Where were you in September 2008?

[grasshopper]

We had retired and moved to the poderosa 2 years earlier. We spent half the month living in the Arizona (sun) room, because we replaced the flooring in the entire house . I was terrified that Vanguard would take my Flagship status away from me. We had no TV so I missed a lot of the talking heads "the sky is falling banter".

[younginvestor2013]

I was a sophomore in college studying accounting and Spanish. Even though I was a business major, I was completely oblivious as to what was happening.

[CamasSaver]

No savings and a overpriced home I purchased that was beginning to drop value like a rock

[Koolau]

I had only just recently moved to the Islands and just joined ER Community (August IIRC). I was scared spitless by all the horrible financial news. Was fingering my gold eagles and my dad's silver dollar collection before putting them all in the lock box.

As it turns out, the effects of the downturn associated with that time period are the reason we were able to move to our current location - OUT of the rain band to one WITH the spectacular Pacific overlook.

Our old townhouse only dropped 10% while the current place dropped over 20% so it was sort of an 'even' trade. Can only speculate on the reasons for the difference in price retreats. BUT the relatively low drops in ALL properties in Paradise property values was most likely due to very low levels of no-doc loans. Local institutions did not NEED to take these 'cause plenty of folks had the ability to doc their loans. Folks were still working AND typically had other properties to "trade" (like we did). There was NO excess of properties on Oahu because building at the time was almost non-existent - especially with respect to the number of folks wanting into housing. As always, YMMV.

[audreyh1]

I’m sure I already answered this a couple of years ago at the 10 year anniversary. Old thread.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 I’m sure I already answered this a couple of years ago at the 10 year anniversary. Old thread.

It's sort of like Casey Kasem's Time Warp. It keeps coming back!

[REWahoo]

I was asking where we were: It's Monday morning, where are we?

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo I was asking where we were: It's Monday morning, where are we?

How about "Are we there yet?"

[Dash man]

We were watching the Phillies on their path to the World Series championship!! Definitely not there this year. ☹️

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau How about "Are we there yet?"

Don't think that would have applied at the time. As I recall, we had absolutely no idea where the heck we were heading.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Don't think that would have applied at the time. As I recall, we had absolutely no idea where the heck we were heading.

And, as always, now we only know where we've been (YMMV).

[Souschef]

Married less than a year to DW. Attended a gathering at Knott's Berry Farm of people from the GROWW website. The site was a chatroom for all those who had been widowed. It was nice to put faces to the screen names.
It was special to me as I had met DW on the site, as we were widowed the same year.

[Alectoris]

Three years into a real adult job. Was saving like a madman and ended up buying my first home in December...

Unfortunately it was a bad snow year during move in.... Lots of shoveling in two locations to leave and enter. Really wish that I had a snow thrower that year!

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alectoris Three years into a real adult job. Was saving like a madman and ended up buying my first home in December... Unfortunately it was a bad snow year during move in.... Lots of shoveling in two locations to leave and enter. Really wish that I had a snow thrower that year!

It occurs to me that 2008 was actually a pretty good year - compared to 2020 - but YMMV.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau It occurs to me that 2008 was actually a pretty good year - compared to 2020 - but YMMV.

Not for me. I was still working in 2008! I'd rather be retired during:

a pandemic,
hurricanes,
wildfires,
earthquakes,
wars,
civil unrest,
a contentious election,
and more,

than slogging off to work every morning at 5:50 AM.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Not for me. I was still working in 2008! I'd rather be retired during: a pandemic, hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, wars, civil unrest, a contentious election, and more, than slogging off to work every morning at 5:50 AM.

I'd retired by 2008 BUT your point is WELL taken!

[BoodaGazelle]

I just had gotten laid off from my last startup, and we owned 3 properties. We decided to sell the main house in NH, and were lucky it sold in 3 days. At that point, we became Florida residents using our condo there, and I was lucky enough (by the end of the summer) to find a new professional position in greater Tampa. I worked there for 7 years, and retired at 61. All in all, given those turbulent times, we made out okay.

[Dtail]

Was interesting times on Wall Street. First year with no bonus. Happy to not get laid off.

[coveredbridge]

My favorite term that came out of that time is "PVC Farms", referring to all the abandoned housing developments with the electrical stubs sticking up from the ground on each lot.

[dixonge]

I was trying to do puts/calls/options in order to make a return even while the market was headed downward. Other than that, based on my emails from near that time, I was employed and paying off debt. Also doing a 'zero-carb' diet.