One of the problems are the banks dont
want to lend money on boats,if they would
the sales would go up like crazy.

Where I am at we didn't see the huge increase in home values, but we have seen the drop. My house is barely worth what I paid for it in 1995, even with a total remodel 6 years ago.

After realtor and closing fees I'll be lucky to pay the note off,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Boats are still burning banks daily so I don't expect them to jump back into that business anytime soon. The other issue is book values are dropping faster than the banks can comprehend which is scary for them in the event of a repo!

I don't care if XYZ bank sent me an offer for 5% financing with 10% down on any boat I want......the risk vs. reward isn't worth the gamble. The gamble being I buy a new/used 200K boat (used as in 08-09+) and the value may plummet harder than the payoff leaving me upside down. I can't get that much more "fun" out of the new boat than the boat(s) I already have (one being paid for) and both still under warranty!

The job issue is going to hinder growth for sure. I am self employed and I have hired new employees for less money than what they could have gotten 5 years ago and it is a higher quality employee who is real happy to be working!

Bought a townhouse/2nd home and it did that! Paid 375K, put 90K down fixed rate mtg etc. Place appraised for 420K, currently worth 140-150K despite it selling new in 2001 for 210K! Oceanfront townhome.......OUCH....Rodney King didn't take that hard of a beating!

Luckily my primary residence is will be paid for shortly and is still worth decent money......

I am glad I bought a used boat, no note and have done all the work myself saving a ton in labor. Now I own the boat outright and as long as gas doesn't hit 8 bucks a gallon I should still be able to enjoy it!

Me too!!! It's hard enough with maintenance, insurance, lunch/bar tabs and gas. I can't imagine a monthly payment on top of it!!

I'm right there with ya...this is hobby/ toy, and I hate owing money to anyone for ANYTHING period. I do short term financing on some things at as low a rate as possible.
back on topic...it's just gonna get worse before it gets better IMO. no real end in sight...anyone see the end of this chit???

I hope to some extent that it doesn't "end" totally. Prices on everyone were inflated for years because people were spending 1.5 x's their earnings and financing a ton of things that they couldn't really afford.

That said, I think that it will be about 3-5 years before it totally winds down and gets back to being somewhat normal. I think the next year to two years is going to be unpredictable and painful, and things should start stabilizing after that.

Things are not going to get well for a very long time IMO. The problem is that the printing of money has stopped and now the market is reponding. Add to that all the uncertaintee in europe. It is going to be up and down for a while. The banks don't want to lend and even with the very very low interest rates we are seeing this week not many qualify for these rates. I don't see prices on new stuff dropping much but the used market is still flooded. I was driving around the other day thinking wow there are a LOT of boats for sale on the side of the roads.

I'm an energy trader and deal with mostly large companies. The trouble they are having is crazy. The companies that are doing ok are the ones that have slashed costs. This only works for a quarter or two and then the 50% drop in revenue catches up to them. Before we sign a long term contact with someone we look at their annual as well as quarterly reports, it is shocking to see what is happening to some of these once filthy rich companies. Anyone that thinks prices are going up is probably mistaken. I was going to buy a Gladiator for around a 100K, but now I'm gun shy. We have been looking at a bigger condo at LOTO, but it seems weekly there are 20 more with huge price drops from just moths before. It's gonna get ugly.....