US house prices in freefall -- redux

[Dinner]

Prices are still falling here.

[Zkribbler]

Unless Congress passes a rescue package, the mortgage market will dry up, and prices will go back to plummetting.

[Colonâ„¢]

Feel like sharing my work of art.

[snoopy369]

Why is it so unreasonable that people believe they have a right to own a home? That of course being not the same as everyone getting a home, mind you; but rather the system being set up so that everyone with a reasonable income (something on the order of $30k/adult $15k/child in the family, so a family of 4 would need $90k income or so) can own a home. Not that it's entirely far away from that right now - someone in that range probably could get a house with good credit - but I think the problem is more the credit system, which both allows credit too easily and then punishes too severely for relatively small defaults. The down-payment model for mortgages also is a significant block to owning a home; if you don't come from money (at least some), or if your parents believe (as I do) that you should make your own way, you have to rent for several years before you can afford a down payment. (I assume down payments for <650 or so scores are going to be essentially mandatory post-crash - Plato, correct me if I'm wrong?)

[Kuciwalker]

Keep falling until about when I need to buy an apartment

[Jon Miller]

One thing is that it is easier to get a home for a family of 7 (just need 3 bedrooms at minimum) than it is to get a home for a family of 4 (need 2-3 bedrooms). So the costs don't increase as much as you estimate.

And there are people with so low credit scores?
JM

[DirtyMartini]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
And there are people with so low credit scores?
JM

is that a joke?

[Kidlicious]

I think mine is negative.

[Japher]

County inspector just sent everyone in the nieghborhood some document with adjusted appraised values and my home value went up! Sounds like a con to me, cause now my property tax went up

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by DirtyMartini


is that a joke?

I am poor and owe a lot of money and my credit score has never been below 700 I think.

JM

[Japher]

most people get nailed because of too much revolving debt, whereas yours is most likely installment debt (student loans), and you probably use your revolving debt wisely (pay off credit cards). Most people who screw themselves do so by maxing out their credit limits on credit cards not by having too many mortgages, though that has changed.

[DirtyMartini]

I'm not sure how the formulas work exactly, but AFAIK as long as you make payments on time, don't have stuff past due and don't continuously run at your credit limits, you won't really drop too low.

edit: Japher is smarter than me

[Jon Miller]

It is true that most of my debt is in student loans. But I have even been a day or two late a couple of times on paying my credit cards and I haven't been negatively effected.

JM

[Japher]

A time or two won't hurt you. It's if you are chronically late or ignore the reminder notices and late fees.

[DanS]

Another month of reaccellerating price declines. A 1.03% decline from July to August. Only 2 of 20 metro areas were positive this month -- Boston and Cleveland.

Some metro areas like Detroit looked like they were stabilizing last month, but took a leg down this month. San Francisco took the biggest hit, with a whopping 3.48% price decline from July to August. Phoenix dropped 2.86% month-to-month. San Diego dropped 2.31%. Las Vegas dropped 2.35%.