Category: real estate

Big Changes Ahead

Just got back from Albuquerque… looking for a place to live. My PLAN was to rent for 6 months, get a feel for Albuquerque and then look into buying.

One of my fellow grad students referred me to Myra the real estate agent. She toured me and my sis around on our first day knowing full well that I had no intention of buying yet, but just to give me a good idea of the neighborhoods, what’s out there, and of course to schmooze me a bit… we clicked she’s cool. She used to be a computer programmer. Anyway, she showed me this place…

I walked in and said, “This is me!”

And of course, being me, it didn’t occur to me to put an offer in or go get pre-qualified for a loan. Fortunately I had my sister with me who said, “What are you waiting for Jenn? it’s exactly what you said you wanted. What are you going to wait for?”

mi casaThe cute little vintage adobe is 3 blocks to the university, nice neighborhood, cafes and restaurants and shops within walking distance and even a grocery store two blocks away…

Next day, I got a referral for a mortgage broker, got prequalified and made an offer. By Friday we had a counter offer that I accepted and earnest money was delivered on Sunday. Now we are in escrow. Close scheduled for July 10, taking possession on July 14.

See more pics online….

Wow. crazy,huh!

I may get rich yet!

For the last couple of years I’ve been sure the housing market was a bubble about to burst. I did the math. I could not see how people with regular incomes and 100 percent financed mortgages, and Hummers, could afford houses in Southern California. Recent turn of events in the market have proven me right. Good for me, good for anyone else that hadn’t already gotten into the housing market, and bad for those folks who are way over-extended and sitting on houses with sinking values.

http://api.finance.yahoo.com/instrument/1.0/YHOO,GOOG/badge;chart=1y;news=3;quote/HTML?AppID=hX3qZhGueAUROGT_BcMr1Aq5Y34-&sig=EYhUNcs6Et14QK3N9piNp_oJ4zU-&t=1201913114141

Unfortunately, I’m not as good at predicting the stock market. Last year I bought Yahoo stock. I really wanted Google (at work I am known as Google Girl) but at 300 some odd dollars a share, even buying a couple of shares seemed like a lot of money. Besides, I was sure it was overpriced. (Note: Google is now worth over $500. I could have made a cool thousand.)

And Yahoo. The number one visited site on the internet.
I was sure if they could just get it together, they could make some serious coin.

Um yeah.
Not so good picking stocks, am I.

I watched my measly little investment go from $35 per share down to under twenty. (I bought high, you’re supposed to buy low) I didn’t invest much. I hung on. and on. and on.

But today I may be vindicated! and sorry I didn’t buy more.

Microsoft Unveils $44.6 Billion Bid
For Web Ad, Search Rival Yahoo
By KEVIN J. DELANEY and ROBERT A. GUTH
February 1, 2008 7:06 p.m.

Microsoft Corp. on Friday went public with a $44.6 billion offer to buy Yahoo Inc., in a bold attempt to dramatically expand its online business and compete more effectively with Google Inc. in services ranging from email to Internet advertising sales…..continue reading—>

If Only I Had Known

WASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) – President George W. Bush will unveil a plan on Thursday aimed at slowing a wave of home loan foreclosures that has threatened to knock the U.S. economy into recession and rattled investors worldwide. …MORE…

OK, now I am not so naive as to think that our president is out to save poor people from losing their homes, but rather INVESTORS and BANKS from losing their shirts, HOWEVER, had I known there would be a government bailout, perhaps I would have purchased a home I knew I could not afford.

Like many, especially here in Southern California, I’ve been watching the housing market absolutely skyrocket out of control. I’ve been wanting to buy my own place. I’ve been diligently saving money, only to watch the prices move even further out of reach. But wait! I could have qualified for a zero down, hundred percent financed interest only loan. But no, silly me opted to go the old fashioned route, and look for property and/or a mortgage I could afford. And I blew it. I’m still a renter.

How about you?

I haven’t forgotten about my real estate obsession

My latest rant is regarding the Fed, and possible plans to “fix” the mortgage market. Hello? The mortgage market in my humble and uneducated opinion was running its course. Supply and demand, with a little greed thrown in, at its finest.

This NPR story really took me over the top on this issue… specifically the interview with Sheri Stinson of Minneapolis, who earns $2,000 a month and who’s mortgage payment just jumped an additional $500… to $1,800. And she has two kids and a car payment, and you know, food to buy…. If her payments had stayed at $1,300 a month she still couldn’t make ends meet.

I’m sorry there are people in a bind. I want to buy a home too, but over the last year or two I looked at 1. my income. 2. the price of real estate 3. how much I can put down and 4. my income.

Did I mention MY INCOME??? NOT what I am approved for.

So now, my tax dollars, which are significant (not in a Bill Gates kind of way) since I HAVE NO WRITE OFFS, are supposed to help out someone who got in over their head? who didn’t read the fine print? Didn’t understand variable interest rates?
OR worse, to bail out some mortgage company or bank…

I certainly don’t wish anyone ill will, but there is no guarantee in this country that says you get to own a house. Hell we don’t even guarantee everyone access to health care.