[Bhaalspawn]

Great time to buy? I wouldn't be so sure about that. From what I can tell sellers are still asking more than what houses in Texas go for so there's plenty more room for house prices to fall. Also, I don't foresee that Michigan's economy (nor the national economy) will improve anytime soon and it's even possible that hundreds of thousands of Michiganders might flee the state in the future, increasing the supply of houses and apartments on the market while decreasing the demand.

Thus, if you buy now you could lose money as the value of your purchase continues to depreciate. Based on a very cursory comparison of condo prices in my area, it looks like they dropped by about $10,000 between August and now.

[kcam213]

Originally Posted by Dr.Jim

Yup. Great time to buy!
Selling is ridiculous though.

We just sold our home (bought in 06 for 320K) for 260K. Had to bring 80K to the table at closing.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by Bhaalspawn

Great time to buy? I wouldn't be so sure about that. From what I can tell sellers are still asking more than what houses in Texas go for so there's plenty more room for house prices to fall. Also, I don't foresee that Michigan's economy (nor the national economy) will improve anytime soon and it's even possible that hundreds of thousands of Michiganders might flee the state in the future, increasing the supply of houses and apartments on the market while decreasing the demand.

Thus, if you buy now you could lose money as the value of your purchase continues to depreciate. Based on a very cursory comparison of condo prices in my area, it looks like they dropped by about $10,000 between August and now.

Houses in Detroit are selling for $1. Are houses in Dallas cheaper? 75 cents?

[dragon_fly_12]

I disagree with the availability of apartments. As people either lose their homes or choose not to purchase a home for whatever reason, apartments will INCREASE in demand, driving the price of rent up. This has started to happen in Lansing. My sister's old apartment was increased in rent upon renewal by $300/mth and management justified it because "demand was increasing." She was already paying $1000/mth for a nice, but very inefficient apartment in a 4 unit building (was averaging $300-400/mth heat bills in the winter). Rather than renewing, she opted to purchase a home, spending half that much on a mortgage a month, and invest the difference in improving the house she purchased. Ok, as long as her job doesn't go anywhere. (She is a state worker whose position is funded federally for public health).

[upandrunning]

With GM most likely going to file for Chapter 11, I see more trouble on the horizon. I just talked to a woman in Petoskey who had to sell her home before it was lost to forclosure, It was apraised 2 years ago for 274 thousand, She sold it for 163 thousand. The story is the same all over Michigan. I just read an article that it is hitting places like Wichita. Once thougt to be imune to the recession, now is laying off Aircraft workers. I fear we will see some very hard times that have not been seen since the GD. Remember that the roaring 20s was a time of people living the high life that had to be paid for. We had the same in the 90s. People how could not afford to pay borrowed. Not that the bill is due there is not money to pay.

[Fighting2survive]

Problem is that none will buy a house,because 5-10 years staying in it is not enough.Proof is our family which has wanted out since 2004.So you are looking at a suicidal financial move.It is also true that the whole country is suffering,but Michigan is the worst.The only thing to get mad about this,is that the whole world is going into depression and we don`t know when we are going to see the light.Is anyone prepared to lose 10-20 years of his life to depression?I wish i was 60-70 or 5-10.It is very upsetting.

[kcam213]

Originally Posted by Fighting2survive

Problem is that none will buy a house,because 5-10 years staying in it is not enough.Proof is our family which has wanted out since 2004.So you are looking at a suicidal financial move.It is also true that the whole country is suffering,but Michigan is the worst.The only thing to get mad about this,is that the whole world is going into depression and we don`t know when we are going to see the light.Is anyone prepared to lose 10-20 years of his life to depression?I wish i was 60-70 or 5-10.It is very upsetting.

Gosh, I never thought of it in those terms.

Even if your personal situation is stable (employment/income is more secure than average), the fact that we will be living in a DEPRESSED country will surely impact all of our lives/lifestyle.
How can anyone expect to continue life as now if the neighbor has 12 people living in 3 bedroom house and daily they are going to soup lines for meals and having to scavage heating fuel just to survive.

Wow, say goodbye to vacation to Disney World and all the things that made our childhood special.

Now I am upset/depressed as well.

[ocean2026]

Magellan provided a good objective link and it shows Detroit home prices down by 55% year to year.

GM and the national decline can't help the situation. Detroit being continually named the #1 most dangerous city is also devestating. Where is the demand for houses? People out of work? People who live in other places thinking "Now is my chance to move to Detroit?"

I have to admit Ive seen a few mansion type houses online that look great but they still aren't cheap enough for me to bite and consider a summer home, not by a long shot. Besides there aren't many crazy people like me who think watching a great city evolve architecturally and wandering around ruins of great buildings is a fascinating thing.

Let's be realistic about Detroit's future ... and honest.

[Peter B]

No doubt the situation is bad in Michigan. However, if you have a nice home with water access, the house will sell if priced correctly. That's the weird thing up here in Grand Traverse County. Homes with water access will much quicker than homes without.

[upandrunning]

Every thing sells if priced correctly. The only reason a home does not sell is price. The problem is especially in Michigan is that price is dropping like a rock. What was a good price a year ago is double what its worth today. The big problem is many people who now have no job, have homes that are worth less than what they paid for them. I can remember when I had my Real-estate lisc. in Otsego county in 1999. The median home price in Gaylord was 169,000 Now you can buy that same median home for 89,000 and have your pick and with a bit of land. In two years this will be 59,000. Take a look at your history, the great depression did not start with a bang, when the market started to stumble, many of the really wealthy invested a lot of their own money into the market to stabilize it. It took several years for the depression to take hold. And it was only the New Deal and WW2 combined that pumped us up and out. Remember that the country had a basically blank credit card compared to today. We have maxed out and then some today and we are still racking up debt. I do not see a Rosie picture for the near future. Buy bailing out all these institutions such as GM who got themselves into this mess we are only prolonging the inevitable. We need to have things adjusted by finding that we can not live on credit. How many here were shocked 20 years ago when they walked into the grocery store with the first credit card scanner in it? Every thing is on credit today. I was mad when the auto industry started the lease program. This was just another way of having us buy what we could not otherwise afford. Now the piper is asking to be paid and we are trying to borrow from baker to pay him. We all built this house of cards, or at least many of us did by buying into this consumer based, free market is god economy.