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>If you're buying a house to live in, being underwater doesn't really matter as long as you can make payments. It's not great, obviously, but if you made the pu
by MontyCarloHall 4y ago
>If you're buying a house to live in, being underwater doesn't really matter as long as you can make payments. It's not great, obviously, but if you made the purchase to live there for a couple of decades, not as an investment, then the paper value of your home isn't especially meaningful.
Except for the whole part about never being able to move. Even people who intend to stay in a house forever sometimes have unexpected life circumstances (both good or bad) that cause them to reconsider their long-term plans.
- toomuchtodo 4y agoYes, those people will be selling at a loss, performing a short sale, or learning what it’s like to be a landlord.
- MontyCarloHall 4y agoIn many cases, people would not be able to afford this. Suppose I have $200k of equity in a $1M house. It depreciates to $700k. I now owe the bank $100k simply to be able to sell the house. Furthermore, if home prices depreciate that much, it’s likely rents would too, so it would be impossible for rental income to cover my mortgage payment, not to mention upkeep.