So I live in a little town about 60 miles east of San Francisco called Mountain House. It's a brand new community that started in 2003. My wife and I purchased a brand new townhouse there two years ago for $400k, and according to the County it's worth about $280k, but they are selling new for about $220k or so. Some of you probably wondering why on earth I'd pay $400k for a townhouse, but when the average price of a home in the area is over
$600k you don't have much choice. So for a brand new townhouse during the housing boom it was a great deal.

It's a cool little community, and when it's built out it will be a city of 45,000 or so, but it's not looking good! One of the reasons it's so underwater is because it's brand new and values never had a chance to go up like in established communities.

I'm pretty sure I'm the only mustang board member that can say they live in the most underwater town in america! ha ha ha. I also wouldn't be suprised if I'm the only one on the damn site that's lost $200k on a house.

Just wanted to vent and share my frustration of how the housing market has smacked me in the face.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/bu...6KFl2mSEmtWf3Q

 

dang man well that sucks. hopefully it will go back up for u! go ahead share that frustrations lol

 

As long as you didn't get in over your head you will be fine but you will have to take the loss. Are there lots of vacant houses around you?

 

isnt a part of that bail-out plan designed to help those like yourself?

burn it to the ground! insurance fraud FTW!

 

well, when we purchased the home 2 years ago we could easily afford it with both of our incomes. Well, my wife worked in the mortgage industry so she lost her job. She took another job making half what she made before so we were hurting. I picked up a side consulting gig that makes some extra money so we are ok now, but I don't know what is going to happen in the next few months cause times are tough again. So we didn't get in over our heads at the time, but now we probably are due to my wife losing her job, not because of a shitty loan.

I think the bail out plan will benefit me if I fall behind in payments, but i'm not sure. I hear about all of these bail out plans, but never heard of a real person taking advantage of it. The banks are ****'s to work with. They are not helping people and won't until the governmet forces them to.....which is coming.

I didn't put a penny down on my house, recieved a 6.3% fixed rate through the entire loan....really a good loan when it comes down to it, but in all honesty there are so many laws protecting homeowners now that I could walk away from my house and the worst thing that would happen to me is my credit would be shot. With that in mind you'd think banks would want to work with people, but they don't give a ****....I won't walk unless I just flat out can't afford it, but that might not be far off.

There aren't as many vacant houses as you'd think because the prices are so cheap that people are buying the up. It's so frustrating that 2,800sqft homes that are two years old are being sold for $100k less that what I paid or close to it. It's also frustrating when someone moves next door and has half the payment I do because they are taking advantage of the shitty market. Not their fault, but it sucks for us that paid at the peak.

anyway, I didn't post this to ask for sympathy, just thought it was kinda funny/sad that my town is the most underwater town in America. ha ha ha ha ha.