Sellers sing the blues as price drop sets record

fencerider2 · 10-26-2006, 12:38 PM

http://www.usatoday.com/money/econom...ice-usat_x.htm

Then: San Diego's housing market was so hot that the town house next to Jeff Cruce's was flipped from buyer to seller three times in three years. The owners, who never moved in, didn't even need to put up a "For Sale" sign.
Now: Since August, Cruce and seven of his neighbors have put their town houses on the market (that's nearly 20% of the units in the complex). All have cut their prices, including Cruce, who chopped his price last month by $30,000 to $559,000. Not one has received an offer yet. Each time one owner would lower the asking price, it put pressure on the others to follow, says Cruce, 38, a salesman who's moving to Atlanta.

That domino effect, rippling through neighborhoods across the country, pushed down the nation's median home price in September by the largest amount on record, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said Wednesday.

CHART: Projected price declines in 70 metro areas

The median price for a single-family home slipped 2.5% from September last year to $219,800, the sharpest annual drop since the NAR began tracking the data in 1969. The median-priced condominium fell 2.8% to $219,800, the fourth annual decline in a row.

STORIES: New-home prices plunge | Loan demand rises

At the same time, the volume of home sales fell for the sixth straight month, tumbling 14% in September compared with a year ago.

In the softest real estate markets, sellers are waking up to the harsh reality that they can't get anywhere near what their neighbors sold their homes for last year. So they're grudgingly reducing their asking prices and offering to pay closing costs.

At the same time, many buyers, emboldened by the transformed market, are low-balling sellers and getting deals they couldn't have imagined last year.

Just ask Sevan Derderian and Reggie Johnson.

In 2004, Derderian bought a house in Las Vegas as an investment for $281,000. He found tenants, but he kicked them out after 10 months because their rent was always late.

"I found that it's really hard to be a landlord from a state or two away," says Derderian, 43, a salesman in Los Angeles. He held onto the property for another year, hoping prices would keep going up. Once the market turned south, though, he panicked.

He listed the house in the summer for $305,000. Having owned real estate only during boom years, he assumed it would sell in about a week. After a month, he cut the price to $289,900. Another week went by. He offered to pay nearly $9,000 toward a buyer's closing costs.

Then along came Johnson, a 38-year-old truck driver, who snapped up the house and boasts, "I got a great deal."

Derderian, meantime, lost about $25,000 from paying the mortgage on an empty home.

Where's the bottom?

That's a risk confronting sellers in 56 metro areas, including Las Vegas, San Diego, Phoenix, New York and Miami, that are expected to suffer annual price drops, according to a study this month by Moody's Economy.com.

Prices in a few markets, such as Las Vegas and Portland, Ore., won't bottom out until 2009, the study projected, and in many areas prices will stay flat through the end of the decade. (For a full list, click here.)

"It was surprising just how quickly the market seemed to turn," says Mark Zandi, chief economist for Economy.com. "It was like, boom, boom, bust. It was like, 'What happened?' The psychology in the marketplace unraveled very rapidly."

In fact, about half of American homeowners who thought of selling their homes in the past year have delayed putting their homes on the market, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup poll conducted this month.

And roughly one-third of those who had considered selling have abandoned the idea. (The poll of 1,007 adults has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.)

Of course, home prices aren't going to fall in every market. About one-third of the nation is expected to see moderate price growth for the rest of the year. Those areas include Dallas, Austin, Newark, Del., and Birmingham, Ala. — areas where prices didn't test the stratosphere during the boom.

Even in the once-sizzling markets, homeowners and investors who bought their properties more than two years ago should still see modest gains if they sell in the current market.

Relocating can be costly

But it's clearly a buyer's market now. The number of homes for sale has bulged to a 7.3-month supply compared with 4.6 months last September. The backlog of homes for sale is thickest in the areas that witnessed the fastest price growth and investor activity.

"It's frustrating," says Cindy Holliday, a high school math teacher who recently took a job in Chicago. "Homes were selling for so much more a few months ago, and now nothing's selling at all."

Holliday and her husband were house hunting in Chicago in June when they put their home in Ocala, Fla., up for sale.

"Before we put our house on the market, houses were selling so fast we didn't think we'd have a problem selling our house at all," says Holliday, 31.

"When we got back down there (to Ocala), just about every other house on our street was for sale. It was very depressing."

Though their house probably would have fetched nearly $200,000 earlier this year, they listed it at $179,000. A couple of weeks ago, they trimmed the price to $174,500.

But it's no easier for sellers in Chicago, says Javier Diaz. He's made several profitable real estate investments, but the three-unit apartment building he bought in Chicago earlier this year wasn't one of them.

"I figured this year the property would go up 30 or 40 grand, but that didn't happen," says Diaz, 28.

He put it up for sale in September, asking $415,000. He's already cut the price twice, to $375,000. That's less than he owes on his loan, which means that if Diaz sells at that price, he'll have to pull $5,000 out of his own pocket to pay the bank.

Being a mortgage broker, Diaz knows some investors who used their home equity like debit cards. He says of the quick decline in real estate, "It's coming like a culture shock to many."

'Everyone was doing it'

Vicki di Bernardo agrees. "It taught us a lesson," she says of the downturn in Las Vegas. "It was a little risky, but we got caught up in it. Everyone was doing it. ... (Now) everyone is very, very nervous here about the real estate market."

She recalls buying a single-family home in the Las Vegas suburb of Summerlin as an investment in 2003.

"We were on a huge waiting list, and our names came up, and we had to go in with a check and give it to them within a couple of hours or they'd go to the next on the list."

She rented the house out for two years. But when her tenants moved out in February, she put it on the market for $574,000.

"In the first three months, we didn't have one showing — not one," says di Bernardo, 60, who works in human resources. At the end of May, she dropped the price to $519,000. Three weeks later, she came down to $499,000. Even then, only looky-loos came by.

"There was so much inventory" on the market, di Bernardo recalls. "So many builders had offered huge incentives, like no mortgage payments for 12 months or a swimming pool. We had it on the market for $479,000 when an offer came in at $460,000."

She grabbed it. She still made $175,000, but that's about $100,000 less than she'd have made if she sold last year.

Desperate builders a problem

Builders, with no emotional attachment to their homes, have become one of the biggest financial threats to individual sellers. New-home sales are down 16% this year. Building permits for single-family homes are off by 20%. Faced with a huge number of cancellations, builders began trying to lure buyers with eye-catching deals, such as free vacations, media rooms and landscaping.

That's what's hurting Bryan Rauch. In January, he bought a home in Anthem, Ariz., where Pulte Homes is offering a slew of incentives, including advice from re-sale experts to help buyers fix up and sell their current homes.

"The plan was to renovate it and flip it," says Rauch, 37, a nurse-turned-real estate-investor.

He put the home back on the market in February, at $284,000, then lowered the price repeatedly until he hit $270,000. Still no buyers. After six months, he rented it out at a $500-a-month loss.

"The problem is the builder is giving away homes," Rauch says. "Properties like this are now selling for the low $200s."

But Rauch needs to cut his losses. So he's putting the home back on the market at $260,000 and crossing his fingers — like a lot of other sellers around the country.

New-home prices drop 9.7% from 2005, biggest fall in 35 years
http://www.usatoday.com/money/econom...omesales_x.htm

WASHINGTON (AP) — The median price of a new home plunged in September the largest amount in more than 35 years, even as the pace of sales rose for a second month.
The Commerce Department said the median price for a new home sold in September was $217,100, down 9.7% from September 2005.

That was the lowest median price for a new home since September 2004 and the sharpest year-over-year decline since December 1970. The weakness in new-home prices was even sharper than a 2.5% fall in the price of existing homes last month, which had been the biggest drop on record.

BUYERS' MARKET: Sellers sing the blues as price drop sets record

The price decline for new homes came while the sales pace picked up, rising 5.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.075 million homes. It was the second consecutive increase in sales, after three months of declines.

Still, September sales were down 14.2% from September 2005.

The supply of homes available for sale at the current sales pace fell to 6.4 months' worth from 6.8 months in August. There were 557,000 homes available for sale at the end of September, down 1.9% from 568,000 in August.

New-home sales rose 23.9% in the West in September and 6.9% in the South. They fell 34.5% in the Northeast and 6.3% in the Midwest.

The rise in sales last month was led by a 23.9% jump in the West. Sales were also up 6.9% in the South. Sales fell by 34.5% in the Northeast and were down 6.3% in the Midwest.

The Commerce Department's report on new-home sales in September came a day after a real estate trade group said existing home sales slipped in September for a sixth straight month. The National Association of Realtors said home resales slowed to an annual rate of 6.18 million from a 6.30 million pace in August.

**Joe** · 10-26-2006, 01:21 PM

So, when are you going to invest in your FIRST property, Mr. Real Estate expert?

The line that caught my eye...

"At the same time, many buyers, emboldened by the transformed market, are low-balling sellers and getting deals they couldn't have imagined last year."

Count me in on that after the first of the year... I plan to have two more rentals by the end of the year.

interest · 10-26-2006, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe

So, when are you going to invest in your FIRST property, Mr. Real Estate expert?

The line that caught my eye...

"At the same time, many buyers, emboldened by the transformed market, are low-balling sellers and getting deals they couldn't have imagined last year."

Count me in on that after the first of the year... I plan to have two more rentals by the end of the year.

I like this article..

http://money.cnn.com/2006/10/24/maga...ion=2006102610

buy low rent high HAH

I like it because prices have dipped low but rent levels are increasing...

Also, people aren't going to stop moving to florida... It will work itself out..

**Joe** · 10-26-2006, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by interest

Also, people aren't going to stop moving to florida... It will work itself out..

Smartest thing posted on this forum yet...

corey r. · 10-26-2006, 02:01 PM

He is bringing up a point that house prices are dropping fast.

I remember poeple on this site last year, shit up to a few months ago proclaiming we would still see 10% gains this year...

Those guys seem to be pretty quiet around these parts. I dont see cocky posts comming from TR's real estate agents/landlords any more!

BAMF · 10-26-2006, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by corey r.

He is bringing up a point that house prices are dropping fast.

I remember poeple on this site last year, shit up to a few months ago proclaiming we would still see 10% gains this year...

Those guys seem to be pretty quiet around these parts. I dont see cocky posts comming from TR's real estate agents/landlords any more!

They don't have time to post. They're all too busy with their massive customer volume....*crickets*

corey r. · 10-26-2006, 02:06 PM

buahahaha! Dont worry, this thread will soon be deleted by an admin in a lame attempt to save face.

BAMF · 10-26-2006, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by corey r.

buahahaha! Dont worry, this thread will soon be deleted by an admin in a lame attempt to save face.

Naaah, Scott'll come in and delete all the posts except the first one and tell us to stay on topic.

**Joe** · 10-26-2006, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by corey r.

He is bringing up a point that house prices are dropping fast.

I remember poeple on this site last year, shit up to a few months ago proclaiming we would still see 10% gains this year...

Those guys seem to be pretty quiet around these parts. I dont see cocky posts comming from TR's real estate agents/landlords any more!

This current market only affects those trying to sell in it. A good real estate investment concern is the ability to "ride" through ANY market. Thus the smart real estate people on this forum may just be to busy buying more property to look at this post...

So, to all the people who said they "were waiting for prices to fall to sweep up the pieces", are you ready to do some "sweeping"?

interest · 10-26-2006, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe

This current market only affects those trying to sell in it. A good real estate investment concern is the ability to "ride" through ANY market. Thus the smart real estate people on this forum may just be to busy buying more property to look at this post...

So, to all the people who said they "were waiting for prices to fall to sweep up the pieces", are you ready to do some "sweeping"?

I am!!!... I like the new houses to be honest!

corey r. · 10-26-2006, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe

So, to all the people who said they "were waiting for prices to fall to sweep up the pieces", are you ready to do some "sweeping"?

Thats the thing... Last year people were being called idiots on this site for being fence riders and waiting for the prices to drop. "That will never happen, You fence riders are just going to end up paying more!"

I would link you to the expert that posted that last year, but it was deleted the minute it was TTT'd the other week for some reason...

But I digress. I hope this new market works out for everyone. Sounds like a few of you are ready to jump in! Good luck and post pics!

interest · 10-26-2006, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe

Smartest thing posted on this forum yet...

I see..............

BAMF · 10-26-2006, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe

This current market only affects those trying to sell in it. A good real estate investment concern is the ability to "ride" through ANY market. Thus the smart real estate people on this forum may just be to busy buying more property to look at this post...

So, to all the people who said they "were waiting for prices to fall to sweep up the pieces", are you ready to do some "sweeping"?

The most arrogant/ignorant thing you can do is try to predict a market floor/ceiling. I'll hold onto my broom for a while, because I'm hoping it'll go lower, but I'm not sure. Good luck with your prediction.

fencerider2 · 10-26-2006, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe

This current market only affects those trying to sell in it. A good real estate investment concern is the ability to "ride" through ANY market. Thus the smart real estate people on this forum may just be to busy buying more property to look at this post...

So, to all the people who said they "were waiting for prices to fall to sweep up the pieces", are you ready to do some "sweeping"?

Nope joe we have another 2 years before we bottom out. Go ahead and buy your shit over priced. It's going be a slow painful process.

**Joe** · 10-26-2006, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fencerider2

Nope joe we have another 2 years before we bottom out. Go ahead and buy your shit over priced. It's going be a slow painful process.

I bet your mom is waiting for that day to come so you'll finally move out from the house...

There's a term for people that live with their mom's till they're 30...

Either way, you preached for two years that the market would "crash", that was all through the upward motion and then the peak. So you missed the peak and I have a feeling that your prediction for the "bottom" will be as accurate.

I will buy more rentals and continue to rent them to the people that keep moving to Florida and need a place to live and can't or don't want to get into this "bubble bursting" of a market. Making money involves risk. I have decided that at my age currently, it is the time to take a little risk.

BAMF · 10-26-2006, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe

I bet your mom is waiting for that day to come so you'll finally move out from the house...

There's a term for people that live with their mom's till they're 30...

Either way, you preached for two years that the market would "crash", that was all through the upward motion and then the peak. So you missed the peak and I have a feeling that your prediction for the "bottom" will be as accurate.

I will buy more rentals and continue to rent them to the people that keep moving to Florida and need a place to live and can't or don't want to get into this "bubble bursting" of a market. Making money involves risk. I have decided that at my age currently, it is the time to take a little risk.

Dude, I'm 19...How many assets did you have at 19?

No, I didn't. I don't even think I've been posting in the investing forum (has there even been an investing forum for much longer?) for mroe than 6 months. Age and risk have nothing directly to do with eachother, also. The very notion of that is retarded. Finally, I'm not denying that now is a good time to buy, I'm just saying it may not be the BEST - anyone that tries to predict a 'bottom' or 'ceiling' is as useless as the 'pros' on Wallstreet. Some of the brightest and most successful people in any market refuse to give advice to other people. Why? They're not stupid enough to entratain the notion that they'll be right.

**Joe** · 10-26-2006, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vip18971

Dude, I'm 19...How many assets did you have at 19?

No, I didn't. I don't even think I've been posting in the investing forum (has there even been an investing forum for much longer?) for mroe than 6 months. Age and risk have nothing directly to do with eachother, also. The very notion of that is retarded. Finally, I'm not denying that now is a good time to buy, I'm just saying it may not be the BEST - anyone that tries to predict a 'bottom' or 'ceiling' is as useless as the 'pros' on Wallstreet. Some of the brightest and most successful people in any market refuse to give advice to other people. Why? They're not stupid enough to entratain the notion that they'll be right.

Um, I said nothing to you... Unless you're Jeff?

Chill out... Remeber, I'll provide you ammo when you stand up with your gun...

BAMF · 10-26-2006, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe

Um, I said nothing to you... Unless you're Jeff?

Chill out... Remeber, I'll provide you ammo when you stand up with your gun...

Hehehe, I've got 2 50 cal ammo buckets that I'll ring too, we can share. My apologies, for some reason I didn't even see that quote part. He preched about a crash for 2 years? Dear god, thats quite a long preaching.

fencerider2 · 10-26-2006, 03:30 PM

Joe you assume to much, just because i don't own my own house doesn't mean i live at home with my parents.

We can sit here and go back and forth all day. but with a person like you that's in denial it's kinda hard. There are so many bad real estate articles out there, do you read any of them? I read in one article that local area is down over 42%. Now you and the media call this a cooling? how is that cooling?
Since you never answered me i try this again.

so you never denied house prices falling? So now is the time for deals? well if this is the time for deals then why last year you and others where telling those fence riders to get inn the market now.
Joe this is just the start of things getting bad in the RE market. Over the next 2 to 3 years you will see a 20 to 30% correction. I don't believe i said anything like economic disaster in 2006 that's funny joe.
Here's your bull market joe look what was said by you and others about prices and new homes not sitting on the market.
http://www.tampaforums.com/forums/fr...33/index2.html
So joe if u say that it's returning to normal what's normal in your own words. How bad do you think it will get? Will it get worse before it gets better, with inventories climbing higher and and sales slowing or do you see the market taking off.

BTW love your rent sign in the bottom sig

interest · 10-26-2006, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe

I will buy more rentals and continue to rent them to the people that keep moving to Florida and need a place to live and can't or don't want to get into this "bubble bursting" of a market. Making money involves risk. I have decided that at my age currently, it is the time to take a little risk.

I think that is the smartest thing you can do..

By the way.. I figured out a formula for renting out property

10-26-2006, 12:38 PM	#1 (permalink)
fencerider2 Puppet Masturbater	Sellers sing the blues as price drop sets record http://www.usatoday.com/money/econom...ice-usat_x.htm Then: San Diego's housing market was so hot that the town house next to Jeff Cruce's was flipped from buyer to seller three times in three years. The owners, who never moved in, didn't even need to put up a "For Sale" sign. Now: Since August, Cruce and seven of his neighbors have put their town houses on the market (that's nearly 20% of the units in the complex). All have cut their prices, including Cruce, who chopped his price last month by $30,000 to $559,000. Not one has received an offer yet. Each time one owner would lower the asking price, it put pressure on the others to follow, says Cruce, 38, a salesman who's moving to Atlanta. That domino effect, rippling through neighborhoods across the country, pushed down the nation's median home price in September by the largest amount on record, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said Wednesday. CHART: Projected price declines in 70 metro areas The median price for a single-family home slipped 2.5% from September last year to $219,800, the sharpest annual drop since the NAR began tracking the data in 1969. The median-priced condominium fell 2.8% to $219,800, the fourth annual decline in a row. STORIES: New-home prices plunge \| Loan demand rises At the same time, the volume of home sales fell for the sixth straight month, tumbling 14% in September compared with a year ago. In the softest real estate markets, sellers are waking up to the harsh reality that they can't get anywhere near what their neighbors sold their homes for last year. So they're grudgingly reducing their asking prices and offering to pay closing costs. At the same time, many buyers, emboldened by the transformed market, are low-balling sellers and getting deals they couldn't have imagined last year. Just ask Sevan Derderian and Reggie Johnson. In 2004, Derderian bought a house in Las Vegas as an investment for $281,000. He found tenants, but he kicked them out after 10 months because their rent was always late. "I found that it's really hard to be a landlord from a state or two away," says Derderian, 43, a salesman in Los Angeles. He held onto the property for another year, hoping prices would keep going up. Once the market turned south, though, he panicked. He listed the house in the summer for $305,000. Having owned real estate only during boom years, he assumed it would sell in about a week. After a month, he cut the price to $289,900. Another week went by. He offered to pay nearly $9,000 toward a buyer's closing costs. Then along came Johnson, a 38-year-old truck driver, who snapped up the house and boasts, "I got a great deal." Derderian, meantime, lost about $25,000 from paying the mortgage on an empty home. Where's the bottom? That's a risk confronting sellers in 56 metro areas, including Las Vegas, San Diego, Phoenix, New York and Miami, that are expected to suffer annual price drops, according to a study this month by Moody's Economy.com. Prices in a few markets, such as Las Vegas and Portland, Ore., won't bottom out until 2009, the study projected, and in many areas prices will stay flat through the end of the decade. (For a full list, click here.) "It was surprising just how quickly the market seemed to turn," says Mark Zandi, chief economist for Economy.com. "It was like, boom, boom, bust. It was like, 'What happened?' The psychology in the marketplace unraveled very rapidly." In fact, about half of American homeowners who thought of selling their homes in the past year have delayed putting their homes on the market, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup poll conducted this month. And roughly one-third of those who had considered selling have abandoned the idea. (The poll of 1,007 adults has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.) Of course, home prices aren't going to fall in every market. About one-third of the nation is expected to see moderate price growth for the rest of the year. Those areas include Dallas, Austin, Newark, Del., and Birmingham, Ala. — areas where prices didn't test the stratosphere during the boom. Even in the once-sizzling markets, homeowners and investors who bought their properties more than two years ago should still see modest gains if they sell in the current market. Relocating can be costly But it's clearly a buyer's market now. The number of homes for sale has bulged to a 7.3-month supply compared with 4.6 months last September. The backlog of homes for sale is thickest in the areas that witnessed the fastest price growth and investor activity. "It's frustrating," says Cindy Holliday, a high school math teacher who recently took a job in Chicago. "Homes were selling for so much more a few months ago, and now nothing's selling at all." Holliday and her husband were house hunting in Chicago in June when they put their home in Ocala, Fla., up for sale. "Before we put our house on the market, houses were selling so fast we didn't think we'd have a problem selling our house at all," says Holliday, 31. "When we got back down there (to Ocala), just about every other house on our street was for sale. It was very depressing." Though their house probably would have fetched nearly $200,000 earlier this year, they listed it at $179,000. A couple of weeks ago, they trimmed the price to $174,500. But it's no easier for sellers in Chicago, says Javier Diaz. He's made several profitable real estate investments, but the three-unit apartment building he bought in Chicago earlier this year wasn't one of them. "I figured this year the property would go up 30 or 40 grand, but that didn't happen," says Diaz, 28. He put it up for sale in September, asking $415,000. He's already cut the price twice, to $375,000. That's less than he owes on his loan, which means that if Diaz sells at that price, he'll have to pull $5,000 out of his own pocket to pay the bank. Being a mortgage broker, Diaz knows some investors who used their home equity like debit cards. He says of the quick decline in real estate, "It's coming like a culture shock to many." 'Everyone was doing it' Vicki di Bernardo agrees. "It taught us a lesson," she says of the downturn in Las Vegas. "It was a little risky, but we got caught up in it. Everyone was doing it. ... (Now) everyone is very, very nervous here about the real estate market." She recalls buying a single-family home in the Las Vegas suburb of Summerlin as an investment in 2003. "We were on a huge waiting list, and our names came up, and we had to go in with a check and give it to them within a couple of hours or they'd go to the next on the list." She rented the house out for two years. But when her tenants moved out in February, she put it on the market for $574,000. "In the first three months, we didn't have one showing — not one," says di Bernardo, 60, who works in human resources. At the end of May, she dropped the price to $519,000. Three weeks later, she came down to $499,000. Even then, only looky-loos came by. "There was so much inventory" on the market, di Bernardo recalls. "So many builders had offered huge incentives, like no mortgage payments for 12 months or a swimming pool. We had it on the market for $479,000 when an offer came in at $460,000." She grabbed it. She still made $175,000, but that's about $100,000 less than she'd have made if she sold last year. Desperate builders a problem Builders, with no emotional attachment to their homes, have become one of the biggest financial threats to individual sellers. New-home sales are down 16% this year. Building permits for single-family homes are off by 20%. Faced with a huge number of cancellations, builders began trying to lure buyers with eye-catching deals, such as free vacations, media rooms and landscaping. That's what's hurting Bryan Rauch. In January, he bought a home in Anthem, Ariz., where Pulte Homes is offering a slew of incentives, including advice from re-sale experts to help buyers fix up and sell their current homes. "The plan was to renovate it and flip it," says Rauch, 37, a nurse-turned-real estate-investor. He put the home back on the market in February, at $284,000, then lowered the price repeatedly until he hit $270,000. Still no buyers. After six months, he rented it out at a $500-a-month loss. "The problem is the builder is giving away homes," Rauch says. "Properties like this are now selling for the low $200s." But Rauch needs to cut his losses. So he's putting the home back on the market at $260,000 and crossing his fingers — like a lot of other sellers around the country. New-home prices drop 9.7% from 2005, biggest fall in 35 years http://www.usatoday.com/money/econom...omesales_x.htm WASHINGTON (AP) — The median price of a new home plunged in September the largest amount in more than 35 years, even as the pace of sales rose for a second month. The Commerce Department said the median price for a new home sold in September was $217,100, down 9.7% from September 2005. That was the lowest median price for a new home since September 2004 and the sharpest year-over-year decline since December 1970. The weakness in new-home prices was even sharper than a 2.5% fall in the price of existing homes last month, which had been the biggest drop on record. BUYERS' MARKET: Sellers sing the blues as price drop sets record The price decline for new homes came while the sales pace picked up, rising 5.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.075 million homes. It was the second consecutive increase in sales, after three months of declines. Still, September sales were down 14.2% from September 2005. The supply of homes available for sale at the current sales pace fell to 6.4 months' worth from 6.8 months in August. There were 557,000 homes available for sale at the end of September, down 1.9% from 568,000 in August. New-home sales rose 23.9% in the West in September and 6.9% in the South. They fell 34.5% in the Northeast and 6.3% in the Midwest. The rise in sales last month was led by a 23.9% jump in the West. Sales were also up 6.9% in the South. Sales fell by 34.5% in the Northeast and were down 6.3% in the Midwest. The Commerce Department's report on new-home sales in September came a day after a real estate trade group said existing home sales slipped in September for a sixth straight month. The National Association of Realtors said home resales slowed to an annual rate of 6.18 million from a 6.30 million pace in August.

10-26-2006, 03:30 PM	#19 (permalink)
fencerider2 Puppet Masturbater	Joe you assume to much, just because i don't own my own house doesn't mean i live at home with my parents. We can sit here and go back and forth all day. but with a person like you that's in denial it's kinda hard. There are so many bad real estate articles out there, do you read any of them? I read in one article that local area is down over 42%. Now you and the media call this a cooling? how is that cooling? Since you never answered me i try this again. so you never denied house prices falling? So now is the time for deals? well if this is the time for deals then why last year you and others where telling those fence riders to get inn the market now. Joe this is just the start of things getting bad in the RE market. Over the next 2 to 3 years you will see a 20 to 30% correction. I don't believe i said anything like economic disaster in 2006 that's funny joe. Here's your bull market joe look what was said by you and others about prices and new homes not sitting on the market. http://www.tampaforums.com/forums/fr...33/index2.html So joe if u say that it's returning to normal what's normal in your own words. How bad do you think it will get? Will it get worse before it gets better, with inventories climbing higher and and sales slowing or do you see the market taking off. BTW love your rent sign in the bottom sig Last edited by fencerider2 : 10-26-2006 at 03:35 PM.

10-26-2006, 01:21 PM	#2 (permalink)
Joe Sodalime is good.	So, when are you going to invest in your FIRST property, Mr. Real Estate expert? The line that caught my eye... "At the same time, many buyers, emboldened by the transformed market, are low-balling sellers and getting deals they couldn't have imagined last year." Count me in on that after the first of the year... I plan to have two more rentals by the end of the year.

10-26-2006, 02:01 PM	#5 (permalink)
corey r. Family First	He is bringing up a point that house prices are dropping fast. I remember poeple on this site last year, shit up to a few months ago proclaiming we would still see 10% gains this year... Those guys seem to be pretty quiet around these parts. I dont see cocky posts comming from TR's real estate agents/landlords any more!

10-26-2006, 02:06 PM	#7 (permalink)
corey r. Family First	buahahaha! Dont worry, this thread will soon be deleted by an admin in a lame attempt to save face.