We sold it ourselves just fine and only offered 2.5% realtor fee to the buyers agent. So saved 4.5% there, which helped.

We bought our house in Olney last year for 15% less than the owners had paid for it in 2006. They had tried making it work as a rental but were losing money every month and eventually just cut their losses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you guys in dc?

In a DC, generally it's a Dickinsonian market, a tale of two cities. marginal neighborhoods with so-so schools have not recovered while desirable places for wealthy folks have far exceeded previous bubble. Exception to this is gentrifying places, but that's pretty transformative and hard to compare apples to apples.

+1 Absolutely. Houses in our neighborhood are right on the edge. Inside border for great school, but still far. Just barely getting what we paid when you add renovations. 2006.

Not always true about desirable neighborhoods far exceeding the previous bubble!

here is one example, although there are many - http://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/3731-48th-St-NW-20016/home/9947039

On the market for $150K less than they purchased it for in 2005. Gorgeous home inside and out. Highly sought after neighborhood in spite of the munitions fiasco.

here are a few more painful transactions about to take place

http://www.redfin.com/MD/Bethesda/5605-Cromwell-Dr-20816/home/10665746

http://www.redfin.com/MD/Bethesda/5416-Albia-Rd-20816/home/10675003

http://www.redfin.com/MD/Bethesda/6432-Wiscasset-Rd-20816/home/10649029

http://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/2932-Mckinley-St-NW-20015/home/9993197

http://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/6621-31st-St-NW-20015/home/9995141

yes, those wealthy neighborhoods have for sure surpassed bubble prices

Confused. All of those above links are listing above the previous prices. And I would expect many of them, particularly the 800K or so ones, to settle above asking.

not all of them!! also commissions and closing costs on a house in this price range is a minimum $50K. do the math!

We just sold our condo in N. Arlington for $15k less than we paid for it in 2007. If you count the $15k for new flooring, new counters and new appliances, the $4k we had to spend on the bathroom when we had a leak, and the $2k we spent on improvements to get the place ready to sell (new bathroom sink, paint, removing some old tile and patching the wall, etc.), we lost close to $40k. But it would take us another couple years to make that money back if we waited to sell (based on the rate at which prices are rising in our complex), and by then there will be even more brand new luxury condos in our neighborhood, and home prices would also be a lot higher. Plus our 800 sq ft condo was getting really tight for the four of us. When all is said and done, we left the settlement table with $19k -- not even enough for a downpayment on anything in the area.

It's depressing.

I am sticking with the condo. We bought it in 2006 for $440 and now we could get around 370k for it, maybe 380k. We own the bank 318k at this point but I feel sick thinking of the loosing all the money we put into it.

Anyway, we are in the process of looking for a SFH (forever home) and we would need to put roughly 50k more into the condo in order to qualify to a second mortgage. It is not DC, but it is a somewhat desirable neighborhood (I love it!), 3bd, 2bth, first floor condo. So, I do think we can get enough from rent to at least pay the mortgage and condo fee.

What do you all think?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you guys in dc?

In a DC, generally it's a Dickinsonian market, a tale of two cities. marginal neighborhoods with so-so schools have not recovered while desirable places for wealthy folks have far exceeded previous bubble. Exception to this is gentrifying places, but that's pretty transformative and hard to compare apples to apples.

+1 Absolutely. Houses in our neighborhood are right on the edge. Inside border for great school, but still far. Just barely getting what we paid when you add renovations. 2006.

Not always true about desirable neighborhoods far exceeding the previous bubble!

here is one example, although there are many - http://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/3731-48th-St-NW-20016/home/9947039

On the market for $150K less than they purchased it for in 2005. Gorgeous home inside and out. Highly sought after neighborhood in spite of the munitions fiasco.

here are a few more painful transactions about to take place

http://www.redfin.com/MD/Bethesda/5605-Cromwell-Dr-20816/home/10665746

http://www.redfin.com/MD/Bethesda/5416-Albia-Rd-20816/home/10675003

http://www.redfin.com/MD/Bethesda/6432-Wiscasset-Rd-20816/home/10649029

http://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/2932-Mckinley-St-NW-20015/home/9993197

http://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/6621-31st-St-NW-20015/home/9995141

yes, those wealthy neighborhoods have for sure surpassed bubble prices

Confused. All of those above links are listing above the previous prices. And I would expect many of them, particularly the 800K or so ones, to settle above asking.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you guys in dc?

In a DC, generally it's a Dickinsonian market, a tale of two cities. marginal neighborhoods with so-so schools have not recovered while desirable places for wealthy folks have far exceeded previous bubble. Exception to this is gentrifying places, but that's pretty transformative and hard to compare apples to apples.

+1 Absolutely. Houses in our neighborhood are right on the edge. Inside border for great school, but still far. Just barely getting what we paid when you add renovations. 2006.

Not always true about desirable neighborhoods far exceeding the previous bubble!

here is one example, although there are many - http://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/3731-48th-St-NW-20016/home/9947039

On the market for $150K less than they purchased it for in 2005. Gorgeous home inside and out. Highly sought after neighborhood in spite of the munitions fiasco.

here are a few more painful transactions about to take place

http://www.redfin.com/MD/Bethesda/5605-Cromwell-Dr-20816/home/10665746

http://www.redfin.com/MD/Bethesda/5416-Albia-Rd-20816/home/10675003

http://www.redfin.com/MD/Bethesda/6432-Wiscasset-Rd-20816/home/10649029

http://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/2932-Mckinley-St-NW-20015/home/9993197

http://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/6621-31st-St-NW-20015/home/9995141

yes, those wealthy neighborhoods have for sure surpassed bubble prices

Well I bought a condo in Trinidad for 220K in 2006 and I don't think I'll be able to get my money back if I sold today. New remodel, 1br+, 750 sqft.