Five Ways to Survive the Housing Slump

I just received a full price contact on my home after being back on the market 2 days, and my home is far from perfect. I lowered my price to a reasonable level and someone came along. I didn't take that big of a hit from where I started. If people didn't expect to make a mint off their home and had some patience they'd sell their home. There ARE buyers out there, they're just being choosier. If your home isn't selling, maybe it's a piece of crap, or you're asking too much. One thing is for sure, your agent isn't doing you a bit of good. Most likely they're a "listing" agent, and that's about all you get with most agents. I fired two sets of idiots before finding my latest agent. She was as hungry to sell my home as I was, and worked her but off for two days before I had a contract. First offer in almost 9 months. Most agents are morons as far as I'm concerned. That's the biggest part of the housing problem. Not rates, not supply. Lazy agents expecting you to pay 6% for them to sit on their butt waiting for someone else to sell your home for them. Try this. Tell your agent you???ll pay them their 5-7% for an offer within the first two weeks of your listing, and then it drops ?? % each week it???s on the market after that. Also, if they can???t bring you at least an offer within 30 days, they pay you $1000 each week it???s on the market beyond that. We???ll see how anxious they are for your listing after that!

I just received a full price contact on my home after being back on the market 2 days, and my home is far from perfect. I lowered my price to a reasonable level and someone came along. I didn't take that big of a hit from where I started. If people didn't expect to make a mint off their home and had some patience they'd sell their home. There ARE buyers out there, they're just being choosier. If your home isn't selling, maybe it's a piece of crap, or you're asking too much. One thing is for sure, your agent isn't doing you a bit of good. Most likely they're a "listing" agent, and that's about all you get with most agents. I fired two sets of idiots before finding my latest agent. She was as hungry to sell my home as I was, and worked her but off for two days before I had a contract. First offer in almost 9 months. Most agents are morons as far as I'm concerned. That's the biggest part of the housing problem. Not rates, not supply. Lazy agents expecting you to pay 6% for them to sit on their butt waiting for someone else to sell your home for them. Try this. Tell your agent you???ll pay them their 5-7% for an offer within the first two weeks of your listing, and then it drops ?? % each week it???s on the market after that. Also, if they can???t bring you at least an offer within 30 days, they pay you $1000 each week it???s on the market beyond that. We???ll see how anxious they are for your listing after that!

The market may have dropped for the speculators who drove it to insane levels just last year, but unless you live in Hawaii, they just aren't making any more land. The average home-owner has seen his investment in housing grow, along with the tax write-off he receives on the loan interest and taxes he pays. The greed merchants have been burned and the over-all housing market will be well rid of them. Now, if we could just get the media to focus on the positive instead of over-playing the negatives, we would see just how robust our economy really is.

If you are a seller, ask a price that your house is worth. Not what a real estate agent is telling you it's worth. In the long run a house will appreciate 3-4 percent per year. If your house is only worth 300,000 don't ask 585,000, it makes you look like an idiot. If you don't sell it for 300,000 now wait till you see what happens to your house price when the interest rate goes up to 11-13 percent. It's coming, the mortgage companies need to recover from all the bad loans.

Yes home prices are dropping and I have watched this as I am trying to buy a home. One of the main reasons they are dropping is that the lending industry in its recent "Re-Finance" boom approved mortgages for people who couldn't pay them!! So now it is extremely difficult to get a home loan UNLESS you have A+ credit, an outstanding job, and lots of CASH!!! Unfortunately this is not 75% of American's. Over 70 banks have closed in the last two months in Texas alone due to poor lending choices, so I think that Mr. Talbott might not be telling us what we want to hear or the whole truth, BUT what is the WHOLE TRUTH? The government hides things from us on a daily basis so we really never know the truth, but I do know that it is $3.39 a gallon to fill up my 34 gallon tank!!!!! WTH!!! I do remember many years ago when you couldn't give a home away due to financing issues and people ended up getting foreclosed on and losing their home only to rent somewhere else, because they didn't get to sell and recoup any equity to repurchase. So lets not throw stones at him, but note to ourselves that their are issues out there.

I am currently renting a home that has been on the market for 6 months. Guess what NOT 1 person has looked at the home. Not 1!!!!! Know why? Realtors won't waste their time if you do NOT have a signed Pre-Approval letter for the amount of the home. Realtors are now working additional jobs to pay their own bills due to the financing situations and they have kids and commitments that are more important that showing people homes they can't buy! I am a Passion Parties Consultant so my employment is great, but I am now seeing more Realtors enter our field to make their income due to the crashing real estate market. Also my loan officer has signed up as well because she can hardly get anyone financed which means no commission, compared to a year ago when she was closing deals left and right.

Good luck out there if the government has oil and funds they aren't letting it out to us!!!

Population growth, cost of construction increase, job market growth, rent income growth, and yes we will see prices come down, but to say that they will come down to 1997 levels is wrong. As long as we have investors that understand the real estate market, we will have support, and a fair ???price adjustment.??? I strongly believe that even with estimated 2 million foreclosures that will hit the market, many of them will be brought by investors, hence creating support for prices to adjust to fair-market value. Look for the Feds to adjust the interest rate to assist in the support of home prices, and we will come down softly. Thank You, REALNY.COM

Population growth, cost of construction increase, job market growth, rent income growth, and yes we will see prices come down, but to say that they will come down to 1997 levels is wrong. As long as we have investors that understand the real estate market, we will have support, and a fair ???price adjustment.??? I strongly believe that even with estimated 2 million foreclosures that will hit the market, many of them will be brought by investors, hence creating support for prices to adjust to fair-market value. Look for the Feds to adjust the interest rate to assist in the support of home prices, and we will come down softly. Thank You, REALNY.COM

1997 prices are going to happen. For the doubters.. i remind you that Talbott wrote about the GSE preblems before they were uncovered.

Here is your proof for one region regarding priced dropping like a rock...

http://www.housingbubblebust.com/OFHEO/Major/NorCal.html

Inflated housing prices - from no other then mortgage owned appraisiers - Company home builders owned appraisiers - Just watch the equity in housing fall like a rock !

Countrywide - Landsafe appraisier owned - What they want your home worth .

To dystantme:
You are either a desperate homeowner who needs to sell or you are totally ignorant of the ENTIRE U. S. housing situation. I would say that Mr. Talbott is being a little OPTIMISTIC!!! You better wake up and smell the coffee or you will be one person who is left with a very UNDERVALUED house with a CHEAP appraisal. Don't be a sheeple for the real-estate agent industry. Your ignorance does not bode well for you.

Hey everyone, please lay off of Mr. Talbot and his doomsday revalations. He is a public figure. Publish or perish. He HAS to say something radical, even if he doesn't believe it himself, to get his name in the article. Don't judge him by the "houses are worth what they were in 1997" comments. He knows it is just hype to get a headline. Cut the poor guy some slack.

It is true ... we will head back to 1997 adjusted for inflation...

http://www.housingbubblebust.com/OFHEO/Major/NorCal.html

Thanks dystantme - I wholeheartedly agree.

Can't afford a house? There are several factors at play besides the "free market." Cities and counties have long added "impact fees" to the cost of new housing. Only applied to new homes, sellers of used homes also include the value of impact fees, thought they give none to the county or town.

Impact fees are a tax on the new people in town. The funds are used to pay staff and build municipal empires of more staff to justify the fees. Live in California? Impact fees can be over $100,000 on a family house in a family neighborhood.

In Arizona impact fees go up to $12,000 in costs on a house.

This is a big impediment to people buying new, energy efficient homes, instead of older homes with less insulation or lower efficiency appliances.

Impact Fees are a tax towns use during boom times to shore up their budgets. Now that they have choked the "golden goose" property taxes will go up to support the big overhead.

Can't afford a house? There are several factors at play besides the "free market." Cities and counties have long added "impact fees" to the cost of new housing. Only applied to new homes, sellers of used homes also include the value of impact fees, thought they give none to the county or town.

Impact fees are a tax on the new people in town. The funds are used to pay staff and build municipal empires of more staff to justify the fees. Live in California? Impact fees can be over $100,000 on a family house in a family neighborhood.

In Arizona impact fees go up to $12,000 in costs on a house.

This is a big impediment to people buying new, energy efficient homes, instead of older homes with less insulation or lower efficiency appliances.

Impact Fees are a tax towns use during boom times to shore up their budgets. Now that they have choked the "golden goose" property taxes will go up to support the big overhead.

Give me a break! Home values plummeting to 1997 prices! I highly doubt it. I could only wish this to be true - and then scoop up all the properties as investments. I think that is absolutely ludicrous for John Talbott to spout off something like that and make the ever looming fears of home owners compounded. People - please remember - all real estate markets are LOCAL - not all of us live in California and Florida thankfully. The market here in Williamsburg is fairing well - dispite all of the negative media on the "bursting bubble" of real estate. Talk to your local lenders and Realtors for the statistical facts for your area.

The 5% Solution: It's time to offer a bailout for everyone. That way no one can complain they are bailing out the dummies and greedies. Here's how it would work! The government comes up with a new FHA loan, or a new government agency loan, which guarantees 5% loans (refis and all) up to 100% of the current balance of their home. This loan would require all loans with prepay penalties to rescind the penalty. There would be no stipulations as to what happened before. Everyone would qualify, and there would be a fixed fee paid to the lenders for the loan preparation. Should there be an issue of it being too costly for the government to absorb, they can offset alot of the cost by limiting the tax deductibility of the loan in the first years. Thus, it would not be an attractive option for everyone, but it sure would make a huge dent in the problem. Of course the borrower still has to qualify (using new federal loan guidelines) to pay the payments.

When my parents were my age, they were able to buy a home outside of Santa Cruz, California on a very modest income. Today, buying a home is nearly impossible for most of us in our 20's and 30's who failed to buy before housing costs soared. My husband and I both work University jobs but buying even a manufactured home would be extremely difficult with the current prices in Northern Arizona. I question why Greenspan and the government allowed the housing market to spiral up as it did. It is sad that this part of the American Dream is now just that....a dream.

When my parents were my age, they were able to buy a home outside of Santa Cruz, California on a very modest income. Today, buying a home is nearly impossible for most of us in our 20's and 30's who failed to buy before housing costs soared. My husband and I both work University jobs but buying even a manufactured home would be extremely difficult with the current prices in Northern Arizona. I question why Greenspan and the government allowed the housing market to spiral up as it did. It is sad that this part of the American Dream is now just that....a dream.