Personal Story Of Real Estate Loss

I am not sure that there is a better business than real estate but I am also not sure if there is a tougher one in today’s market. Home values countrywide are incredibly low and continuing to drop in places. Those in really bad shape now are the ones that bought five or so years ago when homes were way overpriced. Those in really, really bad shape are those who also got into a mortgage that seemed like a good idea at the time but made little sense in the long-term.

I live in California, where the prices of homes five years ago was way above the assessed value and people routinely had buyers with fat checkbooks knocking down their door to get into homes. Unfortunately, I had just moved to Los Angeles, and I needed a place to live. Going with the conventional wisdom of buying is better than renting, I bought property.

I knew I couldn’t afford the place I ended up with. But, they gave me the mortgage so maybe they knew something I didn’t. My house was overpriced and my mortgage was way too pricey and not a good deal at that. I had little equity and no more coming anytime soon. Then, my wife and I had our second daughter and my wife left her job to stay home. We lost her full-time salary and were heading up-creek further without a paddle. We were literally sitting on collapsing furniture with home space heaters at our feet because we couldn’t afford to repair anything when it broke.

As was bound to happen, the housing market and economy collapsed. Our home devalued quickly but our mortgage payments did not. Now, not only could we not afford the home, we couldn’t sell it at a profit and barely sell it at a loss. We went through a bankruptcy to get rid of our debt and decided that to free ourselves up from all financial burdens, we would sell the home through a short sale if we could.

We are currently doing much better renting a home. I hate that we went through what we did but, had we not, we may not have learned some valuable lessons.

If I could do it again, I would get into an income property so that I could have a tenant cover the mortgage. I would get into a home that needed some work and touch it up with some home decor accents and maybe a touch of paint on the walls. Certainly, I would buy something not only in my price range but below it. And I would definitely get a mortgage that built equity and whose terms were logical and sensible.

The last thing I would want is the worry of a mortgage month to month that I couldn’t cover. The only thing I would want is a home with real value that anyone could see and I would be able to hang onto it long enough to make it a really great resale property, whatever the economy threw our way.