Financial Ruin: First of many articles on homebuyers losing their shirts before moving in - Here's one from D.C.

Can you imagine losing $100,000 on an investment in a matter of months? Financial ruin because all you did was sign your name on a purchase contract? Oh, boy, there are going to be so many of these articles - on people who bought at the top...

Lynn Edmonds and his wife, Sebnem, could barely wait to sign on the dotted line back in May when they committed themselves to pay $796,000 for a three-floor townhouse under construction in Alexandria's Cameron Station.

But since May, the sales prices for the development have fallen -- and units like the one the Edmonds bought are now being sold for $699,900. The Edmonds are facing the prospect of a $100,000 loss in value before they even walk through the front door.

"We blithely stepped into the contract, thinking it would hold its value -- but that's not the case," said Edmonds, 46, a program analyst and Air Force veteran. "I feel so stupid putting myself into it. It's real estate -- I knew on a theoretical basis that it might go up and it might go down, but now I know it on a practical level."