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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealityNotFantasy who wrote (27961)	3/10/2005 10:18:17 AM
From: Tradelite	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

Thanks, but I don't need an amortization calculator on the internet. I have one on my desk. I'm glad you brought up the importance of being long-term in discussing real estate. No home is worth buying, most of the time, unless one plans to stay in it for a long time. Anything less than 5 years can be a real waste (except in the past few years, of course, when values have risen fast), and anything longer than 15 or 20 years can make it a great investment no matter what happens to home prices. However, there are so many other factors people don't consider when they throw around this "bubble" talk and rant about lenders and their allegedly liberal credit terms. I maintain today's lenders ain't all that stupid, buyers ain't all that stupid, either. And the really stupid buyers who are buying on speculation aren't always getting the same interest rates from stupid lenders. There still are credit and lending standards which perhaps some people aren't aware of. If someone buys today at low rates and (1) obtains a better place for a family to live than he could by renting and (2) gets to take advantage of mortgage interest deductions as household income grows over the years.......he's probably doing himself a favor. But because this outcome DOES vary from case to case, why are some folks tilting at windmills and proclaiming today's real estate and lending environment as a crash waiting to happen? Puzzles me.......sorry, but I'm slow to catch on.