The Great State of Real Estate

I have been wanting to post on this for a long time...

For those of you NOT somehow involved in Real Estate, I thought I'd let you in on what is happening.

Most lives of our personal friends, acquaintances and colleauges are completely ruined. We know multiple people who have lost it ALL.
People who do what we do, (buy and sell rental property) suffered the blow of the crash by tenants moving out coupled with rental prices dropping so low that what you could get for 1500/mo two years ago you can now get for 900. So that leaves us 900 a month property people up the proverbial creek.

Jeff and I are currently carrying FIVE mortgages, in a no-sell market with no tenants in an area where building used to seriously abound. In other words? Supply FAR outweighs demand. That means that our same rental market has moved up with the Jones's. "Decent affordable housing" (A basic 3/2) is now undesirable!

Now you can have an executive house ( a brand NEW 4/3.5 with pool and extras)for the same cost.

Our friends have lost their properties and their homes...their businesses and their hope. It is, in a word, devastating.

I cannot even imagine what SPECULATORS must have lost. These are people who see the market booming and all of a sudden "decide" to invest. Normally they invest too much. You know, a quick buck type of thing. But if you are not ready for the long haul, then real estate can be tricky and risky. We have been in it since I was a kid. I bought my first two houses when Sloan was a baby. The pool house that is in the previous pics of my staycation was my second purchase made completely on my own, as a single parent and as a successful self employed, massage therapist.

Everyone we know who was a builder, repair guy, roofer, broker...all are out of business. Our longtime mortgage guy, doing a booming business and REALLY treating people right is out of business. Our friends lives are collapsing as they are out of work and out of their homes. It is THAT serious.

We purchased our first "big" deal house right before we moved here at the height of the market. It was about our 12th house I think. And that was our downfall. Which I still shake my head at because we PRAYED (as we always do on deals) and beseeched the Lord to stop the deal if it wasn't meant to be. But smooth and easy it was and in we went. So the Lord has us on a need to know basis on that one. We pretty much lost it ALL on that house and while we were just about to hit a nice easy lifestyle...we find ourselves starting from scratch like newly marrieds! Lol
(Hey, don't EVEN try to put me in a pity cell, I LOVE a challenge and work best under pressure)

Fast forward to today? We could NOT sell that house at a profit (or loss!!) and auctioned it for 200,000 less than we owed. (some of you will remember when we had this one and that one up for sale and whichever one sold first was the decider on where we would live) We luckily got the owner to agree to accept it (since he was holding the mortgage) and so we escape extreme fire on that one though we still owe big money borrowed for the purchase.

Anyway, all this to say, for those who may think the magazine purchase may have been a fun diversion? NO. It is hopefully one day going to nearly support us. It is our proverbial life line back to hope. As we continue to wonder what the HECK is going to happen with these houses and our lives...as we ourselves begin to consider all the extreme last resort decisions that sometimes have to be made in cases like these, as we wonder at the 15 years of hard,hard labor and being completely broke that we have invested into the building our future go directly down the tubes, we trust in the Lord, endeavor to remain hopeful and work the heck out of the magazine.
You can believe, from a real estate perspective and from a lot of experience, that this economy is not going to recover quickly or soon.

Thankfully, Jeff and I are NOT spectators and knew the score early on. All of our deals have been cream and we are now just seeing the other side of the coin. (Well, if there was a coin. Lol) Regardless of equity, anymore, no one is lending, renting, or buying. Money has never motivated us so somehow though all of our work seems to have been for naught, it just seems like a good time to begin again on something else.

And in the biz, there is an old saying: If you're cryin', I'm buyin'. Lol Not very nice but TRUE! So if you ARE looking to buy my sisters and brothers, TODAY is the day of salvation. Lol Buy it up! Jeff and I are even considering walking out of here and into nice, new 4/3 with pool for half the cost of this one. Wow. The thought of two water sources working at the same time is tempting. :)

So..I just want someone on the outside to know that if you or someone you know is a teacher or a service guy, a computer geek or company man, and if you have ever thought not the best of it, take heart in today's fallen economy. There are prices to paid everywhere. There is always a take where there is a give. RELAX and thank the Lord that you are not in danger of losing your home or job! Be thankful for what you have. I am.

Welcome to the humble beginnings of Lake Family Magazine.

Job 13:15
Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him...