Will the housing market stabilize?

[linicx]

I do not believe the market can stabilize as long as banks continue to foreclose rather than work their buyers to keep them in their homes which they refused to do. This too helped to bring on the collapse. One of he largest off-shore buyers of property bundles was forced into bankruptcy. The biggest problem right now seems to be Freddie and Fannie that hold 50% of the properties in trouble. The only properties that might sell less than 20% down will be RDA. Chicagoland does not quality for rural loans.

The price is not the problem it is the taxes on your $80k bungalow that is 70-years old. In Il (I don't know about any county North of I-80) a house over 100-years old has very low taxes. County taxes are everm cheaper. In Chicago the problem is always related to where you work in relation to where you live. If you mind the daily grind of a long drive you might conceivably find a craftsman style bungalow in a county. Most are 100-years aold and still in good condition as long as the roof in tact and there is no water damage. Mine was a terrific home in a once nice SF neighborhood. It changed once the slumlords began to buy properties at auction and rented to illegals.

[westburbsil]

Will home prices go up the way they did from 2002-2007? Nope, those days are gone. I posted in another thread, but outside of foreclosures, the move up buyer is hurting to do home underwater/realtor fees. They are in a way trapped in their home.

With that said, once the economy starts growing(it will), home prices will start to go up. Renting right now is it's own bubble right now. It is in high demand, thus prices have increased for rentals.

With 4% interest rates, being able to right off your property taxes and mortgage interest, people are going to start realizing that it is costing them more to rent than own.
Forget about home values going up, the literal cost is more in many instances. This will make the market swing the other way.

But this may take another year or so, but I think we are getting close!

[purplesky]

The market continues deteriorating rapidly in my area. They really just need to get the foreclosures off the market. I've seen houses on the market for 1 1/2 plus years around me where they haven't even dropped the asking price by more than 10k. Also, have seen short sales that need a lot of work that are asking in the mid 200s and in reality, their house would probably only sell for 180k.

I know of people that are actually not paying their mortgages, foreclosing on purpose because their house is worth 200k less than it was at the hegiht, and saving their mortgage payment so they can buy a house in cash. I think that is stupid, because I think the mortgage companies can come back later and sue them.

[vandre]

Originally Posted by linicx

The price is not the problem it is the taxes on your $80k bungalow that is 70-years old. In Il (I don't know about any county North of I-80) a house over 100-years old has very low taxes.

I guess at last we agree that property taxes in this state are unfair

Expanding on your point, the flipside is that the property taxes for new construction are disproportionally higher. Like I mentioned in the other thread, this is one of the reasons why there's so few new construction permits in Illinois. It doesn't make financial sense to build a new home, when you can get more bang for your buck buying 'used', the kicker being that your carrying costs (i.e. property taxes) will be lower too!