Comments on: Real Homes of Genius: Special Edition, Lifestyles of the Poor and Notorious. 10 Southern California Homes that Prove a Gargantuan Housing Bubble.

By: Ken

Ken — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:43:36 +0000

Want a surreal experience?

Play this music video — “Cash Cow” by Steve Taylor – when reading through this list.

By: web design

web design — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:02:07 +0000

I think just about every last one of those properties are worth ~$50k.

By: dc sidelined

dc sidelined — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:48:39 +0000

I don’t understand the psychology of sellers. But how’s this for satisfying? After trolling the housing market in the D.C. (Northern Virginia area) in ‘06, making low but thoughtfully calculated offers on row houses that had sat on the market for 6-9+ months, I had no offers accepted. I went ahead and bid a second time (first bid wasn’t acknowledged; a second bid was requested a month later) on the place I’m living in now (2 BR and 2 BA on an ugly little street–a real home of genius). It needs a kitchen re-do and has dated 80’s plastic pipes that must be replaced. I offered $537K; it was listed at $579K. It had been initially listed at over $600K 6 months before with zero offers. After the seller turned down the $537K offer, it was listed as a rental. Needing a place to live, and finally realizing that buying would be a bad financial move, we rented it. So, fast forward: The house is now on the market again, and it’s listed at $535K. Sure, she pocketed about 24K a year from rent, but here’s what the seller is now looking at: No real interest yet; much more attractive competition in this price range, a housing market flagged in this region as being in decline; very likely not to sell any time soon and not for over $500K and having to shell out about $30K to the turd she’s retained to sell the place. Too bad, so sad. What is it about having NO OFFERS on your house for six months that convinces a seller that someone else is going to come along and snatch it up at the price you command?
P.S. This seller still stood to make a 100K profit if she sold it at the price we offered and she hadn’t invested in any renovations.

By: Kathy H

Kathy H — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 17:31:01 +0000

Great examples of the insanity. I’m a Realtor and my market in the Midwest is not quite so bad. Definitely softer but just mildly declining or balancing out. This year has actually been my highest sales in an eleven year career. I think its due largely to the fact that it took all of 2006 for sellers to start facing the facts that the “hay days” are over and reality is finally sinking in. They are finally listing to what it will take to get their homes sold. Imagine, taking your Realtors advice??? who’d of thought?

By: CHESSNOID

CHESSNOID — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 22:17:04 +0000

Those prices for those houses are crazy. It’s even crazier that just 2 years ago there were many people paying more than those prices listed above. The housing bust is just starting and we are definitely headed for a recession. Those rate cuts the feds are doing will not solve a 6 year problem overnight. Every quarter when the banks put out their earnings will continue to pull down the economy along with price drops of homes.
When mortgage payments become closer to rental payments, then it may be the sign to start buying again.