Real estate is a tough business, especially in this recessionary economy. Prices, almost universally across the 50 states, are down and in some places, still dropping. If you got into the market a few years ago when prices were inflated you are in bad shape now. Especially if you were sold a bill of goods on a cheap mortgage that turned out to be a little too good, chances are you are going through a foreclosure or short sale.
I live in California, where the prices of homes five years ago was way above the assessed value and people routinely had buyers with fat checkbooks knocking down their door to get into homes. Unfortunately, I had just moved to Los Angeles, and I needed a place to live. Going with the conventional wisdom of buying is better than renting, I bought property.
I bought a place way beyond my means. Why? Because I was able to get a mortgage which I never thought I could. So, I got into a house that cost too much with an interest-only mortgage that I could barely afford. I was building no equity and, when we had our second child and my wife decided to stay home, giving up her full-time salary, we were set up for disaster. We couldn’t pay our bills and, when things broke, we were stuck with home space heaters to keep us warm and deteriorating furniture to sit on.
As everyone knew it would, the housing market took a dive and prices dropped along with the economy’s deflation. Our condo was worth much less than what we paid, although our mortgage was still the same amount. We couldn’t survive in our current situation and we couldn’t make money selling our house if anyone even agreed to buy it. So, after filing bankruptcy we attempted a short sale.
We are currently doing much better renting a home. I hate that we went through what we did but, had we not, we may not have learned some valuable lessons.
Income property is where I would put my money. I would have a tenant to pay the bills for me. The home would need some work when we bought it but not too much. Nor more than a coat of paint and a few cheap home decor accents wouldn’t take care of. The home would not be more expensive than I could afford and would even be quite a bit below my price range. Finally, the mortgage would be fixed and income earning.
I wouldn’t want to do this again and have to worry about covering mortgage monthly without the income to do it. I would own something with obvious value and not sell until it was a truly decent resale property regardless of the economy.
