Los Angeles

[diggler86]

A wise person once said "I believed in conspiracies until I discovered incompetance"

[Eineloopy]

Much of the problem has to do with friggin speculators, read this:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601213&sid=apFMheiIZtPo&refer=home

[Knumb]

Ha.

The speculators will get theirs! 

There is no way we are at bottom.  I'd rather they stay out and get to the bottom faster, but second best is knowing they're going to cushion the blow with their lost capital. 

We are on a plateau right now, thanks to the winter slow down (it seems it took more sellers off the market than buyers), Obamaoptamism, and the foreclosure moratorium.  With job figures, new credit math, the inflation train that's coming, and god-knows-what-else-will-hit in 2009, we still have a ways to go, especially in the speculator heavy areas.

They rode the emotion up... they are ignoring the emotion on the way down.  It's entirely possible emotion will drop prices below 1998/2000 prices (adjusted for inflation).  Anyone remember the mid-90s?  You could get a 1200 sq. foot condo with an ocean for for $200K, or 2000 sq. ft. house in HB for $270K, a mile from the water. 

Buying a house as an investment, even in a static market, for a short term flip, is moronic... there's a huge load in taxes, fees, and maintenance on it.  You'd be better off putting the money under your mattress. 

[S_looking]

Eineloopy, that's what happened to an offer I put on a Long Beach house.  Some investors made an all cash offer while I was getting proof of everything.  I get the last laugh though, because a comparable on the same block is going for $200,000 less.

It was the best stroke of bad luck I've ever had, and also the most sobering.

[Prrrecious1]

I'm in escrow on the house of my dreams.  It is an REO and the negotiations and everything involved were really wacked out.  Everything had to go from my agent to the listing agent to the asset manager to the bank.

They wouldn't put any of the negotiations in writing, everything was done verbally to be "backed up in writing once an agreement had been reached".  This made me really uncomfortable, but in the end I ended up with a 4,300 sq ft. estate on 1 acre for $25,000 less than the original selling price when it was built in 1990.  I also got the bank to pay part of my closing costs and for roof and septic certs. 

It was interesting how their interpretation of what I originally offered (and they originally accepted) changed once it was in writing on their non-standard real estate forms.  While reading the contract it was clear that I was responsible for the world, and the bank nothing, but we're coming out the other side of the transaction and I will be moving in February.

Anyone looking for a cute 1,400 sq ft ranch home w/pool in Sunland?

[Prrrecious1]

Numb,  By the way, I'm planning to live in this house for the next 20 to 30 years.