Housing bubble?

[IrishBloodEngHeart]

What are your thoughts on the housing market? If you have any thought in general, or about southern california in particular, I would love to hear it.

Where are prices going in the next 3-5 years?

[mom cat]

1. Certainly not up at the rate they have been. They have been inflated too

much by speculators.

[wtmusic]

2. Southern California: wait

Housing prices are at an all-time high. Could go higher? Sure. But the economy is slowing, and if they do, probably not much.

I'll predict that if you wait a year you'll get $100G for your patience.

[fed-up]

3. Is that before or after the next "Big One" (earthquake)? :)

edited to add that here in Northern CA my neighbor just dropped the price of their house 10% from 429K to 389K, but then he is moving to Hawaii to sell real estate.

There do seem to be an awful lot of houses for sale right now.

In five years there will be many more people living in California and with a shortage of land available to build houses on near big cities prices can only go up, even if there is a short term correction.

[wtmusic]

4. no kidding

you might get a good deal on a fixer-upper

[Warpy]

5. Dunno about California

but here on the east coast of Florida, things haven't shown much sign of slowing down. I have no clue why people want to live in a steam bath populated by cockroaches the size of kittens, but they still do.

It's the one bit of good timing about this trip. I should be able to unload this white elephant of a house before that first hurricane forms off the Azores.

[Earth_First]

6. Here's another housing related question?

In the event of a major economic collapse, what happens to your home in the event that you cannot make payments on your mortgage? Will lending institutions really attempt to foreclose on millions of homes nationwide?

[wtmusic]

7. They did 70 years ago

AFAIK there is nothing new to prevent that.

[salin]

8. yes - two words: Land Grab

banks would act for fear they will get nothing - they would take it to sell it for whatever they can get. Those who still have money - would be able to buy up a lot of land.