Which market will crash first? housing market or the comic market?

[whetteon]

I NEED comics. Housing is overrated.

[ft88]

the housing market will not crash.....there may be price corrections, but no crash.....people NEED a place to live. No one NEEDS comic books.

 

Prices of housing can never fall.

Buy Land: There not making any more of it.

 

Steve, The prices of housing will revert to their norm relative to family income and other metircs, or inflation will rise high enough to catch up to the inflated housing numbers.

 

Or, housing prices today are correctly priced and the prices of 5-7 years ago were insanely low. I can't believe that is the case.

 

Regarding comic prices. There are quite a few forces affecting those. The most notable are the highest graded rare and popular stuff being very liquid and rising in price, everything else is pretty much flat.to rising over the past 5 years or so. Trying to predict this tiny segment of the economy is impossible to do, and a guessing game at best

 

Ed

 

[tth2]

the housing market will not crash.....there may be price corrections, but no crash.....people NEED a place to live.

What complete nonsense. Everyone needs a place to live, but if there are more houses than people (built by short-sighted developers), then there definitely can be a crash. Or if prices were driven up too high because of speculation as opposed to real fundamental demand, then there can be a crash in prices once the music stops. Finally, people need a place to live, but let`s remember they don`t have to own the place they live. I sometimes wonder if people still remember the concept of "renting".

 

[joeypost]

I NEED comics. Housing is overrated.

 

Thats why there are cardboard boxes.

[the blob]

it will not be a crash like, let's say, the Valiant crash, where $50 books are in the dollar box. You won't find a $500K house for $50K. banks will sit on properties before they sell them like that. These things cost a lot of money to build, unlike comics, which don't.

 

but the fact is, in many markets property prices are not really out of line with incomes, not by that much at least. Go to Albany, Indianapolis or any other number of cities or areas (the Pocanos) where I don't want to live and you can buy a fantastic home for $250K. This is perhaps out of the reach of someone earning a living pumping gas, but not a couple of college edumacted people out there earning a living.

 

Then there's the new york city region and most of california. It'll kill my bottom line, sure, but yeah, things do seem out of wack re: middle class incomes here. I don't know how a family even with a combined income of $100K could ever own a home unless they want a 5 hour daily commute (like to/from the Pocanos).

[joeypost]

the housing market will not crash.....there may be price corrections, but no crash.....people NEED a place to live. No one NEEDS comic books.

 

I agree. Schools has been going on for almost a month here and my son and daughter say new kids are still coming into the classroom every week. The amount of move-in's down here is amazing. Prices are levelling off but not plummeting. The builders that are reducing prices are only doing so because they were earlier gouging the prospective buyers.

 

What I see hurting is all the ones that purchased homes to flip right away or those that took interest only mortgages that are now maturing and their rates are beginning to skyrocket.

[The Black Hand ®]

Of course location has a lot to do with it and affordability, combined with a lack of low income housing. Overall, I see housing leveling off a bit but not dropping to any great degree. There was a lot of manipulation going on in the market but also....timing is a factor as well as living beyond one's means. As in any market the key is not to panic. I have a hard time sympathising with people who bought too much house with ridiculous terms.Whatever happened to common sense. Whatever happened to starter houses.

[carcrawfordfan]

the housing market will not crash.....there may be price corrections, but no crash.....people NEED a place to live. No one NEEDS comic books.

 

 

People can rent

[rjpb]

Here in Mass, if anything, prices for homes just continue to rise and rise and rise.

 

The only way I see a crash is if a guy is delivering comics to a LCS and happens to drive through someones home.

 

How much new building is going on in your area? In Central Florida 14 years ago you could buy a 2,000 square foot home with a pool from $85,000-105,000. Now that same house is between $300,000-$350,000 and dropping like a stone due to new construction.

 

When the real estate boom wa sin full force down here a new development was being cleared/built every week it seemed. Now some of the developers are stuck with hundreds of homes that are not moving. I have seen prices drop in some area's almost $100,000 on a new home. That is killing those looking to sell an existing home. After all who would buy old when a brand new one is available.

 

Houses are still selling but at a slower rate than they were 3-4 years ago.

 

Nik's quote is two years old.

[rjpb]

the housing market will not crash.....there may be price corrections, but no crash.....people NEED a place to live. No one NEEDS comic books.

 

 

Well there are price corrections going on now - and wether it's defined as a correction or a crash probably depends on how much one stands to lose. People do need a place too live - but there is currently an oversupply of housing and people don't have to BUY a place to live. Check back a year from now - but my prediction - a nationwide 15% drop in prices from their peak by Sept. 08, with places like CA, South FL and Las Vegas seeing a 25% or more drop.

[Panzera]

the housing market will not crash.....there may be price corrections, but no crash.....people NEED a place to live.

What complete nonsense. Everyone needs a place to live, but if there are more houses than people (built by short-sighted developers), then there definitely can be a crash. Or if prices were driven up too high because of speculation as opposed to real fundamental demand, then there can be a crash in prices once the music stops. Finally, people need a place to live, but let`s remember they don`t have to own the place they live. I sometimes wonder if people still remember the concept of "renting".

 

The builders falling apart quickly has also helped keep the market afloat. There has been a big slow down in building across the country. As far as a crash this will happen to the low and middle class who were tricked into taking out an interest only or adjustable mortgage. Those are the poor bastards you read about being foreclosed on their homes.

This 50 basis point drop will not help the market as it is too late. The market obviously needed a quick fix hence the 50 basis point reduction in fed funds.

Most of the sub-prime lenders are gone and alot of the larger lenders who wrote tons of bad loans such as countrywide who need to keep borrowing money are on the verge of bankruptcy as well.

When the feds react this way it means the market is in worse shape.

 

 

[awe4one]

All I can say is that I'm quite happy the housing market has "crashed" (and that description came from a realtor friend of mine). Two realtors told me two years ago that prices would drop hard in the near future and they were right. Houses in this area that are still on the market then and now are down 27%. Great thing as I'm going to buying here quite soon...

 

Jim

[The Black Hand ®]

All I can say is that I'm quite happy the housing market has "crashed" (and that description came from a realtor friend of mine). Two realtors told me two years ago that prices would drop hard in the near future and they were right. Houses in this area that are still on the market then and now are down 27%. Great thing as I'm going to buying here quite soon...

 

Jim

 

I you buying for your personal use, or for spec? Also I'm curious, have there been unscrupulous business practices on the part of lenders? If so, can anyone break down for me the chain of responsibility?

[showcase4]

the housing market will not crash.....there may be price corrections, but no crash.....people NEED a place to live.

What complete nonsense. Everyone needs a place to live, but let`s remember they don`t have to own the place they live. I sometimes wonder if people still remember the concept of "renting".

this is not nonsense...it's common sense. When people 'rent', they have a landlord, who has to buy the property to provide the rental for them, which furthers my claim as a 20+ year experienced real estate professional........the housing market will not "crash", but is subject to and presently experiencing a pricing correction.

[eddly]

I guess the real problem is that we all have a different definition of exactly what a market crash is.

[Mr. Zipper]

I guess the real problem is that we all have a different definition of exactly what a market crash is.

 

Let me paraphrase Ronald Reagan...

 

When your neighbor can't pay his mortgage and can't sell his house, it's a correction.

 

When you can't pay your mortgage and can't sell, it's a crash.

[The Black Hand ®]

the housing market will not crash.....there may be price corrections, but no crash.....people NEED a place to live.

What complete nonsense. Everyone needs a place to live, but let`s remember they don`t have to own the place they live. I sometimes wonder if people still remember the concept of "renting".

this is not nonsense...it's common sense. When people 'rent', they have a landlord, who has to buy the property to provide the rental for them, which furthers my claim as a 20+ year experienced real estate professional........the housing market will not "crash", but is subject to and presently experiencing a pricing correction.

 

I'm still of the mind that real estate is one of the better investments when approached in a practical, honest and responsible way and not in get rich quick scemes. Of course it's not for everyone and timing has a lot to do with it and there are sacrifices to make, but it can be a strong part of a good portfolio.

Renting, on the other hand is like flushing your money down the toilet if it goes on for year after year, but in an area like mine, it's almost impossible for average working folk to afford the lowest priced housing. In my area, low cost housing is around three hundred and fity grand, so most homes sold here are to retired out of towners or high income professional who have transplanted to the area. Something needs to be done and I for one would welcome a correction in the housing market whether it hurts me or not. All my real estate investements are from years and years ago, so it's easy for me to take a hit, but I would like to see more people of average income be able to afford to own a home.

[Mr. Zipper]

... but I would like to see more people of average income be able to afford to own a home.

 

Sad. Here in upstate NY, housing has outpaced salaries so much it's sickening. New builds START at $350K. It's great for all the NYC folks who sell their homes at truly insane prices and can buy homes up here. However, the local working couples with $70k - $80k household salaries can't afford housing in their own community.

 

In fact, so many developments of giant $500K colonials sit half-full now because there are only so many NYC transplants, doctors and attorneys. The developers have had to pull back.

 

Just heard on the news the other day that 1 out of 100 homes is in foreclosure and a 36% chance of recession. Scary times.

[lizards2]

Since I collect for myself, a crash in the comic market would probably be to my favor, as I could then afford lots more books that I want.

 

We've been in the same house for the past 16 years, and don't really plan to move. But crash in that market might allow us to move to bigger and better place, but I doubt it, as the value of our home would be in decline as well. Never know, as our house is one of the few mid-market affordables in the town.

[FlyingDonut]

the housing market will not crash.....there may be price corrections, but no crash.....people NEED a place to live.

What complete nonsense. Everyone needs a place to live, but let`s remember they don`t have to own the place they live. I sometimes wonder if people still remember the concept of "renting".

this is not nonsense...it's common sense. When people 'rent', they have a landlord, who has to buy the property to provide the rental for them, which furthers my claim as a 20+ year experienced real estate professional........the housing market will not "crash", but is subject to and presently experiencing a pricing correction.

 

Says the guy who's a mortgage broker.

 

Seriously, come to Reston, Virginia and count the number of houses on the market. Just walk around my neighborhood and count them. Houses in Reston used to last a week on the market. Now they don't sell for months. You can call it whatever you want, but houses simply aren't selling.