How badly has your home value been impacted by the recession?

[Hermod]

You and I couldn't find a chair. The big banks had "reserved" seating.

There are quite a few banks that have gone under and their shareholders [[owners) got wiped out or only got pennies on the dollar. The Merrill Lynch stock brokers, who had nothing to do with the mortgage trading side of the house, saw their own holdings in Merrill Lynch drop by 90% in the takeover by Bank of America. We are losing a bank a week here in Florida. Every Saturday morning, the paper tells of another bank taken over by FDIC Friday afternooon. The depositors don't lose anything, but the bank stockholders are wiped out and the FDIC "trust fund" gets closer to insolvency to be made up by the taxpayers.

Wachovia Bank was a big bank that was taken over by Wells Fargo for pennies on the dollar.

[Irvine Laird]

We live on a good block three blocks north of Eight Mile Road in Hazel Park. We bought our house for $100,000 in 2005 and presently owe about $92,000. Zillow.com says it's worth $62,000, but I guarantee nothing in my part of Hazel Park is selling for more than $20,000 to $30,000 [[if it's selling at all).

We don't plan to stay any longer than we have to, but it has nothing to do with the house or neighborhood. We want to have kids and a two-bedroom house with no basement is too small.

A surprising number of people advise us to buy another house and "strategic default" on our property in Hazel Park.

This is a temptation. We don't want to be landlords and we will be far beyond child-bearing age by the time we build any equity in our present home. People tell us the banks broke their contract with us, so why should we keep paying them.

As much as this may be true, we decided that to abandon our house would be to break our contract with our community and neighbors. This city has suffered enough abandonment already by people "looking out for Number One." The broad crises of the last few decades were the product of individuals who put themselves first--and often concocted a moral reason for it.

So we will stay in Detroit and we will stay in our house until we are ready to be landlords. We'll choose tenants who will contribute to the quality of life on our block in Hazel Park and, when the time comes, we will sell our house in good shape.

I don't know that we will come out on top in the end, but I do know that we have to BE what we want Detroit to be. I find encouragement in the fact that many feel the same.

[sirrealone]

People tell us the banks broke their contract with us, so why should we keep paying them.

As much as this may be true...

Could you please indulge me on how the bank broke their contract in your situation?

[Hermod]

Could you please indulge me on how the bank broke their contract in your situation?

My thoughts as well. The bank contracted to loan you "x" amount of dollars so that you could buy the house. You contracted to pay the bank back with interest over a 360 month period. No where did the bank guarantee the present or future condition or value of the house you bought.

[eno]

My experience with home valuation is a mixed bag. I bought my house in NW Detroit for $35K in 1983. I lived there for nearly 23 years. I sold the house for a lower than market value price of $50K just to expedite the sale in 2006. I bought a house in Westland for $175K. My SEV for the Westland house was over $82K, now it's at $61K. The last house to sell on my dead-end street went for $115K, tho' it didn't have all the " bells-and-whistles" my house does.

[jackie5275]

hi... are you living under a rock??..... i am in the real estate field, [[not agent), and always laugh when people think its other people and other areas that are hit, but not theirs, or they didn't get hit as hard... typically, now, when people estimate off hand what their home is worth.... try taking 20-25% off that to get the realistic price if you really wanted to sell...... EVERY HOME GOT HIT.... from the $5000 dumps that are now worth nothing to the $1,000,000 mcmansions that are now having a hard time finding buyers at $350,000....

Hello back at you!!!. I AM NOT LIVING UNDER A ROCK!!! My assessed value has been decreasing annually since 2004. However, it hasn't been more than $2500/yr. I expected a decrease again this year, but certainly not an $11k decrease, especially after I made capital improvements last year. Please explain that with your non-agent real estate expertise.

[Goose]

Hello back at you!!!. I AM NOT LIVING UNDER A ROCK!!! My assessed value has been decreasing annually since 2004. However, it hasn't been more than $2500/yr. I expected a decrease again this year, but certainly not an $11k decrease, especially after I made capital improvements last year. Please explain that with your non-agent real estate expertise.

perhaps your decreases in previous years weren't deep enough and the assessed value is catching up

perhaps, although the assesment claims to be the true cash value of your home, 99% of the time in reality it has nothing to do with the actual value...

maybe you should go to the board of review and tell them the decrease is too much...

in my humble opinion, assessors are 2-3 years behind and playing catchup in the decline... most 2010 assessments now, even after the decreases, are at levels that probably more accuratly reflect 2008-2009 level values....

i know in my case and several other cases i have brought before the board of review, their new 2010 assessment, although lower, is still above the value we were claiming in 2009.... and these cases and thousands and thousands of others are on the docket for the state review... and these cities will be liable for all overpaid back taxes plus interest.... so assessors are waking up to the notion that they are digging a hole they are going to have problems getting out of... this year assement drops are larger, not only to reflect actual losses, but to satisfy the masses, as the lines at the local board of reviews last year [[2009) were out the door, this year with the higher drops the appeals have somewhat lessened... people like you thinking the decrease was large, when in reality it probably wasn't near enough to reflect the actual cash value of your home.....

[Irvine Laird]

Banks "breaking contract" is a matter of perspective. A slice of the public perceives that banks broke their contract when they either made or bought high-risk loan securities that contributed to the recession. The federal bailout of Wall Street [[and the persistence of big bonuses to top bank executives) feeds the angst.

This slice of the public represents people who are choosing "strategic default" on their homes often uses bank greed and irresponsibility as an excuse. See this story from the Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126100260600594531.html

The point of my post yesterday is not about banks or blame; it's about me and you. The economy is not news. The debate on the place of banks in American society is 120 years old with no end in sight.

My post is about me, my home, and my block and the claim I make on all three. We will pay our mortgage, stay in our home, and practice neighborhood even when others say we have an excuse to do otherwise. We will practice what we want our city and its citizens to be.

[Jimaz]

From detnews.com: Wall Street guru H. Rodgin Cohen has words for Detroit

Now, a year-and-a-half year later, Cohen, 64, said he believes that if more isn't done to shore up the ailing housing market and to create more jobs, the potential for civil unrest and political turmoil is very real....

[Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del] argues that the proposed reforms don't go nearly far enough. Nothing short of breaking apart the big banks that Cohen helped create will prevent another cataclysm.

"I'm not running so I've got no reason not to be honest," Kaufman said. "Right now [[in Washington) it's the Banks 2, the People 0. The banks have a big say about what's going on.

"We bailed them out. Now they're back in business doing the same things, taking very high risks. In Detroit, people are still losing their jobs, still losing their homes."

How does that definition of insanity go again?

[DetBill]

Live at 1300 E Lafayette Co-op.. bought a 1 bedroom highrise 24th floor for $32,000 equity [[ plus there is a $800. monthly fee) in 2005. ,I finally sold it in February for $12000, just glad to get rid of the high monthly fee. I really like living there and two years ago had looked at a 2bedroom corner unit [[needed alot of work)on the 17th floor for 85,000 plus 1100 monthly fee.. I kept looking at the place, been empty for two years by owner, she still payed the monthly fees, and just bought it at $ 46000 and have put around $30000 into it, plus the monthly fee of 1100 . so the equity dropped by around half in two years and have got it all fixed up exactly the way I like . I really like the building/neighborhood, great people, safe, stable, good location, great views so I figure financially its really a wash and I got a great all new inside place. No complaints and plan to stay.

[lpg]

Bought our 1st home in Lincoln Park in 1985, paid 28,900. Sold it in August 2001 for 86,000. The house went into foreclosure a couple of years ago and sat empty as a HUD home. Just sold a year ago for 12,000. We now live in our other home which is free and clear. Our SEV dropped by 3,500 as of this year. Still in LP.

[patmc16]

When I bought my house in 2001, it was worth [[based on tax assessment) about 115% of what I paid for it. I received my 2010 assessment about a month ago. It is now worth about 60% of what I paid for it [[and mostly still owe on it). In reality, I know I wouldn't even get that much for it with all of the foreclosures and other houses for sale around me.