Comments on: Lots of Return on Little Investment

By: Dana Swan

Dana Swan — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:02:32 +0000

If housing values continue to drop, there will be a “Tipping Point” where many home owners will finally beleive that they may never see their homes worth what they paid for them. At this point, strugging to pay a big mortgage may seem fruitless. If this occurs, and the prospects of selling their home seems pointless (they owe more than it’s worth) many more may home owners will walk away from their homes at a faster rate. This could start a chain reaction causing many more and more home owners to walk away…….

By: Bob Pearson-Ret.R/EBrkr

Bob Pearson-Ret.R/EBrkr — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:24:38 +0000

We will see very little recovery in the resale R/E market until the mortgage companies & banks go back to the minimum down payments (10-20%) and realistic qualifying rather than the subsidized government give-away type loans introduced in the past 8-10 years..Those type of loans only create a quicksand value system that is unsustainable due to the unaffordability of variable and increasing interest rates..It is hard for me to believe that a 1200+- sq ft house can’t be built for less than $100 K, plus the cost of the land, which should be moderated by now with the cancelled land-purchase contracts..I’m a former developer/RE Broker-Owner/ & an Economics Major..

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:20:57 +0000

I seriously doubt these numbers. No bank is going to assume a home is more valuable as a result of upgrades without seeing a comp. The house down the street from me was bought for 600k, they worked on it for 3 month putting about 50k in upgrades in, and couldn’t even sell it for 550k. It’s ugly out there.