A year ago we ran this post on "Geo-Arbitrage" - the idea of selling your overpriced home (while you still could have back then), cash out, and go buy a place for cash somewhere else or just wait the whole thing out. Best a few folks out there wish they had done that a year ago...
So it was nice to see the MSM version of this idea today. Only a year later. After it was too late.
Articles like these - "GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!", will only make the collapse spin out of control faster. Everyone head for the exits!
The concept is good though. Why work when housing loot in a lot of cases (if you can sell) is more (tax free) than you'd save in a lifetime?
Here's my post from last year:
As advocated in Life 2.0 (good book - read it last year - on sidebar now) - the idea is to cash in on your house in over-valuedburgh, and buy low (or rent) near cornfields. Small town America. Where $100,000 gets you a great house. I'd suggest foreign countries too for this idea. Central America, Mexico, Eastern Europe, etc.Cash in. Don't stress about $. Raise your kids right. Retire early. Slow down.Anyone doing it? It is tempting...
And here's the MSM today (on Yahoo's homepage):
Take your home equity and run
If you live in a high-cost metropolitan area, the equity in your current home can buy a heightened lifestyle somewhere else.
While in certain parts of the country home prices have leveled off or headed south, housing price disparities in different regions mean that some people have more equity than others by virtue of their locations.
Extra equity is an added benefit to the American dream. You can manage this equity in one of several ways. You can sit on it and hope that the real estate market in your area doesn't tank. You can tap your equity and use it -- generally not a good strategy since you have to pay it back. Or you can cash it out and move to an area where the housing dollar buys more for the buck.
Homeownership will always be the American dream, but being a slave to a mortgage can be a nightmare.
