5 ms·

I'm really surprised they don't mention "I'd love to move but I can't sell my house in the current market." I know at least five people in this boat.

by lxt 15y ago

Jgrubb 15y ago
I'm in that exact boat, I can't believe it took me this long to find this. I live in New Jersey. I moved up here in my early 20s for a gig that I no longer have, but in late 2006 I bought a house. This house has decreased in value by probably at least $50k (I'm out in the country, and honestly it's probably more like $75k). In the meantime, my new gig is as a freelance programmer. I don't have a single client that's even in the same timezone. I'd love to move back down to North Carolina, but the thought of losing this much money on the house has me stuck here, paying New Jersey cost of living and losing the same money slowly. There are probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions of households across America in the exact same position. It makes me pretty bitter at the policies of Fannie and Freddie 10 years ago in that "everyone should own a home" now appears to have been a disastrously bad idea for so many reasons.
ctdonath 15y ago
Mortgages are seductive. Get a nice place, up to or beyond social norms, but be tied to it for decades. Outright ownership, while humbling, gives far more flexibility.
- InclinedPlane 15y ago
  A proper mortgage with a decent downpayment is effectively identical to ownership. The biggest advantages of a downpayment are protecting against just the sorts of problems we've seen. For one, saving up a downpayment shows that you are a fiscally responsible person with stable employment in the past. For another, it gives you instant equity and protects you against being upside down due to market fluctuations. You put in your downpayment and a year or two of mortgage payments and even in the market goes down a bit you still have enough equity to avoid being trapped. You can sell or rent and move elsewhere.
  - lxt 15y ago
    Around here, some places have halved in value, which is more than a year or two's worth of payments.

I'm really surprised they don't mention "I'd love to move but I can't sell my house in the current market." I know at least five people in this boat.

by lxt 15y ago

I'm really surprised they don't mention "I'd love to move but I can't sell my house in the current market." I know at least five people in this boat.

Jgrubb 15y ago

I'm in that exact boat, I can't believe it took me this long to find this. I live in New Jersey. I moved up here in my early 20s for a gig that I no longer have, but in late 2006 I bought a house. This house has decreased in value by probably at least $50k (I'm out in the country, and honestly it's probably more like $75k). In the meantime, my new gig is as a freelance programmer. I don't have a single client that's even in the same timezone. I'd love to move back down to North Carolina, but the thought of losing this much money on the house has me stuck here, paying New Jersey cost of living and losing the same money slowly. There are probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions of households across America in the exact same position. It makes me pretty bitter at the policies of Fannie and Freddie 10 years ago in that "everyone should own a home" now appears to have been a disastrously bad idea for so many reasons.

ctdonath 15y ago

Mortgages are seductive. Get a nice place, up to or beyond social norms, but be tied to it for decades. Outright ownership, while humbling, gives far more flexibility.

InclinedPlane 15y ago
A proper mortgage with a decent downpayment is effectively identical to ownership. The biggest advantages of a downpayment are protecting against just the sorts of problems we've seen. For one, saving up a downpayment shows that you are a fiscally responsible person with stable employment in the past. For another, it gives you instant equity and protects you against being upside down due to market fluctuations. You put in your downpayment and a year or two of mortgage payments and even in the market goes down a bit you still have enough equity to avoid being trapped. You can sell or rent and move elsewhere.
- lxt 15y ago
  Around here, some places have halved in value, which is more than a year or two's worth of payments.