Oh, man, that's gotta suck. Paid $874,890 in November 2005. House now worth $639,990 a year later. Ouch.

Just one act of financial stupidity, after a lifetime of saving, working, planning. Just one act, listening to a realtor on commission and buying at the peak last year, and bam! it's all over.

Here's a good article about the price devastation, and also that county tax assessors are discounting the value of the home by the amount of incentives given. Imagine that - someone out there is trying to accurately record a home's value (unlike the NAR, unlike the US government reports, unlike the MSM)

Albert Quintero's timing couldn't have been worse. He made a deal to buy a new Turlock luxury home in November 2005, at the real estate market's peak.

By the time construction ended in July, Quintero's Milestone Way home wasn't worth the $874,890 he was contractually obligated to pay. Now the same model — a new home on nearby Tapestry Way — is priced at $639,990.

"It's really tough to swallow that we paid 37 percent more than what our home is worth now," Quintero said. "We got caught."

He wasn't the only homeowner burned by buying at the top of the market. Potentially, thousands of Northern San Joaquin Valley homes bought within the past 18 months may be worth less than their purchase price, according to county assessors.

Some builders have been offering new cars, fancy vacations or other goodies as incentives.
"You don't want to be paying property taxes for the Mexican cruise that was included with the home, and we don't want you to, either," Harms said.

So county assessors must subtract the cost of such incentives from the purchase price before establishing the assessed value of the real estate.

"There are so many deals going on that we're asking more questions about what's included in the price," Harms said. "If personal property was included — like refrigerators, drapes or furniture — or services like free cable TV for a year, then we absolutely need to know those things."