A California native transplanted in southern Illinois.This morning over breakfast, I browsed last Saturday's newspaper. I spotted a fairly new house for sale for 67k. It is cute and on a cul de sac. I nearly choked. The first thought that pops into my head is...I could pull 67k out of my IRA, pay cash for that house, then concentrate on repairing the damage to my nest egg.
But a quick check on Zillow revealed...undesireable area. Like put on your body armor to go out and check the mail undesireable.
But I do mull over the possibilities of buying another house for myself. If I bought a house for 120k, put 20% down, I'd have a mortgage half the size of what I have now. That's very appealing. The problem is my current house. What to do with it?
I have been a landlord in the past and it doesn't appeal much to me. Also, I bought the house to live in myself. I put in beautiful reddish wood laminate floors. I LOVE them, but they do require care and some common sense (wipe up spills immediately, do not drag furniture, hot glue small pads onto the bottoms of chair legs, etc.).
Or I could come up with 60k + selling costs in order to get out from under, thereby negating the advantage of buying an equivalent house at a lower price.
Or I could just let it go and allow my perfect credit to become history. This is not so appealing either.
And so, I do nothing but choke on my breakfast when I spy a cute house in the newspaper listed at 67k.
Perhaps the best solution is to cancel my newspaper subscription and stay off of Zillow. 
House for Sale - Cheap
May 3rd, 2011 at 04:24 pm
May 3rd, 2011 at 05:44 pm 1304444673
I don't find those low prices enticing. In California, I equate anything under $100k with "what the hell is wrong with it?" The house may look cute, but it's probably crumbling to the ground.
May 3rd, 2011 at 05:45 pm 1304444746
IT's all relative, I guess.
May 6th, 2011 at 09:56 pm 1304719005
Jerry