Ah, the sweet life. No debt, plenty in the bank, renting for pennies on the dollar.
No property taxes, no maintenance costs, no depreciation, no condo fees.
Yes, my friends, at this day and this time, renting is the sweetest feeling imaginable.
Share your stories here, and congrats!
August 22, 2006
Just because I love hearing the stories: HP'ers who sold at the peak and now rent, share your stories
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43 comments:
Not only did we sell at near peak (rentals were sold off in 2003) but we bought oil companies, royalty trusts, tanker stocks, pipeline stocks, and utilities. . .have doubled my portfolio. . .and the 4% muni tax free income on the money from my house is paying my rent. . .since no $330 a month HOA, and No $3000 a year property tax, each year I rent, I make $6000 more. . .the only problem. . .I can't talk with any of my friends about this because they are all "on budgets" some paying off HELOCS for new kitchens, some paying off HELOCS for a huge new deck, and other friends who bought a 1.1 million condo that is now worth 800K on a good day. . .it isn't as fun as I thought it would be. . .I was thinking about putting an ad on Craigslist to see if there were a few other "rich" people out there to talk with, without being assaulted!!!. . .I just mentioned this morning, that I see the "flow of funds coming right from the Exxon/Chevron Gas pump into my Schwab account. . .oh well. . . out to Pacific Beach since maket is closed!
mark, you are my hero
Ah yes, 2.5 acres beats renting any day of the week. Especailly when I bought it for $27k and the latest going price is now $150,000 with one tard asking a ridiculous $330,000...he won't get it. But I'll take my house over living next to losers in an apartment complex every day of the week.
renting doesn't mean apartments anymore. With this crazy oversupply you can have your choice of the sweetest houses or condos in any city in America, for half of what it would cost to own the place
www.craigslist.com for starters
we sold our insanely overvalued home in 2005, moved into a very large loft area above our business, now living an exquisitely inexpensive, but totally comfortable life here above the business, no drive time, no property tax, business takes care of utilities, I go to work in my pj's. Bought CD's, shorted builders, bought muni's, the rest in cash...our business is solid, we bank every spare cent. I'm totally out of the mindset that I "need" a stainless steel refrigerator. Our kids love this set-up, very relaxed living. We'll watch the zillion dollar homes swoon, then maybe, just maybe we'll buy again in 2008 or 09...otherwise, we live very well, travel alot, and feel safe.
you people make me sick. you should out there buying overpriced homes, putting up with abusive condo restrictions and idiot boards full of retired assholes with nothing better to do than make your pathetic lives even more miserable, paying more and more property taxes every year to support municipal governments that piss it all away, you are unpatrio....wait...... wait...... wait.......you know what.....I think I will join you.
Here is a twist on your theme: in Sept 05 I put an offer out for $840,000 for a new home. I felt uncomfortable with the naggin feeling in the back of my mind about the market prices. I did a Google on "Sacramento housing market sales trends" and found Sacramnento Land(ing), which led to Sac Real Stats, and HBB & HP. Needless to say, I got it loud and clear. I had this epiphony that if made no sense to buy.
I still needed a bigger home, so I went out to the subdivisions where all the flippers were stuck with homes. We called on a few and had our "pick of the litter" to rent for $1700/mon vs $5,200/mon to buy. And we take no risk on this steeply declining market.
It feels much better now and we will buy in 2008 when the market has corrected. The $200,000 is invested and growing (yes I actually had something called a DOWN PAYMENT). Just think, an $800,000 home could easily get to $600,000 and that money would have disappeared if I had to sell.
We have surfed the bubble accross the nation, selling 4 hi-end homes at 50-85% gains each. Quit working 5 years ago. Made money in international stocks and precious metals (out of that now).
Up here in Canada the bubble is not about to burst. People in Vancouver are buying 600 sq/ft condos for $500,000 plus. Condo developments are selling out before the ground breaks. I hope the things correct up here the same as they will south of hte border.
Someone please tell me how knowingly ass raping others makes you guys better than RE agents and/or David L.
we put up our houses for a price the market would bear, period. no lying, no deceiving, just the free market. For all we knew real estate could keep going up and up - and that's what everyone was telling us when we sold
"For all we knew real estate could keep going up and up - and that's what everyone was telling us when we sold"
Yeah, keep telling yourself that.
"Someone please tell me how knowingly ass raping others makes you guys better than RE agents and/or David L".
A little testy are we?
Who's forcing people to bid on homes and outbid each other? Its their own greed, buyer beware.
Divorced from hag in 2003. Took cash settlment for less than half of equity for quick out. Coyote Ugly woman - would have gnawed off own arm to get away. Hag sells old place and plows all profits into new pookie princess mchouse at near PEAK (August 2005) in St. Louis area. Has been hissing value since. I sit with one year cd ladder renewing monthly in bachelor pad waiting (sometimes with Brazilian girlfriend and sometimes not when need some peace and quiet). Signed, Smug Bastard in St. Louis.
"A little testy are we?"
Yeah, now I am stuck renting for the next few years- I can't stand landlords anymore.
You guys are assh*les. Probably boomers.
or worse- their kids.
face it - most people are idiots - especially in phoenix.
i bought a high rise condo (11th floor) in 2004 for 230K. painted it cool colors, put in some cheap ikea shelves, stained the concrete floors and sold it for 305K after only 9 months. btw - the building has problems with AC, elevators, and the pool is green last i heard. HOA fees go up every year, too, now at $576/month for 1300 square feet. the buyer was a realtor and his mother is/was a mortgage broker. how a kid could afford 305K is beyond me, but no bother to me.
i also bought a cabin in the pines in 2003 for 217K. fires were raging and the rodeo-chedisky memory was still in the air. the desperate seller was a realtor that had leveraged the propery to the hilt. we offered and agreed to 220K, but he had to lower when the appraiser said, "sorry". we kept that place for 2 years and sold in 2005 to 2 more realtors for 330K.
nice pocket change. i still own, don't rent, but i wanted to brag about the fact that i have no debt, no car payment, and lots of cash in the bank.
not counting closing costs, i made 188K doing almost nothing but being smarter than the other dolts.
i still have 4 other properties that have almost doubled in value, but i am keeping them since they are rented with positive cash flow and great tax breaks, and they will make for a nice retirement income when i do sell.
so don't go diss'in people that made out well. bitter is as bitter does.
peace.
oh, and i am only 41. hardly a boomer.
Sold overpriced cookie cutter last month in Riverside, CA. Bought in 2003 for 210k, sold for 440k. Walked away with about 2ook. Paid off all debt. Same week it sold got bumped up at work making 96k a year. Renting a new condo for less than my old house payment with 200k chump change ready for a DP on a deal coming in 07 or 08.
aftertimers!
We sold our San Diego home before peak but still made 110k on it. We are out of debt with money in the bank and taking some time out to live in Toronto before we go back to California and buy a house in a few years.
Here in Toronto they are building condos everywhere. When I drove out to the suburbs it was the same thing, row after row of houses in various stages of construction. There are not enough jobs here to support all those new units. What are they thinking? I've watched some people buy recently in a panic because they think it's going to keep going up and up but there's no way I can tell them because they are so set on buying a home that nothing gets though.
Also divorced like smug bastard,only my wifey gave me the heave-ho. I was a good husband, so insisted she buy me out of the house early '05. Enjoyed marriage & homeownership, but now I'm liking the low-maintenance lifestyle of the bachelor crib.
Parked my money in mutual funds and recently made some adjustments to hedge for worst-case scenario. There is a new type of fund that "locks in" market peaks. Anyone worried about a crash might want to look into it. Tax deferred, too. I seem to have lots of liesure time, and also like Smug Bastard not planning on giving up dating freedom anytime soon.
Cool for me personally, but the big pic still looks dodgy at best. Rough times ahead, but further down the line we'll be the better for it.
Cashed out of CA 6/05, I left the commie state and now rent a new home. The interest from my tax free profit pays my rent..
Yes, sold my home at the peak and made good cash. Now I'm sitting on a pile of cash and renting for cheap. Will pick up another home when prices are right.
The best thing our company did was sell all of our apartment complexes, condos and commercial buildings that had mortgages when just about everyone else was buying. We sold everything with a mortgage at the peak (there was commercial flipping also going on). Now all of our property is fully paid for. Many people in Florida are getting killed with insurance increases. We self insure. We are making great cash while others are losing their shirts because we sold when everyone else was buying. We'll buy and build when everyone else is selling.
I have been flamed on this blog for being a greedy bastard when I brought this up. Am I greedy? Nope. I'm just not stupid. This whole bubble was easy to spot from start to finish. If a person was stupid and tried to get rich quick by flipping and failed, they shouldn't have fallen for a get rich quick scheme.
I'm also a gen Xer.
Just verifying this since someone was commenting on people being boomers above.
I can't stand landlords anymore.
Agree.
Oh, and 40 and up, you are a Boomer.
1964 last year of boomers
that's 42 and up
sold second home july 05
made a sh*t pile
plowed into physical
now just waiting for the rush from the US $
Sold home in late 03' should have stuck it out at least one more year, but whatyagonnado?
Now renting, waiting. Go anywhere,at a moments notice or sit and wait awhile.
Know some who own, and rent while waiting to sell and can't. Mortgage and rent....how many are in that sinking ship?
Bought in late 1993, new construction, 1803sqft. on half acre in N. San Diego county, for 175k. Sold in late 2003 for 385k. Not bad, considering same home today August 2006 is listed for 575k ! Hindsight
Sold housing asset in Jan 05, didn't know about the bubble then. Unbelievable selling price. Stuck a ton a change in conservative deferred annunities where I couldn't touch it since I didn't need it. Went back to work. Still own my home outright, no bubble in this area , although the pain from the bubble areas will ripple out to every area. I couldn't get out of my home what I put into it in the last twenty something years if I wanted to and did decide to sell.
No incentive at all to sell, move out, and rent, after all I have no mortgage payment to compare it to! Looks like I will just stay put, although I can see downsizing to a smaller place in a cheap area/state after the housing market hits rock stinking bottom.
Got plenty of cash when it does.
I was looking for other news on the 22nd, and did I ever luck out. Urban restored house sold in one day. The problem is in the crappy suburban boxes with no yard. Can't give them away. A whole neighborhood (2 years old, in the south of Sac.) is now low income housing susidized by you and me. I truly consider myself lucky because our economy is in the toilet.
I love the things you all have done in real estate. I actually envy you and aspire to do some of the samethings myself.
"spent the entire last year running around asia, malaysia, singapore, thailand, india etc with my gf and living under $600/month at neat little guest houses, with a bunch of other travelors."
I'm 23 and I wanna be doing that in about 5 years. I'm located in Ohio, the so called bubble doesn't really exist here, prices here haven't fluctuated as much as the costal regions. I recently bought a piece of property in Columbus that I'm now trying to get rid of, I've had it for about two months.
Another piece of property I bought is north of Cincinnati. It is 5 acres a little house and garage. My projection is to make about 45-50k off it. I'm new to the tax world though, as far as being taxed when I sell.
I haven't really learned the ends and outs and plan on getting an accountant.
Any suggestions?
Sold house in Phoenix area after owning for three years in October 2005, just as things were really starting to slow down. I believe that I got out just in time (at that peak price level). Two pending sales of the house fell through, but a Califonia speculator came through for me.
Anonyruss,
You're very lucky to have found another "stupid," buyer. That's one in a million.
I've never actually owned something, but my wife and I made a decision in June 2005 that has saved us a ton of money..
In August 2004, our apartment complex went condo. I was thinking about $70,000 would be a fair price, maybe I'll buy. Nope, offer came in at $117,000 - $132,000 depending on your "upgrades". I was pissed, as I didn't want to move. We haggled with the developer, and eventually made a deal of $104,500 on a unit near ours with less of a view. At the last minute, we decided that it wasn't worth it. Feeling discouraged we rented a condo 6 miles away, from the owner, for $750 a month (asking price at this new place was $175,000 in June 2005). Sweet deal, I thought to myself. I was still pretty discouraged, since I felt like we missed out and that I’d never own anything.
Now, everything has changed. These condos are MOT SELLING, and many of the newest conversions are going back to apartments in this area! Nobody wants them, they can't sell them, and they can't even give them away now.
Why anyone, in their right mind, would purchase a condo for 3 times more then the cost of renting the same unit, is beyond me. But people did this, and now their stuck with it.
It's amazing what a difference a year can make, huh?
-Dragasoni-
Wait wait wait. The last year of the boomers is 1956. There is a difference between a baby boomer and the baby boom generation. The baby boom generation is 1937-1956. A baby boomer is someone born between 1945-1956. Generation X is 1957-1976, so named because its the 10th generation of americans. Founding fathers being the first and each generation being 20 years in time. 1776 + 20(10 generations) = 1976.
MT:
You sound like a young guy trying to make a fast buckk. You said you bought a property several months ago and ready to flip for a profit? Please read this blog more often. YOu will soon realize the days of flipping are long gone. Get rich quick in RE is no more. My suggestion: get a degree or start a business. Forget the Carlton Sheets on Robert Kiyosaki mentality. Its over, stick a fork in it.
Mark, I was looking for those kind of muni bonds. Are those "A" bonds?
Specifically, I'm looking for tax-free bonds.
Thx.
25, almost 26
unmarried, but job doesn't pay that well, so no house as yet. trying to educate myself so as to start my own business by 30.
I am envious that I missed out on the bubble, and am now priced out of the market. I hope that in the next 5 years prices will come back to earth, especially as all the boomers start wanting their cash instead of just rent.
fingers crossed.
Smugbastard2:
Not really trying to make a quick buck. The property in Columbus was with a friend that was going to be rented, but now he wants to sell it- partners = pain in the ass. The 5 acres was a great deal the guy who owned it let it go to hell and was on drugs, and sold it at a great discount. Anyways I do have a degree, unfortunately I don't really want to use it. I just got a job with Homeland Security in LA and I'm worried about the cost of living- it's going to kill me. I would love to start a business- I just need to go back to school and get my masters, I'm in need of some more education- ha. Really just trying to figure out what I want to do with my life... maybe I'll volunteer for a deployment- but I do love real estate and as long as I get through these first couple properties I should be good... Thanks for the advice though.
We sold in Dec., 2004 and moved to Baltimore. We lived the urban loft life for a while, which was cool, but it was too far to DC each day, even by train. We rented a townhouse on Capitol Hill to see if we wanted to buy one, but now we're watching prices tumble. We'll continue to wait and watch for a while before we spend a dime on another house. Meanwhile, I've started the DC Housing Bubble Blog, and I'm already getting lots of emails. One reader asked if I was a real estate agent. LOL! (I'm a retired French and German teacher.)
Refi'd 3 yrs ago at 4.75% for 15yrs....mortgage guy begged for us to "extract equity" for us to use for whatever...
didn't do it...and we make an extra payment every 6 months..principal only...we have house free and clear in 8 or 9 yrs...at $550/month
wife's brother/wife bought large....$375,000 two yrs ago....house identical sold last month for $299,000
they are tight *ssing it as they got hit with another ARM increase now...remember, RE never goes down???
right
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