What's your real estate situation? Is your mortgage killing you?

[1932]

I'm curious about how people are doing with their mortgages.

[NMDemDist2]

1. you left out my option

I own my home outright thanks to seeing the bubble coming and selling out of PHX over a year ago and moving to a cheaper market

[1932]

8. falls under "I have a lot of equity."

[Yupster]

19. Paid mine off years ago

I don't believe in debt.

[Warpy]

2. I bought a fixer upper in a crummy but convenient area 11 years ago

and if I still had a mortgage to pay, I would still not be hurting.

My monthly tab was about 2/3 what rent on a decent apartment would be.

My mortgage payment and average rents were about equal when I bought.

.. And my neighborhood is on its way up in the world now that high gas prices are here to stay.

I am one of the few people in this country whose property might be increasing in value, albeit very modestly.

[dysfunctional press]

10. us too...we bought a 2-flat at $131,000- and we're poised to sell at $415,000

we should be able to close by the end of the month...we have one offer we've accepted that's contingent on the couple selling their condo...but we have a cash offer that's in the process of being written, which we should receive monday or tuesday at the latest. we bought the place 11 years ago, and put a lot of our own work into it.

which also means that we'll be able to pay off the house we're now living in that we bought last august.

we had thought about keeping the two-flat, but we didn't want to be absentee landlords, and it will probably be awhile before it jumps up again in value.

besides- the place we're in now has more land, more room, and LOTS of potential to increase the value over a little time like we did with the last place.

[rubberducky]

3. I got lucky, bought a fixer-upper in a very nice area in `94.

It`s the fixing up that is a back breaker!

[HardRocker05]

30. how did you finance it? just found out that banks won't lend on fixer-uppers, even if your credit is

good, at least that's how it is around here (SD). they only want to lend on houses that are perfect, so poor people are screwed as usual.

[Swamp Rat]

4. Please add "homeless" or "other"

[Warpy]

13. Very true, too many people are in shelters or really marginal housing

I know people making low wages here who are living in campers on cinderblocks. There are whole neighborhoods of broken down trailers with no electricity, gas or sewer arrangements just outside town, living conditions that rival any I've seen in Juarez. I spot people living in their cars, and the woods near the river have a lot of tents and tar paper and scrap wood shacks. And these are the lucky ones. The unlucky ones have to choose between the streets and the shelters, both with their own set of dangers.

This country wasn't like this when I was just coming of age. I don't even know this country any more.

[Swamp Rat]

14. Come to New Orleans and I will show you thousands who now live like that

right in the middle of the city. :cry:

[melody]

5. We bought a little house for very little and paid it off early

No matter what happens, we'll survive.

There is something to be said for less than 1000 square feet and no swimming pool.

[bullimiami]

6. its the taxes and insurance that are out of control here in so florida.

[tritsofme]

7. We paid off our home

About three years ago.

[Captain Angry]

9. Sold my house to take profits and be mobile.

I moved into a place much more suited to my needs, and am ok.

But I know way too many people who a hiccup in their paychecks would cause to become homeless.

[Chovexani]

11. I'm about to buy a condo

Dunno whether I'm crazy or a genius, but I figure I'm paying through the nose for rent as it is, I might as well be building some equity.

[Blue_In_AK]

12. I bought my duplex in 1990

at the end of a housing crash here for less than half of what it's appraised at now. My tenants are happy because I'm renting to them at below market, and I'm happy because they're paying 3/4 of my mortgage payment every month. I've been very lucky to have had only friends and family as tenants, so there hasn't been any unpleasantness with bad tenants/neighbors.

[Jed Dilligan]

15. No intention of ever buying a house,

unless it comes with a lot of land.

My parents are homeowners and most of the time, it seems like the house owns them.

[Adsos Letter]

16. we bought our place 16 years ago for $159,000...

It was new when we bought it (from a very good company which has been building homes in the area since the '30's) and it will be payed off in 2 years...it's current "market value" is about $565,000...although I am sure we could get a bit more because of improvements we have made. Regular mortgage payment, with all taxes etc. rolled in, is @ $1,130 per month, but we have put a lot extra on the principal each month to pay it down faster (no pre-payment penalty, fortunately). And we have never borrowed on any of the equity.

As far as making improvements goes I was fortunate in that, as a painting contractor (now retired) I was able to rely on some contractor friends for things like concrete work, special interior cabinetry and built-in bookcases, flooring, etc.

I consider us fortunate; I don't know what it will take (other than help from us) for my kids to get into their own homes when the time arrives.

[AlCzervik]

17. we bought in 2000, paid $209,000 and put down 30% and have got a 15 year

normal boring mortgage, we owe about $98,000 right now and have borrowed 0 money from the equity, the plan is to sell in 6 years and hopeyfully walk away with $400,000 give or take a few thousand. the key for us--we bought a house that was below what we could afford and we had a good down payment from selling another house, we've wned 3 homes and never borrowed a dime from any of them and we always bought something that was below our means. A house is a house where you keep your shit, a home is when you are all together-at least thats the way i look at it. i look forward to selling and renting for a few years.

[kineneb]

18. House paid off. Paying off equity loan

payments under $200/mo. Cheaper than rent, not planning on moving.

[Critters2]

20. The house I live in belongs to my employer

It's a benefit of my job. Happily, I'm also getting an "equity fund" deposited, which makes up for the fact that I'm not accumulating equity. Never had that before. It goes into a special account of my pension, tax free--to be taxed when I use it. I'll use it toward the purchase of a home someday, probably when I retire. That's what it's for--so we don't retire into homelessness.

[InkAddict]

21. You also forgot "Losing /lost house"

After bailing it out three times due to long-term and short-term unemployments for mergers, outsourcing, downsizing, reorganizations, failed contract renewals, etc...,never for cause, and short-time underemployments ($8.50/hr versus a billing rate at least 10 x that)of spouse over the last 20 years and the cost of caring, housing, and doctoring an elderly parent, and educational/partial college costs for two kids. What I do PT has also been heavily outsourced. I earned above minimum and stayed at a place 10 years, and in that vested 10 years, my thoughtful employer paid a small yearly bonus that just covered X-mas many a year, and also paid a whopping $1,500 into a discretionary non-contributory plan that I think got hit by Enron, before converting it to a 401k into which I was able to contribute another whopping $1,500. When I left that city with no jobs, I had not had an increase or even a review for 4 years while I watched persons blow big bucks for boobs and the boss' family regularly jet around the country and the world. Over time, it was just enough to keep from washing the clothes in the river though not without major fallouts in our mental health and confidence. Marriage of 37 years almost died too; it's still wobbling. Who could have imagined...oh never mind.

A four-bedroom beauty in a less desirable "changing" neighborhood bought for $74,900 in 1987, the exact median price home in the US that year and very slowly appreciating only a grand a year since then. I loved the diversity back then. Unfortunately, the balance shifted away but, you know, your home is your castle. We refinanced just once in those 20 years for college costs and to consolidate bills after one of the RIFS. It's all come tumbling down since. Someone will get a really nice deal, I'm sure, but we sure didn't in *s bizzarro New World. With the rest of our savings gone too, my American Dream is a happy-ending afterlife some day, but not making any plans. Meanwhile, I'm thinkin' the gypsy life might be intersting once daughter #2 moves out on her own. The fantasy is saving enough to get a passport to a warm beach where I'll eat breadfruit and count tucans for the Audobon Society and finally make those public ed Spanish lessons pay off.

Some people say there was a (wo)man to blame, but I know it's my own d... fault. Trust is pretty shattered. Perhaps, another DEM will be lucky and take care of my trees and flowers. At least for today, we've got jobs. What tomorrow brings, at our ages, I can't say but really fear. :cry:

DU has saved my sanity many a day! Thanks folks.

[1932]

22. check the first box.

That's quite a story.

I wonder how many other Americans have gone through/are going through the same thing.

[ThomWV]

23. We Lost A Home Once to Forclosure - Our Current Home Was Paid Off In 5 Years

And we worked like dogs for that 5 years. Virtually every dime we made went into paying off the house. Everytime we got any money we paid in. We would quite litterly walk into the bank and hand them as little as $35 and tell them to apply it to equity. Our 20 year mortgage was paid off in just over 5 years - and we had a 2 year old child on the day we bought this place.

It can be done. It is not easy. The results are well worth it.

[bleedingheart]

24. none of those situations apply for me currently - we live below our income

my mortgage is only about 14% of my net income..and it will be paid off in 8 years or less...

we are in no imminent danger...and I could pay off my home with my pension investments if I was forced to do so...

[AllegroRondo]

25. I live in an area where prices didnt go crazy

there really wasnt a bubble market in the St Louis area, at least not in the lower price ranges. We havent seen prices fall, just a bit of a slow down. Still lots of new building going on.

[MindPilot]

26. I wouldn't call my equity cushion "big" but I think I will be OK

The equity is maybe $250,000 but I've been through probably 3 or 4 boom & bust cycles and they never seem to actually be as dire as the predictions indicate.

If things get so bad that I can't unload a piece of California real estate for twice what I paid, not making money on a house will be the least of my worries.

[Liberal In Texas]

27. None of the above. Not planning on selling any time soon, and we don't have one of those stupid

ARMs, so the housing market really is is of no concern.

(Aside, of course, the concern of how it effects other people and the economy in general.)

[guitar man]

28. free and clear

paid it off in '02 and refuse to borrow any more against it. It's old and junky, but it's all mine :bounce:

[doni_georgia]

29. Bought our house 15 years ago - don't plan on moving anytime soon

Even if home prices drop to what they were when we bought the house - we'll be fine. We bought no more house than we could truly afford. It's a 1500 sq foot typical starter home. Even though we've had 3 kids since then, we still plan on staying here until the kids graduate school and we retire. I never bought into the notion that I needed a big fancy house. For us a house is a place to eat, sleep, and hang out on the weekends - nothing more. We spend far more time outside than inside. We bought this place because our yard is 2 acres at the end of a dead end street. We back up to wetlands, so it's likely to remain quiet around here, which was exactly what we wanted. Sure my two daughters would love to have their own rooms, but they'll get over it (I did).

[catmandu57]

31. We're doing okay

We bought our house below market six years ago, and our mortage for a comparable house was and is well below rent here. This is our home, we don't plan on leaving until they carry us out of here.

[lapislzi]

32. Somewhere in between

I have some "real" equity in my home...that is to say, I've paid off about 1/4 of the purchase price. On the other hand, because I live in a suburb of NYC, the value of my home is about 1-1/2 times what I paid for it (maybe more). But I don't count that. It's not real money. And I wouldn't want to test it out. Hell, even if I got big bucks for my house, I couldn't afford to move to another place in my area. I might look good on paper, but I'm not going anywhere.

[Wcross]

33. It is going to be paid off in three months.

I have absolutly NO worry about house values, I need a place to live and this one is as good as any.

[tjwash]

34. I learned 30 years ago to buy as much property as I could in So-Cal.

Everyone thought I was nuts when I was a 20-something, for leveraging myself to the hilt, and living like a penny pinching miser while working 2 jobs and going to school full time, but it has paid off. Now we have several properties, 2 of which we own outright, and the rest have low interest fixed loans, and tons of equity in them.

They had predatory loan scams going on back then too, but I knew to stay away from them. Caveat-Emptor is still a good rule to this day when dealing with banks.

[truebrit71]

35. Lost my house after I lost my job three weeks after 9/11....

...been renting ever since...

Took me 13 months to get a new job and I lost everything but my pride....Fuck this "booming" economy...

[scorpiogirl]

36. I'm a renter with very little hope of owning.

I live in the bay area. My city is so expensive it's ridiculous. My next-door neighbor's house was on the market for less than two weeks at $850K it's already a sale pending. Not an upscale house at all, btw. I will most likely have to move out of my town in order to buy. That'll be hard because the schools are great and we have friends here and my husband has a good job. But, it's just not practical. I'm tired of being a renter. I would love to buy a foreclosure, there seems to be plenty of those. I'm just not sure how to go about that.

[Auggie]

37. Not. We're paying exactly what we were in rent for a moldy two-bedroom flat

in San Francisco six years ago. Our 1800 sq.ft. house has appreciated about 100% in six years.

It's a great mortgage: 30 year fixed at 5.125%, and very affordable for two people with modest incomes. We re-financed back in June of 2003, I think, when interest rates were at their lowest. It was like winning the lottery.

[aikoaiko]

38. The sale value of my home went up this year (4%) Not as much as previous years though (10-15%)