Why Oh Why? wrote:Anyone else as dumb as me? I actually let a real estate agent convince me in 2006 that the market wouldn't go down, even when I myself had my doubts.
Here's a guy who spent $600K on a house at the absolute peak of the market -- when there were very strong signs that the market was already in deep trouble -- despite being told this by a highly-respected Letsrun financial advisor:
"I think you have to be crazy to buy a house right now unless you are absolutely sure that you will stay in it for a very, very long time. Otherwise, odds are that it will depreciate to the point that you lose most of your equity by the time you want to move -- at which point you may no longer have enough money for a down payment. Keep in mind, that you have to pay the realtor about 5% of the sales price when you sell, too -- not to mention the other fees associated with the transactions of buying and selling.
"Housing inventories are sky high and getting higher, defaults are accelerating, FAST, and prices are just beginning to fall.
"I decided to sell my house and rent, at least until this all shakes out -- no sooner than fall of 2008, IMO."
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=1896863&page=0