Friday, December 01, 2006

'We Paid 37 Percent More Than what our Home is Worth Now'

From the Modesto Bee:

Albert Quintero's timing couldn't have been worse. He made a deal to buy a new Turlock luxury home in November 2005, at the real estate market's peak. By the time construction ended in July, Quintero's Milestone Way home wasn't worth the $874,890 he was contractually obligated to pay. Now the same model -- a new home on nearby Tapestry Way -- is priced at $639,990.

"It's really tough to swallow that we paid 37 percent more than what our home is worth now," Quintero said. "We got caught."

He wasn't the only homeowner burned by buying at the top of the market. Potentially, thousands of Northern San Joaquin Valley homes bought within the past 18 months may be worth less than their purchase price, according to county assessors.
...
Some builders have been offering new cars, fancy vacations or other goodies as incentives. "You don't want to be paying property taxes for the Mexican cruise that was included with the home, and we don't want you to, either," [Doug] Harms [Stanislaus County's assessor] said. So county assessors must subtract the cost of such incentives from the purchase price before establishing the assessed value of the real estate.

"There are so many deals going on that we're asking more questions about what's included in the price," Harms said. "If personal property was included -- like refrigerators, drapes or furniture -- or services like free cable TV for a year, then we absolutely need to know those things."

If homeowners have evidence that the value of their home has dropped, county assessors want to know that, too. "We anticipate getting a lot more phone calls about assessments next week," Harms predicted. That's because property taxes are due Dec. 11. "When homeowners write their checks to pay their property tax bills, they're going to think their home values are assessed too high." Assessed values are printed on the tax bills. "My guess is that we're going to find a pretty good number of homes that need to have their assessed market value lowered, especially those purchased within the last 12 months," Harms said.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, but dude, you paid HOW MUCH TO LIVE IN TURLOCK!!?!?!?!?!?

No pity for you!

Anonymous said...

This was the headline I've been waiting for! 37% decrease since 09/05, and it's all downhill from here.

Also, the Modesto Bee is on a rampage reporting on the bubble. Check out these healdines since November 26th.

"We paid 37 percent more than what our home is worth now"

"Stanislaus/Merced least affordable housing markets in the U.S."

"Thousands in county expected to lose homes to foreclosure"

"Buying foreclosed properties is not an easy way to get rich quick."

Anonymous said...

Oh but , but , but prices always go up in real estate. You can't lose it is a win win situiation. Buy now or you will be priced out.
There not making land anymore, interest rates will go up. Baby Boomers are buying all the houses. Immigrants are buying all the houses. Your Mama is buying all the houses.

Who pays $800K + for a stucco crap box in Turlock. What a tool.

At least the naturally occurring asbestos is low in Turlock compared to Folsom and El Dorado Hills, where they blow the stuff up and stick it in the air. COUGH COUGH. I feel something sticky on my lungs. I think I need to lay down for a bit.

Max said...

Also, the Modesto Bee is on a rampage reporting on the bubble.

If only their Sacramento cousin would follow suit. For all the "blame the media" accusations coming from the RE side, the Sac Bee proves their point by not reporting the story here. Does the Sac Bee really think they can make the market go down simply by reporting on it? They give themselves too much credit.

Anonymous said...

Although the Modesto Bee has been on the issue, the Merced Sun-Star is silent. The national media has done articles on the Merced bubble and the Sun-Start doesn't mention anything.

drwende said...

What's interesting is that the Stanislaus County assessor seems almost gleeful about lowering tax assessments.

That's the county's property tax base evaporating there... money for roads and services, going up in smoke.

(I'll skip my planned snide comments about the top of the market not being so stable as pundits claimed, either...)

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

the blog administrator sucks!!!!

Lander said...

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