bloom]

Wow TriMom, that's a lot of change! You're entitled to be scared...

I'd offer a couple of thoughts:

• consider the area around Bethel Maine (where SheFly also has a home). We were just there on vacation, and about 1/3 of the houses are for sale...all price ranges. It's got cycling, skiing, river sports, etc.
• don't count on an administration change to have immediate affect on anything other than attitudes; it takes years for a new administration to impact the behavior of the Federal Reserve (through Fed governor appointments). Fiscal policy can have some more immediate effect, but I see slightly more downside there than upside in that(IMHO)
• consider working capital in your start-up planning (I'm a banker)...lack of working capital is the primary cause of small business failure. While inventory meets the accouting definition of "working capital", cash is king during the start-up period.
• if you have real "IRS problems", please consider the negative effect this can have on your creditworthiness if you expect to obtain any loans for the new business.

I encourage you to chase the dream and wish you the best.

[TriMom217]

thanks for the reply Mr. Silver and all.

yes, I have 'real' IRS problems. Hence selling the house vs. equity loans to start up a business. Selling the house takes care of the IRS issue and leaves us with just enough capital to get the ball rolling, providing we find some decent rental housing. My credit is shot but I should be ok to use my VA housing loan in about a year or so. The business will have to be a cash operation, but that's ok as long as we get enough from the sale of this house. We'd like to start small and grow without incurring lots of debt.

BTW, I love Bethel Maine. We spent a LOT of last winter there I have a friend who has a home ON the mountain. It made for a wonderful winter! I am already looking forward to nest winter. As a matter of fact, I just bought new skis last week.