Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for November 15, 2013

It IS apt to take about that long.

Ok, I don’t understand the US market. But if prices are low when you’re selling, won’t they still be low when you’re buying in Georgia?

The problem superfrog is that a LOT of homes are “underwater” which means that the homeowner’s mortgage is larger than the value of the home. For example ten years ago someone might have taken out a $150K loan to buy a home that was valued at $175K at that time. A few years later the housing bubble as it’s called, busted and the value of homes plummeted. That $175K home is now worth $125K. The homeowner, however, still owes $140K on the mortgage. Even if there is no mortgage anymore, few people would enjoy selling a house for $125K if they paid $150K+ for it when they bought it.

With a market like that, what are the estate agents going to do? It ain’t exactly a seller’s market! I don’t know why she’s so happy.

Wow. It sounds like things are crazy over there. I hadn’t realized there was so much geographical variation in housing prices. That must lead to some internal economic migration I guess.Housing prices here in Oz slowed a little but nothing like the descriptions you’re giving. House prices in Sydney are now at record levels with a median house price there of over $700,000 AUD. More rational in other places, of course.

nah, just sell it now, take the loss now, it aint going to get any better anytime soon. unless you have money and that is not likely in a trickle down economy/aka/Privatize the Profits and Socialize the Costs. St. Reagan’s promise of the Brave new world we now live in.

Our new head of the Fed basically doesn’t believe in bubbles. She does however believe in fairies, and unicorns that leave little piles of Skittles behind them…

Surely he can wait three more years, or maybe 11 if the foolish elect Hil.

Danae’s school teacher might make a contribution

There is still a lot of money to be made in real estate. People in the biz know how to pick up homes that were foreclosed that the bank writes off and then just dumps. ready cash buys these for 20-30% under market(for move in condition). They know how to mask problems and make it look nice for little money – then they “flip” them.There is always money to be made by bottom feeders – all that is needed is a steady stream of cash or credit(in this market? yeah right).Those that knows, goes.

obviously she in business and it will cost him to sell; upside down economics….is she really necessary?

This is why you should never buy a house unless you plan to live in it for the rest of your life. People who are still building careers and expect to need to move several more times in their lives should always rent until they’re ready to settle down. Real estate agents will try to convince you otherwise because they don’t make any money if people don’t buy and sell houses, but the truth is that you almost always lose an enormous amount of money every time you sell a property.

I bought my house in 97. We were supposed to flip it five years after. We’re still in it. It’s doubled in value but needs a lot of maintenance.

Sorry, “Rick”, but this isn’t applicable in red state Florida. The only ‘affordable’ housing is in rundown areas.

I’m fortunate to live where my home has rebounded by $80K from the bottom of the housing bubble. Not that I’m selling but it’s nice to know I have equity in a home I can tap in a financial emergency.

Just remember, your realator would rather sell your house for $150K today than $200K six months from now.

Realators don’t care how big a loss you take. As far as selling houses goes, there’s money to be made in volume. They would rather have an immediate small commission than take a chance on a slightly bigger commission that they have to wait for and work harder for.

It isn’t that they are uncaring, it’s just the way the business works.

Hmm, affordable housing, growing real estate market and a growing economy, businesses hiring & expanding, and “many” people migrating to this blue state in this Obama economy. Beware making blanket statements.

Now we find out how much he loves that out-of-state girl.

The “Obama economy”? You know that the economy crashed long before Obama took offive, right? In fact, the economy was already in a deep recession, on its way to a depression (which it was in ’08) brfore Obama had even entered the presidential race.

And that is the major problem… I am watching my college educated nieces and nephews go overseas to find jobs… we first exported low paying jobs, and now have exported higher paying jobs. The last step in that process is exporting our young workers, which is exactly what is going on now….

This has had a huge impact in Florida. Most local governments have had to use limited resources to fence off and barricade bank-abandoned homes that vandals stripped the plumbing and other resources out of, leaving them havens for vermin (and drug-cooking human vermin). Some cities actually set up special boards to go through the very difficult process of demolishing the abandoned homes; you have to try your best to notify possible owners. The County where I live has actually managed to fine some banks that refused to fence off the homes they took over and then abandoned. There are a lot of people who needed to go to jail over this, but to my recollection, none of them did. Unless you count Martha Stewart for insider trading….

@pepelaputr, I agree with you that Joe is making a big leap if he hasn’t had any discussion of this with the major ladies in his life, other than his Mom….

I don’t think for a minute that he’ll move to Georgia…….And I don’t know how it will go down, but Victoria will solve the problem…..

Oooooo.K , here’s a wild idea….shut the house down to vacation mode…go to GA , on vacation….if everything works out and you decide to stay, THEN put the house on the market at your prefered asking price, but be willing to accept the first offer that comes through.

Getting a 2nd Mortgage has turned out to be a bad idea. As long as you stay where you are, it does not matter how far underwater you are. Unless you lost your job to outsourcing and all the open jobs are too far to commute to.

Used to be that real estate was the safest investment. And that a good, loyal employee would have a job for life. And my economist friends wonder why I consider economics is evil…

Ahhh! But in comic strips, people usually never get older! So…..