debt blogs

[psychrofon]

I was reading an NYT article about debt blogs, where people, either publicly or privately, announce their debt and track their attempts to eliminate it. It was kinda interesting

Comments

[canadian_fbi]

yes, we sold it in december for about 6% more than we bought it for in october 2004, after about three months on the market. the realtor commission would have negated that gain except my relocation package covered the closing cost of the house sale. but if these particular buyers (who kind of dawdled for two months getting their financing together) hadn't bought it, we'd probably still have it, because there weren't that many people coming to check it out. chattanooga never really had the same run up in prices that other areas had though (i don't think milwaukee is as bad as minneapolis or other areas, but i think they had some bubblyness) - we bought the house, which was 1650 sq ft or so, for $144K. the thing is, since december, the subprime mortgage business has imploded, so a lot of marginal first-time home buyers (like the people who got our house with 100% financing) probably can't get loans anymore, which means there'll be even fewer people to buy all the houses.

i thought of a good analogy today while checking the weather... forecasting this housing market/economy is kind of like trying to predict a big winter storm like the one that's about to put us under a foot of snow this weekend. you can't tell exactly where you'll see the biggest accumulations, and you can't tell when it might be sleet or snow or freezing rain, and you can't tell if you'll get six inches or sixteen inches, but you're quite sure there's going to be some snow - all the ingredients are in place for some pretty bad weather. that's kind of how i see the housing market, and to a different extent, the economy in general. i'm pretty sure there's going to be a storm, it's just a matter of how bad it gets.

hopeful

[psychrofon]

i bought my house at below its assessed value (196 v 200) in may 2005. it was ugly as hell inside and i have done a lot of work (new bathrooms, new flooring, new walls). i also am working on the yard (which is big). I am hoping that because its not in the subprime category, and not in the super expensive category, that i can move it for a small profit. i want to sell it in may 2007 for about 10-15% improvement (combined with paying off about 7% of my loan). we shall see. buy my house! its in tosa! what a nice place!