The Housing Intrigue
June 3rd, 2005 yoshersI must say that I have caught on to the housing bubble wave and am spending a bit too much time reading articles and various forums about the current housing situation. Frankly, everyone can analyze it all they want, but just as the recent housing price run up has been unpredicted and unprecedented, the future of housing prices are just as unpredictable and perilous.
When I bought my house a few years ago, I thought I was buying at the peak of the market. Of course, that did not deter me as I had ample money for the down payment and I was hardly stretching myself too thin for my housing payments. At that time, I was definitely buying for the long term and just wanted a place to call home so I can stop renting (especially from Mr. Reddy). And if the market went down a bit, which was possible, I would still be doing quite well.
Nowadays, if you believe in the very worse of the housing bubble talk, I would be very tempted to sell my house and wait for the bottom to drop out on housing prices. Aside from the hassle of moving and finding a place to rent (which ironically would be cheaper than buying in Berkeley), I guess this would be possible. Of course, I tend to not believe that Berkeley will be hit as hard as some of the other locations when the housing market cools off. Given that the university is nearby and the already high prices, I doubt that the inventory of houses for sale will dramatically increase and there are probably very few investors trying to flip properties for a profit here.
That said, while Shareena and I would like to move away from the dirty alley, but the time is not right. So I will keep an eye out and see what’s out there and hopefully the mass mob mentality that is going on right now dies down in a polite way. Of course, I don’t think that’s going to happen, but that’s another story for when I talk with you next.
