If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

We bought our house in 2006 for way more than we probably should have but that was the market at the time. Even though I love my house and want to stay in it for now I always think about what if i decide to sell it in a few years...what would I do b/c I would definetely can't get what I paid for my house right now. It seems that my house has dropped almost $150k in value in Merrick I dont think that is going to change overnight.

Do you think its going to be 5 yrs or more like 10 yrs before our houses go back up to those big numbers we paid for them?

Message edited 6/3/2009 8:40:36 AM.

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

I think it will be closer to 10 years. We paid a lot of our house in 2007 and to us it was worth it, but I eventually would like to move and upgrade and our value has dropped as much as yours has.

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

We bought at the height of the market also. I just plan on riding it out, however long it takes, to make some money back!

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

this scares me about buying now even though prices are at a low b/c you still don't know what could happen down the line, what if things get worse? that is why we are *hoping* that we buy a house we can live in 10-15 years at the least - we are trying to buy a "forever" home - something that will have enough room to let our family grow - but that isnt to say we will never move again b/c again you can't forsee the future - the neighborhood might change, we might need something bigger, we might move to another town - you just don't know what might happen....

if you guys bought in 2006, 2007 you have only been living in your houses about 2-3 years - so i wouldnt worry about the value right now - yes it s-u-c-k-s that it went down dramatically but you guys are still new to your home and you can put time into it - its not like you've been there 10 years + already and now you want out....

i think things will turn around eventually and i think if you can hold out long enough you will see a profit....in the meantime enjoy your home!

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

we bought in aug 2006, i don't think we overpaid by that much, maybe 50k compared to now.
We did put alot down, and we also did some major construction projects.
so right now, our house is worth way more than the mortgage because of the rennovations.

We don't want to sell our house ever, its perfect for us. Is it possible you can do some home improvements to increase the value of your home?

We also pay extra every month towards principal to get our mortgage even lower.
Is that something you could do?

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

We bought in July 2007, so two years this July. We did get the house for less than what it was worth at the time, but we have put a lot into this house fixing it up. Right now houses in the area, for the same type of house are going to about $15-$30K less then what we paid for it. This house might be our forever house, so we aren't really too worried about it right now. But it does bug me at times because of all the work we have put into it and it's probably worth less then we paid for it right now.

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

Yup - we're in the same boat. It sucks because it seems that a lot of the upgrades we did don't translate into any extra $$$ for our house because of what our neighbors are selling their houses for (It's definitely true that you shouldn't have the nicest house in the neighborhood - I have learned this the hard way).

Any additional work we put into our house I am doing MYSELF or for very cheap. We want to finish our basement, and I told DH that he'd better enlist the help of some friends, because there is NO WAY I am paying a contractor to do it for us.



We were able to refinance though, which I am thankful for.

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

We bought in Nov. 08, and even tho the market was dropping when we did buy, it basically tanked weeks after moving in. Our home is now worth less than what we paid, and thats including the upgrades we made, granite, tile work, etc So i feel for ya. Although we don't have any intention of moving soon, this is not our forever home, and i truly hope we made the right decision buying when we did. Nothing we can do about it now, but hope and pray the market takes a rebound.

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

we bought ours in 2006 too.. we are not going anywhere and losing a ton of money with the market today. i hope in 10 years it will be back up ! what a loss we would take if we sold now

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

i bought in the height of the market as well (2005). i am debating selling in a year or so but i am not too worried about the resale price.

when house searching i made sure to keep the resale value in mind. i chose the house because of the floor plan (CH colonial), its features, location, (private setting with an acre lot on a cul-de-sac). from viewing the homes that have and are on the market in my neighborhood i think that i am in a good position if and when i choose to sell.

IMO, i think it is really all relative. even if i you are forced to sell at what or lower than you purchased for, the home that you will purchase will also be listed at a lower price than it would have been a few years ago.

Message edited 6/7/2009 8:56:23 AM.

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

We bought in 2002, right before prices EXPLODED. We have put a TON of work into our house, over 100K, and its appraising now for what we paid 7 years ago

ALL our equity is gone, all the money we put into it was (seemingly) for nothing, and we are now stuck as well because we cannot sell and pay off our mortgage and home equity loan. Forget about having anything left for another downpayment.

This real estate market is screwing a lot of people, even those who bought before prices were insanely inflated.

Message edited 6/3/2009 12:19:26 PM.

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

we bought in the summer of 05 & we did pay a lot for our house but I don't feel we overpaid at all. Since then, we have put in so many upgrades & our house is in the better condition inside & out then most houses on our block. We have no plans of selling the house anytime soon. DH is confident that if we had to sell sooner then we wanted, we would still make money on our house just bc of the upgrades.

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

You almost have to view your house like a mutual fund,the market tanked you lost money, in 5-10 years market will correct itself and you will make money..

Its the luck of the draw.. Will houses be a cash cow like they were 5 years ago probably not, but one never knows..

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

we inherited property and are building a house on it that we will probably not be able to move into beacause we can't get out of our current mortgage!

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

We bought our house July 2004 and the market was extremely high. We currently have our house on the market and it's listed for LESS than what we paid. We also put atleast $25,000 into the house. I love my house but it's not my "forever" house. We figured if we can sell hopefully we can make out on the other end. I think it will take atleast 5+ years to get back to where we could possibly break even or make alittle money, but I don't want to wait to get a bigger home.

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

I agree. You buy a house you can afford and you live in it, forget about making money on it, when you need to sell you deal with it



That's what we did...we bought in 2008. I think we paid 2009 prices, in 2008...if that makes sense. Same type houses in my area are selling for about the same price we paid last year.

This is not my forever house...we'd like to move in about 5 years...so, I also hope the market starts to recover soon.

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

Part of the equation depends on how levered you are in. For example, someone that put down $60k on a $300k house, if that house is now worth $240k, they lost 100% of their investment. however, if someone else bought a house for $300k, with no mortgage, they are only down 20%. There's more to that equation but I am just trying to simplify to illustrate the point. So, it really depends on how much money you put down to determine how bad the market has effected you.

Our house is almost paid in full, so we haven't lost that much % wise compared to many others. In fact, we lost WAY more money % wise in our investments in the stock market over the past few years. I still consider our house a really good investment. I think it's probably down about 20-25% from where we bought it 3 years ago, but our investments in the market are down about 40% in that same time period.

Unless you were all cash in the past few years, you're losing money somewhere....

Also, we plan to be in our house for the next 20+ years so it doesn't really matter what our house is worth right now - although I do consider the loss in value of our house a very REAL loss, even though we haven't sold it and we don't plan to. That investment is gone , vanished for the time being. to me, that's REAL.

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

Message edited 11/29/2011 7:50:06 PM.

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

Kevin- we agree again

my Dad built our house in 1976 for $50K

sold in 3 years ago for $520K- 2006

not bad- he could have got more but he already bought a place in FL and just wanted to get out of it

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

All the time. We closed in 5/07, just outside of Charlotte, NC.

We've decided that we're going to try to relocate (again) before DD starts Kindergarten. I have no idea what the market will look like then...but right now it's absolutely FLOODED with houses in this area. I think the one bonus we'll have going for us is that our new refi rate is transferable to the next owner--that will be a huge selling point should the rates go up in the next few years.

Re: If you bought your house in the height of the market, do you worry about when housing prices will go back up?

We worry about it all of the time. We bought our house in 2006. It was new construction and we finished off the downstairs. I wonder what our house will assess at now and even with the renovations DH thinks it will assess lower then what we bought it for.