10 Hard-Hit Housing Markets That Are Ready to Rebound

Reader Comments
Back to article

I just laughed...a rebound in 3 to 5 years...LoL...
How about a full recovery in say 10 to 15 years...
or
The Jetsons buy a new flying car in say 100 to 110 years, come see the new colors available...
My 15 year old will just about be out of college with her hopes up...LoL...

Tom in San Diego of CA 3:26PM October 05, 2009

no mention of atlanta, ga

c.o. of washdc of DC 3:03PM October 05, 2009

Some of the evaluations here--Worcester, Boston, Chicago, and Lansing--seem valid because they talk about mixed economic bases with lots of education and health care, which will probably recover, or low starting bases for real estate to begin with. A couple of the others (Tacoma and San Diego) seem suspect because they don't buy into the model of a "jobless" recovery and a post-industrial economy, both of which seem very probable at this point. The bottom line is, if incomes stagnate over the next 10 years then prices in massively overpriced markets like San Diego won't return to their former levels; homes will sell because owners eventually take their losses as prices revert to the mean of where incomes are.

Rich of CT 11:47AM October 05, 2009

It would be interesting to see Moodys research.
It must be understood that a house must go up 10% to brake even after resale expense, closing costs, etc. This does not include repairs, upgrades, debt service, etc. You have to pay 30% down, owning a rental is not an easy way to make money. 20% capital gains taxes, vacancies, tax and insurance, unemployment, lost rents, etc.
Invest in your career. $250,000 to buy a rental and 30% down equals $75,000 cash. Spend it on a small business. If you think real estate will go up 25% for the next 5 years go for it. What will interest be in 3 to 5 years when you want to sell. Invest in your self for far less than $75,000 for one house.
Additionally working with real etate brokers, mortgage brokers, competing with other investors will drive your blood pressure throught the roof.
The stories you hear about money made in the past happened in an environment that is 10to 20 years from now. How many got out in time?

rick of CO 9:43PM October 03, 2009

Shame on Moody's economy.com! I love Tacoma. I mourn for the city after Russell Investments, a leading investments firm outside of NYC, announced last month that it is moving its corporate HQ from Tacoma to Seattle, taking with it 900 jobs. The news is devastating to Tacoma (and nearby wealthy Gig Harbor on the other side of Puget Sound from Seattle so Russell residence there will have to move). Tacoma offered their shirts to Russell in tax incentives, knowing that they would be in a lot of trouble if Russell left, to no avail. T-Town will take a long time to recover; hopefully, not so long as it did when Weyerhaeuser left in 1971 for Federal Way.

Charlotte of WA 12:03PM October 03, 2009

"Moody's Economy.com projects that home prices in Worcester will rise about 6 percent by the first quarter of 2012 and 21 percent by the first quarter of 2014."
Have you been to Worcester? 21% by 2014 based on a mass Mexican exodus from Boston? Just maybe.
Bad read based on what... Moody's? hahahaha

lou of MA 2:55AM October 03, 2009

San Francisco Bay area isnt going back up.. it needs to correct further down.
Prices have risen over 300% starting in 1998 to 2008. The region has never seen such price inflation. And income has not keep up nor has inflation.
http://www.housingbubblebust.com/OFHEO/Major/NorCal.html
The high home prices have had a negative impact in job formation, unlike other industies/regions, tech companies are deflationary due to competition which slashs profits and has a lower labor expenses. As such employees have moved high paid jobs to other states/overseas. There is no one forecasting job growth in SF Bay area. We had flat employment since 2000, when we lost 300,000 jobs, and currently companies are slashing jobs today. In SF when jobs get slashed they never comeback.
The bulk of the risky loans and price inflation has been in the Bay Area, because all the hype the media created. Over $30B in option loans are going to come due very shortly and SF is in the middle of it.
$30 billion home loan time bomb set for 2010
Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, September 20, 2009
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/20/MNOR19N2B1.DTL&type=business&tsp=1
Thousands of Bay Area homes have a ticking time bomb embedded in their mortgage. The homes were purchased with loans known as option ARMs, short for adjustable rate mortgages.
Next year, many option ARM payments will begin to readjust, slamming borrowers with dramatically higher monthly mortgage bills. Analysts say that could unleash the next big wave of foreclosures - and home-loan data show that the risky loans were heavily used in the Bay Area.
From 2004 to 2008, "one in five people who took out a mortgage loan (for both purchases and refinancing) in the San Francisco metropolitan region (San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin and San Mateo counties) got an option ARM," said Bob Visini, senior director of marketing in San Francisco at First American CoreLogic, a mortgage research firm. "That's more than twice the national average.

ThomasP of CA 1:56PM October 02, 2009