That's basically what I did.

What I noticed was that my area (Palm Springs) was seeing an influx of people now that prices have dropped, because it's one of the few 'nice' areas in Southern California where a home can be bought relatively dirt cheap (under $150/sqft). Once I saw the influx really start up, I bought a house. I still got a great price compared to the past couple of years, and I should be pretty near the bottom for THIS area. If my home drops 10% in value I'm not going to care that much. As long as I can sell my house for what I paid for it or a bit less in 10 years, I'm happy.


hope69 said:LOL this guy sounds like someone from FWF

Wannabe Buyers Welcome Housing Slump

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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Kurt Montufar isn't stressing over the housing slump. He's actually hoping things get worse. Like many wannabe homebuyers who were priced out of the market during the last boom, Montufar spends time these days scanning real estate ads and news reports to determine if it's time to take the plunge and buy.
Foreclosures rising? Great. Cash-strapped sellers pressured into lowering prices because they can't find buyers? Even better.

"Somebody else's misfortune could be my happy ending," said Montufar, 27, a resident of suburban Los Angeles.

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Appraisal came in about 16% less than asking price but why would someone offer 99% of asking price in that market. Bubble still has a long way to go till it's popped.

ClaimsGuy said:Appraisal came in about 16% less than asking price but why would someone offer 99% of asking price in that market. Bubble still has a long way to go till it's popped.

It was 3 years old, nice lot, georgous interior. Priced at $165 a square foot when the average is $185 on houses closing around here - so it was priced right to start with and that's why it went so quickly and for 99% of asking price. The appraisal is insane. But I'm hearing that the banks are doing this more and more to protect themselves. In this case, the bank required that the buyers put down cash to make up the price difference *and* come up with 20% of the $410K appraisal if they didn't want to pay PMI. From what I know, the buyers were thinking they could finance with an 80/20 setup (because a year ago that was easy to do) and didn't really have much (if any) cash to put down.

And I agree with you - I think we have a LONG way to go. The number of foreclosures hitting later this year as loans reset and the banks tightening their standards will have a BIG impact.