The Post Subprime Crisis Home Buying Thread

ok, so we're not through the woods just yet but it's looking to be a better time to buy.

anyone else out there getting into the market? if so, what are you looking at?

tips/tricks for first time home buyer? experience with purchasing foreclosed properties?

real estate or ex-real estate industry vets for predictions over the next 1-2 years and how home prices will adjust?

this site has me freaked out though, http://www.housingbubblebust.com/

my background. i'm looking to purchase a home probably in the 1000-1500 sq ft range in either the Pasadena or Long Beach area. Silver Lake would also be nice but it's a little too pricey for what i want. the ideal home would be a pre-WWII era Craftsman.

discuss!

-Jeff

My wife and I are in the process of buying a home here in Jersey. Prices have gone down a little bit, but housing is still expensive (we're paying half a mil for 1500 sq. ft.). In the post sub-prime world, getting a mortgage is a huge hassle. They've asked me for all kinds of documentation. I'm starting to think that the next phone call is going to be the bank asking for medical records to make sure I don't die before the mortgage is paid off.

My wife and I are both young (I'm 27 and my wife is 25) and we plan on living in this home for about 7 years, so I'm pretty sure we'll weather the storm. I think that if you plan on being in the home for a few years when all this craziness will have passed, now is a good time to buy. If you may be moving again in a year or two, you might want to stay where you are.

This morning 30-year non-government mortgage rates were under 6% fixed. The difference in monthly payment that low a rate makes will eat up a 10% price drop in a helluva hurry.

If you think your local market is nearing the "bottom", even if you're within 10% of the bottom, I'd buy now. Hell, if you're buying your principle residence, I'd buy if you're within 20% of the bottom.

5-7/8% money is almost free. Government paper is 5-3/8%!!!!!

My wife and I are in the process of buying a home here in Jersey.

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Does that explain your avatar?

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

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Does that explain your avatar?

Not now chief, I'm in the fuckin' zone.

odoreater,

Many years ago I lived in Bricktown and then Pt Pleasant NJ.

What and where is Brick City?

In the zone?

My fiance and I are looking to get a home now as well. Well, not an actual house....but a townhouse. We don't need a six bedroom/5 bathroom house yet. It's in a really nice development, overlooking the lake and golf-course. Tons of bike/walk trails too. The house itself is about 2,000 square feet, fully furnished by Blu Dot of Minneapolis. Maple trim/cabinets and stainless steel appliances. 2 car garage, 2 bed and 2 bath. Everythings perfect. $180,000. We're really excited, and we figure now is definately the time to buy!

My girlfriend and I are going to buy soon. We've been planning on buying by mid-summer 08 for over two years now, so the timing is only coincidentally aligned with the down market. There are some fine deals to be had in Chicago with many good properties being on the market for over 120 days. We are in the market for a modern design, non-cookie cutter 3bd/2ba 1800sqft condo or townhouse in the prime Chicago neighborhoods and will likely snap one up in the next 1-2 months for around 550-600. I am a first time home buyer, but my girlfriend currently owns our old loft in Detroit, and we have 20% to put down with decent provable income, so I'm not really worried about securing a loan.

I think buyers with 2+ years of documented income commensurate with the mortgage being applied for in addition to 10% down should have no problems getting loans. That's pretty much how its always been outside of the last 4-5 years, so we're just back to business as usual.

Originally Posted by rnoldh

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odoreater,

Many years ago I lived in Bricktown and then Pt Pleasant NJ.

What and where is Brick City?

In the zone?

Brick City is the nickname for Newark, NJ, where I do the vast majority of my posting from.

What we did was buy an older house with good bones and remodel the ever loving **** out of it. We used a very thorough inspector who found plenty of problems with the place and had the sellers pay for that before we signed off the papers (e.g, new roof, replacement of portion of sill plate). Having an inspectors report that shows problems also helped drive the price down.

Originally Posted by odoreater

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Brick City is the nickname for Newark, NJ, where I do the vast majority of my posting from.

I think he was being facetious.

Jon.

Originally Posted by imageWIS

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I think he was being facetious.

Jon.

I don't think so chief.

Originally Posted by briancl

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I think buyers with 2+ years of documented income commensurate with the mortgage being applied for in addition to 10% down should have no problems getting loans. That's pretty much how its always been outside of the last 4-5 years, so we're just back to business as usual.

This is exactly what I keep telling people. The housing market didn't "burst" per se, it just returned to normal after being artificially inflated. If you're in good financial standing (as in could have gotten a loan 4 years ago), you can get one now and it's a good time to buy since the prices are actually back where they should have been all along.

Interestingly, they're not back to "where they should have been all along" in a number of areas. Some places are still ridiculously inflated though they are dropping. 100%+ run-ups in value were sustained by cheap credit; I've yet to see an infallible argument otherwise. The difficulty now for the prospective home buyer is waiting for the sellers to realize their house is not worth what they think/thought it was. They will come down some more; it's just a question of how much. This is not a blanket statement, however, as some properties will surely retain even their inflated values due to a number of different conditions.

Originally Posted by odoreater

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My wife and I are in the process of buying a home here in Jersey. Prices have gone down a little bit, but housing is still expensive (we're paying half a mil for 1500 sq. ft.). In the post sub-prime world, getting a mortgage is a huge hassle. They've asked me for all kinds of documentation. I'm starting to think that the next phone call is going to be the bank asking for medical records to make sure I don't die before the mortgage is paid off.

My wife and I are both young (I'm 27 and my wife is 25) and we plan on living in this home for about 7 years, so I'm pretty sure we'll weather the storm. I think that if you plan on being in the home for a few years when all this craziness will have passed, now is a good time to buy. If you may be moving again in a year or two, you might want to stay where you are.

Did you get your downpaiment from your parents? How are you planing to afford the mortage payments + fees+utilities?
I am just curious.


Agree there with Kronik. Prices need to come down another 20% before they return to inflation adjusted values.
Ugly wooden shacks that people buy here in North east are not houses their a fuking boxes with breathing holes.