This Marriage Ain't Long for this World

I've talked about Irvine Housing Blog before, a blog devoted to encourage people to rent instead of buy due to Irvine, CA's terrible real estate market. Or as the blog author puts it, "Chronicling ‘the seventh circle of real estate hell’ since September 2006". Today he posted a poll where you could vote on how long you could stand being "upside down" on your mortgage. (You owe more on your mortgage than your home is worth). Most people have said they wouldn't stand for it for even a minute. Just walk away and throw your keys to the lender, baby! Nice attitude. Or you could just stay in your damn home until things turn around. But I digress, this comment from a reader is what really caught my attention,

"I got aways to go yet. We bought our “McMansion” in 2001 and the price skyrocketed to almost double. I tried to talk my wife into selling and moving to a local rented apartment or townhouse (daughter in public HS) about a year/year and a half ago (when things were still hot to sell) but she wouldn’t hear of it. We could have walked away with $300K in profit (after fees) and, while the prices have not dropped here in MD like they have in CA, I fully expect that, when my daughter has finally graduated in mid-2009 and I finally talk my wife into selling (prolly 2010), we will only be able to sell for a modest increase over our cost of purchase, if that.

My wife is a Pollyanna. She still thinks things won’t get that bad here. So far the local comps are about 10% off their highs of 12 months ago and sales have slowed. My only consolation is I will have an “I told you so” to hang over her head."

Um. Wow. Can you imagine what this guy's wife would say if she knew he felt this way? Ouch.