& since it's a buyer's market, buyers think they can talk everyone down 20-30% off their asking price, not taking into account that many people have already dropped their price as low as they can go w/o taking a loss.

you know what i'd recommend? is it a good starter home? maybe you're marketing to the wrong people - there's a lot of first time buyers out there right now & a lot of great incentives to get them into a new home (like the home buyer tax credit & exceptionally low rates). perhaps revamp your marketing strategy. get creative. there was a guy near me trying to sell his house on a dirt road - there were a lot of interested buyers, but many were concerned about getting in/out in the winter time. he decided to throw in his 2008 4wd silverado to seal the deal - sold shortly after that (helped that he got local news coverage for his creativity).

also - have you considered offering to pay like the first $5000 of closing costs for a quick close (under 60 days)? that might be enough to get someone to swoop in.

good luck! hope it works out for you soon.

@laserjobs:

I lowered my price twice already. I'm not making any money off of it if it sells. The problem is people want to buy my house, but they can't sell theirs either. Really discouraging.

@sleze69: I assume you guys started planning this wedding a long time ago - it's not like you could have predicted economic fallout.

For a while there, I was a mystery shopper and was able to sucessfully earn a couple of extra dollars ($100 - $200 per month) by mystery shopping for S*bucks and a local hamburger chain. S*bucks was really easy since they paid about $7 a shop * the number of their shops all over the place = $$$.

@pmw: You do a Roth if you don't think your income tax bracket will change when you retire. So, it's better to pay taxes now while you're in a lower bracket, and earning income from work.

I think DismalScience's point is: if income tax rates go up, it's more likely that you *will* drop a tax bracket when you retire, thus it's better to take the tax deduction now, and pay the taxes at the lower post-retirement rate.

@pmw:

That's because I had it exactly backwards. Never post before your second cup of coffee.

On the other hand, if you think the "Fair Tax" might be implemented, avoid the Roth like the plague. ;)

There are, of course, no guarantees. I am not a financial adviser and, perhaps more importantly, I am not *your* financial adviser.

It's pretty simple. Keep your costs as low as possible by investing in index funds. Don't bother with actively managed mutual funds, as they rarely, if ever, beat the market and high costs can eat up most of the gains even if they do. If even that is too complicated, a number of companies offer lifecycle funds that automatically adjust their asset balance based on a projected retirement date. Everyone I know in various aspects of the financial industry will tell you that as an individual investor, picking stocks is for suckers. If the professional stock pickers can't beat the market, the likelihood that you can is pretty minuscule.

You'd be surprised. One of my friends has an online business as a sideline that netted him 11 grand last year. He runs it out of his apartment and has almost no fixed costs. Admittedly, it's JUST a sideline and would in no way support him on its own, but for something he started in college to keep him in pizza money it's worked out pretty well.

Despite this assessment and our expensive medical bills (trust me, cancer isn't cheap no matter who you're insured with), we're doing OK somehow. The events of the past few years have put a major dent in our get-out-of-debt plans but what can you do.

So yeah, if you have the spare bucks take advantage of the recession and all the good deals out there.

@rpm773: Yeah...she doesn't read the Consumerist unless I point out an article...

I feel guilty that we are doing so well, a far cry from 18 months ago. I have money in savings for the first time in my life, my cc debt is gone, and I have money left to fund my 401k.

We bought our first house 8 months ago and are paying less for this house than we were for rent on an apt, plus our utilities are way down. I'm able to put the money we are saving into an account to cover house maintenance and repairs.

On the other hand, we've always been poor, so we're just welcoming the rest of the world to our little club of ramen noodle eaters/goodwill shoppers!

@ADismalScience: Withdrawals from a Roth IRA, 401(k), or 403(b) are not taxed. Contributions are made after tax and earnings are never taxed. If you think that you will have higher tax rates in retirement than you have now, the Roth investments are the correct ones to make.

@ADismalScience: What about if you are upside down on a house? Should I pay the principal down more or just wait for prices to go up?

@veg-o-matic: I wish I had garbage to build a bachelor pad out of :-(

My tips, if you have cash:

1.) Set yourself up with a mortgage with as little money down as humanly possible at a nice low rate. DO NOT pay your mortgage early. That tax subsidy is a big deal moving forward, and any money you borrow now will be at incredibly low rates. The market and government rewarding bare-minimum equity.

2.) If you have a house that you paid off, sell it and get a bigger one with as little down as possible. The market and government are rewarding bare-minimum equity and greater emphasis will soon be placed on tax strategies.

3.) Buy a new car, not a used car. If you have older cars, sell them and buy new ones. The market and government have irrationally overvalued used cars, and some new cars are actually better investments than used ones - particularly hot used models like Civics. If your car is 10 years old or older, give it a few months; subsidies are coming to make new cars an even better deal for you.

4.) When you buy a car, think MPG. Expensive gas is a-comin'.

5.) Become a vegetarian. Exploding grain prices and substantially pricier meat - red meat especially - are a-comin'. I'm already down to fish and chicken eggs only, it's not so bad.

6.) Stop Rothing right now. Income taxes are going to spike, which means you'll be paying more on the way out than on the way in. Use a traditional IRA for right now.

7.) Buy inflation hedges, like commodities. DO NOT buy utilities and "safe" investments like treasuries. DO NOT do this yet - commodities have already spiked a bit as the market has gone up. Wait for stocks to test lows.

8.) Invest abroad, but do it carefully. The Chinese export stuff is not what you need to be doing right now. Focus on durables in China as they continue to industrialize.

I'm fortunate to be doing fine (defense contractor). My girlfriend's company (consumer GPS manufacturer) is tanking fast. May end up being a blessing in disguise as she wants to go to school fulltime, getting layed off may prompt that.
Also, if you are over 55, you should still be investing in stocks. How the hell else are you going to recoop your 2008 losses? Bonds? Fat chance.

@Peter Gibbons: If you're looking at a home as investment, you shouldn't be a home owner.

I'd rather wait until after the very bottom in the housing market to buy. Why? Because I'm not worried that prices will shoot up again. Instead, they should just bump around the bottom for a while. I'd rather risk buying just after a bottom (when housing's flat/on its way up slowly) than buy now while prices are still falling pretty significantly.

And don't let your significant other hear you say "poorly timed". It's just not worth the fallout! :)

There have been several discussions on the Consumerist about unemployment: Official is around 8%; doom/gloomers say the number is closer to 15% if you count the ones who have given up. Yet, even with worst-case-scenario (20%), that means that 4 out of 5 are working.

My wife is doing the 100-mile daily commute (gov't job), and old uncle PS is working two part-time jobs in addition to college at night. We're still struggling to pay bills, yet we have never stopped tithing 10% to charities... even when it really, really hurt.

So, c'mon... can the pessimism; even if you can't find a job, try starting a small business from home (not from a work-at-home website!) in your spare time. Or volunteer. You'll be amazed at the networking opportunities volunteering provides.

Just sayin'...

@Onion_Volcano: Lower your price. If it has no offers in 7 to 10 days, it is priced to high. Keep lowering the price until you get offers and sell it.

I'm actually doing well but a poorly timed wedding is absorbing all my extra income...

I actually would like to rent for a year or 2 and have my credit settle down a bit since all this madness with the market.

That is a really cute picture of Wall-E.

If you are doing well: BUY.

Are your wehicles old? You can get 0% financing and a killer price to replace them with maintenence-free wehicles that can last you 10-15 years.

First time housebuyer? Huge discounts and major opportunities including tax credits, starving realtors, and desperate homesellers.

Stock market: Banks, stonger homebuilders and retailors are all suffering.

The key is to buy quality assets at firesale prices and then hang onto them. Don't load the kiddies up and buy cheap crap at Walmart, but durable goods you need would be good.

Also, given the amount of money that the government has pumped into the system, we are likely looking at inflation down the road. Debts incurred now on quality durable goods, locked in at 0% interest, might be payed back with cheaper dollars in a couple of years, but that is not certain.

Just highly likely.

Presuming you are doing well, and your company is not on the rocks or headed for them.

"We're sure you know someone who needs a bit of assistance and would be so thankful for your kindness."

Like Consumerist [www.donatetoconsumerist.com] :-)

I wish my house would sell. Been on the market 9 months and zero action. 125 mile commute to my new office isn't fun nor is the wife happy. Thanks for the transfer boss!

(And if we do get to keep our jobs and everything does keep going well, then it can be the down payment on a first condo / house.)