I can't see my house from here

The WSJ's cheerily-titled "California's Crashing Market" has a handy interactive graphic where you can see exactly how screwed some of the counties here are screwed ... homes sold at a loss, foreclosure sales, negative equity percentages.

Among the counties not featured: San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Marin, San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara and San Mateo (AKA Silicon Valley) and San Diego. You know, counties with a very high percentage of rich people. Or, at the least, a high percentage of people who can afford to make their mortgage payments. I am sort of relieved that my county's not on the "Hoooo-boy, you are so screwed!" interactive graphic (which accompanies "California Home Sales Revive, But Not Without Intense Pain"). But reading the article makes me twitchy because, seriously? Nobody foresaw the collapse of the exurbs?

Anyway, despite my county not being on the "Hoooo-boy, you are so screwed!" interactive graphic, it's not like it's 2004 all over again here -- per "Bargains Push Bay Home Sales, But Prices Plunge" (SF Chron, Oct 22, 08), median home prices in my county dropped 33% in year-over-year comparisons. So, wait ... maybe we are screwed after all.

Comments

[Stephanie]

When it comes to home ownership, I figure the only thing that matters is what you buy it for and what you sell it for. So if your house is worth 33% less and you have no plans to move anytime soon, who cares? You haven't lost anything. (Besides, prices would have to drop even more for me to be able to afford anything over here in San Mateo/Santa Clara counties...)

[Lisa S.]

I'm moderately concerned because, at some point, I wouldn't mind remodeling and it would have been handy to have some equity above and beyond what we've paid into our mortgage. And the local market also affects re-fis -- fixed-rate mortgage rates are dropping, but any broker who's looking at my application is also looking at comparative values in the neighborhood, so thanks to the douchsmacker one street over who couldn't handle his mortgage and had to foreclose, everyone's comps dropped.

So -- tougher for me to get a refi, tougher for me to get a home equity loan if I want to address our 1926-era electrical wiring or wonky plumbing. And this is all thanks to other people's bad decisions.

I would like to find out how much longer I've got ride this out, you know? It'll give me a timetable for socking away alternate financing for any major home-reno projects.