Last night over dinner my mom mentioned that she wished she could win a large sum of money in order to pay off her house. I said I’d foreclose and buy a new house with cash. How sad is that? Unfortunately, it is my reality. Why would I pay off my house? It’s worth about 40% less than what I bought it for fourteen months ago. I never saw that coming a year ago. We were in a rush to buy to take advantage of Frank’s relocation package. Boy! Did that back fire? It saved us nothing. We thought we were sitting pretty; we paid twenty thousand under list. Homes had already fallen about 20% from the onset of short sales and foreclosures. Who knew it would be the peak of the fall? Where does it end?
The Las Vegas real estate market keeps slipping further and further into the toilet. The end of foreclosures seems to be no where in sight. We got another one on our block this week. Until they all sell, my property value will continue to sink.
A new month means another mortgage payment. It’s hard to see that huge chunk of change swept out of our account when we’re so far under water I cannot see the light.
What can you do? I try not to dwell. However, it’s a tough pill to swallow.
At least we love where we live. I can’t imagine how bad it would be if we didn’t since we’re trapped. We can’t refinance – deed in lieu of foreclosure on our condo turned our credit from gold to shit. Heh, shit is probably worth more. Our bank won’t work with us, they’d rather see us foreclose since our loan is FHA - they get their money either way.
It’s all about timing. Too bad ours sucks. I will say we were fortunate to get into our condo while home prices were low. Although, it’s a shame that we didn’t get out before the bubble burst. If that ever happens again, we’re selling and renting until the market tanks. Instead, we refinanced and took money out to buy a condo in Laughlin. Frank needed a home, all signs pointed to it being an investment. Ha! Lessoned learned. I could think of at least a hundred ways I would’ve rather blown thirty-two grand. I never imagined that would be the least of my problems. Never dreamed selling our Vegas condo would be impossible. Even the bank can’t sell it.
It’s sad. Sad. Sad.
I certainly hope Las Vegas has seen the worst of times so we can get back to the best of times. It sure was a lot more fun.
2 comments:
If you don't have to move, hang in there. I can relate to your situation.
Back in 1990, the market for condos around CT was dropping. I thought it was a good time to buy, so I bought a condo for $85K, which was selling a few years before for over $100K. I thought it was a good deal. Until prices kept dropping down to about $45K.
When I moved out about 6 years later, there was no way I could sell without a forclosure. Instead, I rented the place for another 6 years or so, until prices went back above $90K. I sold around $95, I think, then watched prices go over $125K. But I didn't care. I was rid of it.
I hope you see prices go back up in the next few years too.
We don't have plans to move, we do plan to wait it out. I just wonder how many years it'll take to break even? Ten or more, who knows?
We thought we'd try to rent our condo out, but we'd be in the hole too much each month. It'd be too risky, we'd like face bankruptcy. We accumulated a ton of debt paying the house mortgage and that one plus insurance, HOA dues and taxes for the year+ that it was listed.
As long as we both keep our jobs we should be able to hang in there.
It's just bleak at times.
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