You know things are bad when the comic book geeks get involved.

Your neighbor maybe a comic book fan.

As many of you have figured out, I am a comic book fan. One of the forums I peruse is called the Slushfactory.

On a recent thread one poster by the name of Miles Perrie announced his intention to buy a condo, of all places, in Florida

So, I was just offered a GREAT price on a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom Condo WITH a garage (and a nice little terrace)!

.....Great price and all, but with fees and taxes I'd end up paying an extra 600 dollars a month then I'm used to....

........should I do it? When I do my monthly bills, it seems I can EASILY do it, yet somehow in reality I seldom save anything each month (this is why Ferengi's got it right when it came to dating).

Then again, I just got a small but something-ish raise, AND I'm going to be teaching a college course this semester....so there is a small bit of extra cash.

I am conflicted!

....Here is the floor plan for the place I'm thinking about

This being a forum populated by angry comic book geeks who were bullied by jocks and ignored by all of the popular girls during their high school years, the response was unsurprisingly harsh. Here's a sample.

This one had words about condos.

I like that it has 2 bathrooms so that when Miles watches DS9 with a hot Brazillian chick from Boca Raton, she can go hose herself off in the guest bath while he gets some much needed shut eye undisturbed.

Other than that, I just don't see the bargain in buying a condo. I wouldn't want to fork over that kind of money just to be beholdent to a board or Condo association that is usually a bunch of a**holes with nothing better to do with their day than to sit around making life more difficult for their neighbors. I just heard a horror story from a friend in Hoboken who owns a condo. When he bought the thing he was told he didn't need flood insurance. A year later the Condo board decided he did need it after all. And since he paid fees to the condo association through direct deposit, they just started debiting $200 a week for flood insurance. He didn't realize the money was coming out of his account until they had basically taken $1000 out of his pocket without informing him. Love them condos!

This individual was more critical about the apartment itself.

better for you, Miles. that floorplan was really poorly designed. the way the balcony is tucked in between the bedroom and the little office area makes me think your view from the balcony would be rather obstructed, and looks cramped. with the extra exposed wallspace, that office and 2nd bedroom would be inefficient to heat/cool.

no windows in the living, dining, or kitchen areas makes for sucky quality of life issues.

also it looks like the only entrance/exit is through the stairs to the optional garage? what about fire safety? no back door? no stairs off the balcony?

I wouldn't like this place based on the floor plan alone.

Some were more more critical of the market itself.

Interestingly, it's all over the BBC news today that there's a global financial meltdown going on right now - caused by Americans and mortgages that they aren't paying back.

Does this make this a better or a worse time to buy something? I have no idea.

It makes it a bad time to be in debt. I can't believe the FDIC is capable of containing this "meltdown" if financial institutions in the US start failing due to the skyrocketing level of foreclosures that are occuring because of variable rate subprime loans. We could be in for something along the lines of the depression...with people living in tents in parks and sh*t like that.

Other than that, it's a great time to buy!

Of course Miles had his response.

It's not a bad time to buy if you have the income and it's a stable one. The problem leading to foreclosures is all the jobs in the business world where people are offered HUGE salaries but get downsized/fired/let go after a year.

School Psychology is a relatively stable career. I say this knowing there is a good chance there will be cuts to staff next year. Let's hope those cuts are based on merit, and not seniority.

Of course this response took the cake.

Hey Miles - check out these other properties in Jacksonville that you might want to take a look at!

They are not quite as roomy, but they are cheap! Most importantly, the old adage they say in Real Estate about "Location, Location, Location" doesn't apply. You can be guaranteed that one day you will be able to re-sell!

HAWR!

My opinion can be summed up from this article.

The states suffering the biggest drop in sales in the second quarter, compared with the same period a year ago, were Florida, down 41.3 percent, and Nevada, down 37.5 percent. Other states with big declines were Arizona, down 23.4 percent; Tennessee, down 21.5 percent; Maryland, down 21.1 percent, and California, down 19.8 percent.