Guess what... my house in Taft is in escrow and we just got the appraisal back. When I bought the house my ARV was $150K. The the property plummeted in value at the end of 2007 and in Feb I had to sell it for $125k. Now 3 months later after dealing with the non stop demands of the buyers lender, we finally got the appraisal done.
Drum roll... how many of you think I am going to say something good?
How many know that I am going to say something so sad... 
It appraised at... $75K. There is said it.
The sucker lost 50% value.... what a crock. So now, in order for it to close escrow, I will need to get a short sale approved. Wow. Can you believe it?
Actually it's just a relief. I have been stressed for the last several months over this house. I knew it lost value. Of course! What house hasn't? But 50%? Holy schniekies! Can anyone say Short Sale?
I just had a nice long chat with and investor friend who owns 10 properties. She was telling me that she has been getting together with her mentors and they all are talking about which of their houses will have to go back to the bank. They just can't sell the houses because nobody is qualifying for the loans. This is almost the case with my house. There are still a few contingencies that we have to cover in order for the house to close. So even if we get the short sale approved - which we will, I am not even sure we can get the loan completed! If not then I suppose I will stick it back on the market and try again.
It is what it is. I'm not going to worry about it. You win some you loose some. When times get tough you need to pick yourself up and fix the situation as best as possible, learn the lessons and just keep on trucking! This was just an investment property. There are people out there in far worse situations than me. They are actually loosing their homes that they live in. Now that’s sad.
I’ll work hard to make my next deals be winners, so it’s all good baby!
