A Reality Check to the Severity of the Housing Market Crash

WOW, that is all I can say – WOW.

Literally on the eve of getting ready to close on the new house that we are building here in Texas I get a reminder of what others are facing around the country.

I took a break this afternoon and started poking around realtor.com to see if we were indeed getting a good price for our new house compared to other previously owned houses around our area. The good news is that we are getting a great deal and that makes me happy .

At the end of poking around my current neighborhood (my new house is in the same neighborhood) I decided to look at the neighborhood that I lived in California when I lived there. The neighborhood was Horsethief Canyon in Corona, California which is in Riverside County. It is actually in an unincorporated region of Riverside County but still has a Corona address. It is actually the last neighborhood before you get to the city of Lake Elsinore.

Anyway, in 2001 I bought a 1450sqft 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath house that at the time was 10 years old (the same model/neighborhood as the one to the right). I bought it for $180K at the time. 2 years later I sold the house for $252K as the market was beginning to take off.

As time went on I would check to see how much similar houses were going for and would kick myself for selling so soon each time I saw the price go up. About a year ago that same model of house in the same neighborhood was going for $439k. I could not believe it. I mean that was over double what I had paid for it a little over 5 years before.

Well today instead of kicking myself I stood in amazement.

The same house today is going for $249K. In the last a year the value of that house has dropped almost $200K. Unbelievable. I can only imagine the person who bought the house a year ago for that much money and what they may be facing today. That same type of house is now selling for less then what I sold it for 5 years ago. Crazy.

To make matters worse there are at least 3 of the same exact houses for sale. The one that I have a picture of here is empty. I can only imagine why.

I really feel for everyone that is at the front of this ship as it sinks. I know how you feel, it happened to me 3 weeks after I bought that house in 2001. I got laid off from my job due to the tech bubble bursting.

Hang in there, things will get better eventually…