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Hedging against rapid market corrections (upward) in housing


               
2010 Nov 22, 1:40pm   5,111 views  16 comments

by lotr1978   follow (0)  

Hello
I am planning to buy a house in Phoenix in summer 2012 when I return to the city. I fear the local market is way undervalued with houses selling for below building cost and that these deals may be gone come summer 2012. I was curious if there was a way to invest in specific city Case-Shiller indexes (in this case Phoenix) as a hedge against a rapid turnaround. The thought is that if the market declines the value of that index declines and my investment values declines in like fashion. To the contrary, if the market rebounds 20% by 2012 I am protected somewhat from this.

Given how local real estate markets are I doubt an general inflation tracking index would work. I also need to maintain liquidity since theoretically I'd be pulling all of this money out to buy the house. Stocks and commodities are just too volatile and risky, money markets/CDs too worthless, yet I fear inflation will eat away at the money just sitting in an account.

Thanks in advance.

#housing

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1   bubblesitter   @   2010 Nov 22, 1:53pm  

....if the market rebounds 20% by 2012...are u dreaming?

3   lotr1978   @   2010 Nov 22, 2:34pm  

Thanks Troy. Doesn't look like anyone actually trades this though. Honestly who would, seems like casino gambling. Bubblesitter, my wife tells me I'm nuts for even worrying but I can't help myself.

4   Katy Perry   @   2010 Nov 22, 3:16pm  

are you in school ? in the armed forces, or peace core maybe? just wondering because of the forcasted move.

5   Hysteresis   @   2010 Nov 23, 1:42am  

bubblesitter says

….if the market rebounds 20% by 2012…are u dreaming?

interesting he(she?) picked 10% annual rate of appreciation.

that's the rate most people that don't follow the market use.

6   Hysteresis   @   2010 Nov 23, 4:24am  

robertoaribas says

20% over 2 years is not really 10% a year… its 9.54% annual appreciation… -)

a) 9.54% is 10% rounding up to zero decimal places.
b) simple average is 10.00%/year.
i'm not going to use a calculator to calculate annualized return when i can calculate a simple return in my head that's essentially the same as the annualized return
d) either way, my post is factually and more importantly semantically correct.

7   pkowen   @   2010 Nov 23, 4:47am  

You are completely high if you think there will be 20% appreciation in 18 months.

Listen to Roberto on this one, he has local knowledge from all I can tell by lurking his posts. And he has some good general RE sense as well.

8   ch_tah   @   2010 Nov 23, 5:00am  

20% by 2012 - Probably won't happen. Then again, most people didn't think the Dow would go up 60+% from the March 2009 lows in a year, but it did.

9   CrazyMan   @   2010 Nov 23, 5:48am  

ch_tah says

20% by 2012 - Probably won’t happen. Then again, most people didn’t think the Dow would go up 60+% from the March 2009 lows in a year, but it did.

Wall street/bank bailouts and increasing unemployment will do that.

For houses, not so much.

10   lotr1978   @   2010 Nov 23, 8:12am  

Hey all,

Thanks for the comments. I am not high I assure you. Roberto seems like a pro, I am new to the site and have followed some of his posts. I am not an investor and have no interest in cash flow or things like that. Just looking for a place to raise a family. The time frame is determined by a leave from work.

As for Kool-Aid and annual rates of appreciation I am not saying that this will happen. Nor do I think any normal economic model applies to Phoenix so I don't mean the post to be interpreted as someone that thinks housing has bottomed, is a good investment, etc.

I have followed the Phoenix mls as a non-professional. I know about the shadow inventory but only half believe in it. This is based on personal experiences with my current block that I live on. Most of the houses have gone through the foreclosure pipeline already and are re-sold, most are flips, some rentals. Again this is personal experience which is all I have to make decisions based on.

Yes 10% (or 9.5%) seems crazy I fear that several things may come to a head in 2012 that lead to a rapid bounce to the trend line: 1) builders are underbuilding due to less demand, when demand picks up there will be a lag before they can meet demand, 2) foreclosures end or are held off the market, 3) normal population growth, and 4) the first bailers will start being able to qualify again. Underbuilding+ many eager former homeowners anxious to buy again could lead to some serious competition if the shadow inventory continues to be held off market.

11   pkowen   @   2010 Nov 23, 8:31am  

Well lotr1978, given your comment on 'seeking a home for your family' rather than investing/timing the market, I'll give a more respectful response. If I were you, I would save my down, invest in things I think are good risks (regardless of housing market) and then buy as soon as I am ready. Who cares what the housing market does? I understand you want to 'hedge' but why connect your hedge investments to the housing market?

I have bought two houses in my life and in both cases I sought a place that was acceptable and desirable to my needs at a price I could afford (using a 30 yr fixed mortgage at the lowest rate possible at the time and with a reasonable down). I did this at a time that was suitable to ME, not by trying to game the market. Did I make profits? No. I did not ride a bubble primarily because I did not live in a major bubble zone. Did I miss the best buy opportunity? Nope, not really, this was the 90's and where I lived back then, things are pretty much the same price (plus a little inflation) now. So, I guess you are worried about what the market does solely because you think it might go up substantially by summer 2012? I personally wouldn't worry about it a bit. Even if you pay a little more because you end up buying from an investor - well. hopefully the investor actually adds some value by upgrading/fixing and it's worth the extra few percentage points. At worst, you pay slightly more but in the meantime you save up for it.

Good luck, and my advice is don't worry about a bubble re-inflation. I think it is very unlikely and in fact you might be better off.

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