Real Estate, Real Estate, Real Estate, Real Estate

Forget about what those other news people are telling you, the San Diego housing market is ready, set, go time. Yes, we know, there's all those mortgage problems and those foreclosure issues but if you're in it FOR THE LONG HAUL you're fine. Just keep your condo for 10 - 15 years and call it a day. Sherm Harmer, chairman of the Downtown Residential Marketing Alliance thinks so. From Voice of San Diego:

Harmer and Graham announced that the downtown housing market was a good investment and that while "appreciation was cooling," condo owners downtown could still look forward to: "... steady, reasonable appreciation."

You might come out of it OK -- if you hold on to the condo for the next 10 to 15 years.But the problem is, most people couldn't afford the condos, and had to use exotic loans to buy them. Those interest-only and adjustable-rate mortgages will demand much higher monthly payments from borrowers than what they are paying now.In other words, unless they can easily handle those monthly payments, borrowers' only option will be to try to get another exotic loan. If banks won't do it, they'll be underwater.

We live in a generation that gets in and gets out. 10-15 years is a LONG TIME, we want the quick turn around, we want to own and sell and own bigger. We're not going to stay at a job for 10-15 years, how are we going to want to live in the same place that long. And why should we care about such a long investment any way? Like we have said down payment.

It's probably because I'm getting older that I am (finally) starting to think about things like real estate investing, credit scores and my "future" that I am lapping up this real estate hubub. But for those who think "doesn't affect me" I call your attention to previous post, the one where it mentions rents rising because of said falling housing market? I know PLENTY of us San Diego goers renting to the max allowable, slightly living off credit cards AND doing that whole pay check to pay check thing. I have (more than once) gotten in to the "don't let me buy that pair of shoes cause I'm getting into rent money" conversation with my roommates. So I would pay attention, the last thing we want is sky rocketing rent prices.

Maybe the property managers will be nice and say "ehh, we're making enough money why worry about raising the prices."

Sure they will. Sure.