been reading all the entries, hey want to know something?here in Australia it ain’t much better, all the main banks here have lost billions on the subrpime crap, and so far four big hedge funds have gone under, the average loss is about $1 Billion AUS , so far, in one main city ( Sydney) has over 4 million people not big by US standards, but big enough, in some suburbs home owners are being served with repo notices of about 37 each week( thats in 1 suburb alone ) so far 300,000 home owners( wrong word there) insert wage slaves. are on the edge to go over into the abyss of foreclosure, ok its a average but if you say average it out at say 4 people per house thats about 1 million people, not a small number in any ones terms, here the loan rate is at near 10 %, and the average loan 400 k , the average wage is supposedly$ 60,000 a year, but I dont earn that, ( I am not paying a house off yet) .
but it makes me laugh when I see people thinking the sub prime fiasco is over, here the reserve bank is predicting massive walkouts from homes and people are worried about jobs. the only real way is for the system to come down and people to get back to a real way of healthy eating and living togther such as learning and applying permaculture, I suspect though this wont happen easily, most sheeple wont give up their gas guzzling ways here, oh by the way fuel here is $1.62 per litre for diesel and $1.65 for unleadede fuel.

Wall Street Journal: Jose Canseco: Walking Away from His Mortgage ‘Not Difficult Emotionally’

http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2008/05/01/jose-canseco-walking-away-from-his-mortgage-not-difficult-emotionally/?mod=WSJBlog

Granted Canseco made some bad personal choices in his life but it speaks to how some of the famous people we think of as being ‘rich’ or ‘financially secure’ may very well not be and may be more like the middle and working classes than we realize.

Thanks for you input and info. We are definitely in no big hurry to rush out and buy, but were hoping that this might be our year. Thunder, I hear you on the economy/energy (and inflation) front! I think the vast majority of Americans are gonna be in for a very rude awakening, in the near future. I’ve been warning people I know to invest accordingly, to change their mindsets/lifestyles, and views on governance–to little avail. A couple of things make me wonder about where real estate will go:

1. What effect will high (God-forbid HYPER) inflation have on prices? Doesn’t housing have a pretty solid history of tracking inflation?
2. Will some of the $100’s of billions in foreign holdings of USDollars end up being used to buy property in America? With the USD in a major down-trend, how attractive does real estate, here, look to foreigners?

But something to add to your numbers. You have to be making enough money to pay enough taxes to even get full $240 the tax benefi, many people buying at the edge of affordability can’t count that and don’t realize it. And our repair costs are closer to 5% of our price, but that’s part of the era the house was built in, the incompetence of former owners, and the low starting price too.

For us, owning is a control thing. Having fixed expenses and the freedom to take a sawsall or a paintbrush to something at will.

And to Thunderpreacher, I’m hearing your sermon. Despite everyone naysaying any move into new real estate right now, I’m working on an earth-sheltered house. 1/10 the energy to keep it hot/cool. Bike-able location for work and shopping. We are so there.