Hey Zeph, it was the second house I was involved in buying this year, lol.
In June my son was looking for a place to rent with 2 othyer guys and my wife said at 4.5% interest rates, the mortgage payment is the same as the rent. So my wife did some shopping, found a place, and my son put up the down payment. My only role was to help qualify for the financing.
Our plan for the waterfront place is to move there in 2 -3 years when my wife and I don't have full time jobs west of DC. The rent from our current house will pay for the mortgage on the new place.
By the way -- its SHOCKING what houses are selling for, even specialty ones like waterfront, compared to what people thought they could get for them in 2008. Like 40% less. Of course the 2008 expectyations were insane, but I'm still surprised there wasn't a buyer for our place when it was listed for $100,000 more, or $50,000 more. In fact I'm not sure why 6 weeks after it was listed for its final price that we were the only serious offer. But I'm not complaining, lol.
Its very clear the housing pipeline is broken right now. You have baby boomers in their 60s wanting to sell but NO ONE is their 40s can come up with the down payment needed to get a loan for the remaining 80%.
Prices and interest rates have finally come down enough to restore the pipeline, but the sellers who thought the cap gains from their home sales would help finance their retirements are actually taking losses on their places.
Chris
My other online trading account is a mattress !
