Originally Posted by big john

The house across the street from me is back on the market. It sold in January, I think, for $400K. At the time is was 480 sq ft, no garage, and all f'd up. They cleaned it up and hauled tons of crap out and relisted it for $550K. No bites so they added on and painted everything and put a new roof. Now 1200 sq ft, they listed it for $770k.

This is not an upscale area, the prices are just shocking to me. How can a working person buy something like that? $180k down and $4100 per month? I know they will likely bring in multiple families but who qualifies for the mortgage?

I worked with a guy who got a "liar loan" in about 2007. He had scraped and scratched and borrowed from everyone but he got the house. In 2008 the value dropped and his work dropped and he lost everything.