Mayors to Meet on House Forclosures
Posted on November 21, 2007 2 Comments
Thought this article from the Associated Press was interesting. Although I optimistically hope it’s not a sign of things to come, I worry it might be. All the more need for us to really make an effort to be aware of our consumption and spending habits, learn how to live within our means and be patient when it comes to acquiring things.
Sometimes it’s OK to go slow, little grasshoppers.
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2 Responses to “Mayors to Meet on House Forclosures”
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November 22nd, 2007 @ 9:56 am
Hi Nicole
Having witnessed the property “bust” in the early ’90s in two completely separate property markets, it occurs to me that unless you purchased your home at the peak/need to sell/are overstretched, downturns in the housing market aren’t necessarily a bad thing. They bring housing prices back to a level where Joe Average can afford to purchase his own home.
In Australia, the main losers in the last “bust” were the property investors – often people who’d mortgaged and remortgaged their own homes to purchase investment properties for rental or redevelopment, relying on capital growth and quick sales to cancel out negative income streams. Mortgage interest rates there peaked at over 18%(!), so when they ran out of cashflow and couldn’t sell, their house-of-cards collapsed.
In Britain, the losers were people who’d purchased at the peak of the market and then needed to/wanted to move house. The smart ones rented their original properties out (usually small apartments) then pursuaded the banks to give them a mortgage on a new house (usually larger and cheaper than their existing home). That option, though, was usually only available to those who’d saved a sufficient deposit for their new place or had increased their income stream/were now buying with a partner. The real losers sold at a loss and then spent the next several years paying the remains of their mortgage.
In both countries, after a couple of years of pain, property prices recovered and by the end of the ’90s had doubled or tripled what they were at the peak of the ’80s boom. Of course, now, they’re both back at crazy prices having tripled again.
I guess the moral of the story is to see your home primarily as somewhere to live, not as an investment or as a bank. When you buy your home, you are purchasing your independence from a landlord – the oportunity to do what you want with your living space – it should be viewed as giving you security over where you live. You have to live somewhere, so it shouldn’t be counted amongst your investments. At least that’s my opinion.
- Pam
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