We bought in Van Nuys because it was cheap compared to the rest of L.A. However, the mania from 2003 through 2005 was purely the result of the Creative Financing.

We’re now renting, with our equity in a MM and will do so for the next few years until the prices drop - and drop they will. It’s all fundamentals.

CA prices are unreal - that is about 6X more than here. Does that mean if I move to CA I have to live in a homeless shelter?

Milwaukee, WI

Oh, the slighltly smaller 2 BR right next door, on the exact same size lot etc, sold in FEB for 620K. Wonder if their Relitter bothered to give them that info? Oh well…

The current owner is carrying a mortgage of $485,000.00

So can we conclude they took a HELOC for $105k to enjoy the sweet mother’s milk of homedebtorship, suckling some of that “guaranteed” future gains in equity, using that quick cash to live the lifestyles of the Rich and Famous in Van Nuys?

Of course, in their mind, that HELOC money didn’t really need to be re-paid per se, since the principal would be offset by the rising equity…

so there is not much more room to drop the price here without having to take a loss.

Hey, who decided to raise the stakes and cut the margin for error to razor-thin levels, taking out a $100k HELOC consumer loan secured against a fantasy asset (AKA home equity)? Let me check: was it me? Nope.

Their inability to consider a possibility of negative consequences (and a need to hedge for the inevitable financial rainy day) sounds like a personal problem to me.

For who in their right mind takes out a HELOC/re-fi loan to enjoy the good life and trinkets today, forgetting that bad things can happen tomorrow?

While optimism is a glorious trait, we need to ban it from hanging out with it’s thrill-seeking cousin, the infamous bad-boy known as “irrational exhuberance”.

Apparently they’re banking on someone bailing them out if/when the times get tight: and they’re not alone!

But why exactly should I feel compelled to bail them out, in essence sacrificing MY future to help extricate them from the pickle they got themselves in? Did they invite me to share in the good times (watching Super Bowl on their brand-new Plasma T.V., etc) when they were enjoying the good times?

Oh, yeah: they were too good to hang out with riff-raff (AKA renters)…

Listed on 2/1/07 @ $574,950.00
Price dropped on 3/25/07 to $535,000.00

They dropped the price in less than two months that equals the average annual salary for the residents of Van Nuys. That alone indicates how delusional people became, treating theses prices as “funny money”.

Sad part is, in order to sell, they’ll need to drop well below their current asking price (and they’ll be getting upside down in their mortgage). So another FB (AKA financial genius) will soon be welcomed to the land of short sales/foreclosure….