Sid_6.7: The assumptions in TFA display horrifying ignorance of economics.

A. Most people have a long position in a house. They aren't day trading it.

B. I bought a house during that time, and used the $8k to pay off a car loan with a higher interest rate than the house. Gee, look, they didn't consider that people might be doing stuff like that with their $8k. Imagine if someone paid off incredibly high-interest credit card debt with it. It could easily be worth losing $10k on the home value.

C. Not everyone lives somewhere where housing prices have continued to fall. I live on the very fringes of the DC metro area. Home prices didn't exactly crater around here.

D. Some of us were in the market anyway.

E. You're assuming that the appraised home value is the same as the sale price/mortgage amount. We bought a short-sale for about $20k below the appraisal.

All that. We bought ours because we needed a home. The 8k went to putting in a super-efficient central heat and air system. As this is the house my grandkids will be visiting one day, I think we did pretty well.

I took the 8k in July of 2009. I was recently offered 50k more for it than I paid for my condo. The trick is to buy the right property in the right location.

"Gee up" ?

Is that a thing?

People had been telling me to buy a house since 2004. "Oh, buy land, they arent making any more of it." "Buy now, quick, do it, it will be a good deal!" "New paradigm, housing prices will go up 20% a year forever!"

And then this tax credit came along and people pushed me even harder to buy. "Buy now, its the perfect time!" blah blah blah.


Glad I didn't listen to them. Now everyone I know who bought over this time is eating shiat. Glad I didn't listen to the herd.

Hrm? It wasn't a tax credit. It was a loan. Already started paying it back.

TFA is just silly.

Goodfella: Glad I didn't listen to them. Now everyone I know who bought over this time is eating shiat. Glad I didn't listen to the herd.

We're doing okay as far as I can tell, but we bought the house at roughly 50k under it's assessment value. It's also our primary (only!) residence, so in addition to being a fairly decent long-term investment, it also has stuff like beds and a fridge and all our junk!

However, maintenance is rough. :)

Gee, homes were worth more when more people were buying them because there was an extra incentive, and now that there is no incentive there is less demand and therefore housing prices are lower? I for one am shocked, shocked, to see free market principles occurring in this casino. I would say country, but it really is more like a casino.

sigdiamond2000: This article writer should do an expose on how myself and a lot of other people got completely screwed by "interest" after we purchased our home. I got a 30-year fixed mortgage, which I was assured was one of "the good ones," not one of those balloon arms or whatever they're called. Well, come to find out, it doesn't mean that you have 30-years to pay off what you bought the house for. They throw in all these extra charges called "interest" that they now expect me to pay. If I'd have known how much this house was going to cost me over the long haul, I'd have never agreed to this screw job. It's completely ruined my plans to go on a Carnival Cruise, buy a jet ski, and become a Tex Wasabi's franchisee.

Plus, you get to pay taxes and upkeep on that property as though you "own" it.
It's good to be a bankster...

You know what's even funnier? People paying $500,000 for a modest 3-bedroom in California, Seattle, or NoVA/DC ...

Want to see what half a million buys you in Cleveland? Besides 5+ acres of land, you also can build one of these as well:







See, if you live in an area with ALREADY ridiculously inflated home prices, why are you left scratching your head as they keep falling. If you're stupid enough to spend half a million on anything less than 4,000 square feet, well, a fool and his money are soon parted.

I bought a condo before the market crash. Interestingly enough, I can still live in it even though it is worth less now.
Also paying wayyyyy less than rent would be after it has been paid off.

/how does this work?

So, for those of us who were going to buy a house anyway, whose mortgage payments are less than what they were previously paying in rent, who used that money to pay down debt and make improvements to said house, who plan on living in the house for multiple years, and whose home values have actually gone up in the last two years... got screwed? :(

Aidan: Hrm? It wasn't a tax credit. It was a loan. Already started paying it back.

TFA is just silly.

Aidan, that was in 2008. 2009 and 2010 were straight up tax credits.

Subby's a retard. I bought my house January of 2009. Got the 8k tax break. It's worth exactly the same amount as it was worth back then. Why? Location, location, location. Massachusetts has fared very well in this whole thing, relative to other states. I was even able to re-fi to the ridiculously low rates they have today, even though I only put 3% down on my house.

Yeah, I'm a real sucker.

I see what you did there, Subby, Well done.

I bought, got the credit, and my home's value has gone up 15%.

I am, indeed, laughing.

Thespis377: Aidan: Hrm? It wasn't a tax credit. It was a loan. Already started paying it back.

TFA is just silly.

Aidan, that was in 2008. 2009 and 2010 were straight up tax credits.

Ohhhhhh. Well I feel sheepish. Yeah, I got the 2008 version. Damn. :)

lucksi: I bought a condo before the market crash. Interestingly enough, I can still live in it even though it is worth less now.
Also paying wayyyyy less than rent would be after it has been paid off.



But you don't really own that house. You are still paying rent to the government every single year, even after it's been paid off. You don't believe me? Stop paying property taxes and then tell me who really owns that house.

John Henry Eden: lucksi: I bought a condo before the market crash. Interestingly enough, I can still live in it even though it is worth less now.
Also paying wayyyyy less than rent would be after it has been paid off.



But you don't really own that house. You are still paying rent to the government every single year, even after it's been paid off. You don't believe me? Stop paying property taxes and then tell me who really owns that house.

You don't think property taxes are factored in to what you pay for rent? You're paying it either way. Personally, I'd rather have equity in the place.

This is one of the worst articles I've ever read.

/bought a house during the tax credit thing
//house hasn't lost any value
///we're planning on staying here for a while anyway
////seriously, wtf.

seadoo2006: You know what's even funnier? People paying $500,000 for a modest 3-bedroom in California, Seattle, or NoVA/DC ...

Want to see what half a million buys you in Cleveland? Besides 5+ acres of land, you also can build one of these as well:

[i41.tinypic.com image 630x420]

[i43.tinypic.com image 630x472]

[i42.tinypic.com image 630x420]

See, if you live in an area with ALREADY ridiculously inflated home prices, why are you left scratching your head as they keep falling. If you're stupid enough to spend half a million on anything less than 4,000 square feet, well, a fool and his money are soon parted.

Yes, but on the other hand, Cleveland.

seadoo2006: You know what's even funnier? People paying $500,000 for a modest 3-bedroom in California, Seattle, or NoVA/DC ...

Want to see what half a million buys you in Cleveland? Besides 5+ acres of land, you also can build one of these as well:

[i41.tinypic.com image 630x420]

[i43.tinypic.com image 630x472]

[i42.tinypic.com image 630x420]

See, if you live in an area with ALREADY ridiculously inflated home prices, why are you left scratching your head as they keep falling. If you're stupid enough to spend half a million on anything less than 4,000 square feet, well, a fool and his money are soon parted.

This this this aaaaand this.

Sucker my ass. My house isn't an investment, it's a place to live. I know this may be a foreign concept to some, like the idiot who wrote the article, but not everyone is looking to trade their house like it was a stock.

Well, I bought my condo because I like the place and it's in a good neighborhood. It's within my budget and I should have it paid off within 15 years. I intend to live there for a few decades. Still, the $8,000 was nice.

The value of real-estate will continue to fall unless we have massive immigration of young people to replace all the dying baby boomers.

H31N0US: seadoo2006: You know what's even funnier? People paying $500,000 for a modest 3-bedroom in California, Seattle, or NoVA/DC ...

Want to see what half a million buys you in Cleveland? Besides 5+ acres of land, you also can build one of these as well:

[i41.tinypic.com image 630x420]

[i43.tinypic.com image 630x472]

[i42.tinypic.com image 630x420]

See, if you live in an area with ALREADY ridiculously inflated home prices, why are you left scratching your head as they keep falling. If you're stupid enough to spend half a million on anything less than 4,000 square feet, well, a fool and his money are soon parted.

Yes, but on the other hand, Cleveland.

It's better than the hell-hole NoVA/DC or California is ... I can understand NYC, Boston, Chicago, Miami, hell, even urban Texas, but for the live of me, I cannot figure out why anyone on earth would voluntarily live in either California or the NoVA/DC area?

H31N0US: seadoo2006: You know what's even funnier? People paying $500,000 for a modest 3-bedroom in California, Seattle, or NoVA/DC ...

Want to see what half a million buys you in Cleveland? Besides 5+ acres of land, you also can build one of these as well:

[i41.tinypic.com image 630x420]

[i43.tinypic.com image 630x472]

[i42.tinypic.com image 630x420]

See, if you live in an area with ALREADY ridiculously inflated home prices, why are you left scratching your head as they keep falling. If you're stupid enough to spend half a million on anything less than 4,000 square feet, well, a fool and his money are soon parted.

Yes, but on the other hand, Cleveland.

This.

OK, Subby, you obviously don't know jack farking shiat about how home buying works.

The most important thing is the rate you get. The only way to get the best rate is to have a solid down-payment (usually 20%). Therefore the biggest problem most people had was coming up with the cash up-front. First time home buyers are in a particular pickle there because they aren't selling a house in exchange that could be the source of that cash (equity).

The whole point of the $8k credit was that mortgage lenders were treating it the same as cash up front toward the down-payment. The short-term up and down in the market is kind of irrelevant when you're buying a house you'll be living in for the next 15-20 years. Even so, unless you lost over $40k in value since taking the $8k credit, you're STILL ahead just based on how much down-payment you saved. Plus, by getting a lower interest rate you're still ahead over the long haul.

Yeah, well, I bought a Droid Bionic the week after it came out, and a month later the Droid RAZR came out that's better in every way! Where's my smartphone tax credit, Fartbama?

Tapakip: Subby's a retard. I bought my house January of 2009. Got the 8k tax break. It's worth exactly the same amount as it was worth back then. Why? Location, location, location. Massachusetts has fared very well in this whole thing, relative to other states. I was even able to re-fi to the ridiculously low rates they have today, even though I only put 3% down on my house.

Yeah, I'm a real sucker.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Learn to read good.

Tapakip: John Henry Eden: lucksi: I bought a condo before the market crash. Interestingly enough, I can still live in it even though it is worth less now.
Also paying wayyyyy less than rent would be after it has been paid off.



But you don't really own that house. You are still paying rent to the government every single year, even after it's been paid off. You don't believe me? Stop paying property taxes and then tell me who really owns that house.

You don't think property taxes are factored in to what you pay for rent? You're paying it either way. Personally, I'd rather have equity in the place.

This. P&I, property tax and maintenance are all figured in to your rent. At least with home ownership you get equity.

John Henry Eden: lucksi: I bought a condo before the market crash. Interestingly enough, I can still live in it even though it is worth less now.
Also paying wayyyyy less than rent would be after it has been paid off.



But you don't really own that house. You are still paying rent to the government every single year, even after it's been paid off. You don't believe me? Stop paying property taxes and then tell me who really owns that house.

Sort of CSB-

What's more amazing to me is the reluctance of counties not addressing the lowered value of homes. I work for a mortgage company and my area covers western NC and western SC. One of the homes I'm trying to sell (recent foreclosure that we bought back from the state) is 817 sq ft and sits on just over an acre of land. We're listing it at 40k, but only expect to get 30k out of it. The county has it valued in the tax office at 97k and they refuse to adjust the value of the home until 2013 (when its schedualed to be evaluated again). I've run into this problem quite frequently, but the differences in actual value and tax value seem to be greater in NC than SC for some reason. I know...CSB

Skwrl: H31N0US: seadoo2006: You know what's even funnier? People paying $500,000 for a modest 3-bedroom in California, Seattle, or NoVA/DC ...

Want to see what half a million buys you in Cleveland? Besides 5+ acres of land, you also can build one of these as well:

[i41.tinypic.com image 630x420]

[i43.tinypic.com image 630x472]

[i42.tinypic.com image 630x420]

See, if you live in an area with ALREADY ridiculously inflated home prices, why are you left scratching your head as they keep falling. If you're stupid enough to spend half a million on anything less than 4,000 square feet, well, a fool and his money are soon parted.

Yes, but on the other hand, Cleveland.

This.

Anyone who bought a house during the tax break isn't going to be selling it anytime soon. Even if the house value moved equally in the opposite direction, the majority of people's equity in the house wouldn't be high enough to break even on the sale.

Anyone who received it isn't flipping houses. It was for first time home buyers. This article is stupid. It's like they're saying, "Hey you know that car you bought last week? If you sell it this week on a 5 year loan, you lost money, hahahahah!"

TFA is a bit over the top.

/insert positive home buying experience story
//then a csb

jfivealive: Anyone who bought a house during the tax break isn't going to be selling it anytime soon. Even if the house value moved equally in the opposite direction, the majority of people's equity in the house wouldn't be high enough to break even on the sale.

Also, if you sell the house within (I think) 5 years, you have to pay back the credit.

Stan Humphries, Zillow's chief economist

Glad to see he's done so well after losing Super Bowl XXIX.

Done in 1. Did Fox News co-sponsor this article?

Aidan 2011-11-08 09:40:10 AM Hrm? It wasn't a tax credit. It was a loan. Already started paying it back. TFA is just silly.
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Yeah, it irks me when people say that. It's a loan paid back over time.

First time home buyer credit, which has been around for a long long time, is a credit. This, which was temporary, was not.