Our financial system is crumbling this week.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Without looking at all, I found these properties for sale in St. Louis County:

https://www.realtybid.com/search/search ... s%20County

It would take more than the bid price currently, I am assuming without looking at them, and these might be horrible investments and probably are. But, it gives an idea of how depressed the market is.

[sighyoung]

I was just checking out housing values near my parents' house in North St. Louis. The values have collapsed. A few sellers still asking for $80,000 for nice cottages and bungalows built in the 1920's and 1930's, but there are many foreclosed properties being sold AS IS for $15,000-30,000.

[Popeye_Card]

I know in my area of the city, houses aren't sitting very long if it is priced right. I haven't heard of people taking a loss yet, so that is a good sign.

That's good. Lafayette Square is a bit of a slow market in general because a lot of people overvalue their houses, and don't lower the price so they just sit on the market a while. I only know of one guy taking a real bad beating right now, but he probably paid too much for his house when he bought it.

Without looking at all, I found these properties for sale in St. Louis County:

https://www.realtybid.com/search/search ... s%20County

It would take more than the bid price currently, I am assuming without looking at them, and these might be horrible investments and probably are. But, it gives an idea of how depressed the market is.

I'm a bit too busy to take on being a landlord right now, and I'd prefer to stay out of north city. I should probably keep my eye on properties in south city though, just in case. If nothing else, I'd like to get a house with a garage just to keep my tools in to clear out my basement.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

I was just checking out housing values near my parents' house in North St. Louis. The values have collapsed. A few sellers still asking for $80,000 for nice cottages and bungalows built in the 1920's and 1930's, but there are many foreclosed properties being sold AS IS for $15,000-30,000.

20000*0.066/12=110

If you got a 30 year fixed mortgage at 5%, your monthly payments would be a little less than $110/month not including taxes and insurance, so say $220/month including that. Say you fixed it up and sold it for ~$60K in two years, you'd be out ~10K for repairs and 220*24=5280 so $15280 over 24 months = 636/month.

But, at the end of those two years, you could sell if for 60K, acting as the bank, and give out a 8% loan to someone with less than ideal credit. That would be $445 coming in every month and $110 going out. Though, I doubt you could still owe on the house and sell it......don't know the StL laws. But, you could likely take out a 2nd mortgage on your original house to pay off the fixer-upper and then do that. If the buyer defaults at any point, you get the house back....

I'm sure I just broke some St. Louis laws somehow in that scenario. It is in no way well thought out.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

I'm a bit too busy to take on being a landlord right now, and I'd prefer to stay out of north city. I should probably keep my eye on properties in south city though, just in case. If nothing else, I'd like to get a house with a garage just to keep my tools in to clear out my basement.

If you would call in sick to work every now and then, you might not be.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Get ready for a major hit on the market today. My guess is the DOW falls 700 points or so.

European indices fell 4%. An equivalent for the Dow would be about 350 points.

It's only down 50 right now and gaining. I wish it would fall some more.

[TheoSqua]

So i have this loan through a subsidiary of AIG. It was a consolidation loan that I got about 6 months ago. It's a 30 month loan and it's already paid down to about half. At the time I got the loan I was only able to get about 60% of what I was wanting, and the lady told me that after 4 payments (She suggested November) to call back and she would almost guarantee that i'd be able to re-do the loan to include the total amount I wanted and would be able to get that at a lower interest rate.

So I called back yesterday and tried to get the loan redone, the lady told me that their approval process has gotten more stingy and that their rates have gone up about 10%.

So let me get this straight. Big loan companies fail, AIG fails. The government responds by lowering their interest rates to a minuscule level and by giving AIG billions upon billions of dollars to ensure that they stay fluid and are capable of continuing their standard market practices.

I did a good job of screwing up my credit and the loan company I went through isn't exactly designed for loans for people with good/high credit. From what I can tell it's basically bottom-of-the-barrel-before-you-go-to-loan-sharks, so basically catering to lower income people with poor credit. I just don't see how the government bailout is doing any good when a company like this is cutting the amount of loans their giving and charging 30+ % interest.

[heyzeus]

Get ready for a major hit on the market today. My guess is the DOW falls 700 points or so.

European indices fell 4%. An equivalent for the Dow would be about 350 points.

It's only down 50 right now and gaining. I wish it would fall some more.

Haha. When I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Don't ever let me be your investment analyst!

[TabascoElvis]

Get ready for a major hit on the market today. My guess is the DOW falls 700 points or so.

European indices fell 4%. An equivalent for the Dow would be about 350 points.

It's only down 50 right now and gaining. I wish it would fall some more.

Haha. When I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Don't ever let me be your investment analyst!

Don't sell yourself short it's still early!

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Get ready for a major hit on the market today. My guess is the DOW falls 700 points or so.

European indices fell 4%. An equivalent for the Dow would be about 350 points.

It's only down 50 right now and gaining. I wish it would fall some more.

Haha. When I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Don't ever let me be your investment analyst!

It still could, it's so volatile right now, it only needs about 13 seconds to drop 100 points.