DECLINE IN HOUSING PRICES LEAVES MANY UNABLE TO MOVE UP.

Byline: Brandon Lowrey

Staff Writer

As housing prices plummet, so do hopes for a better home for Milton Bustos.

Bustos has been trying to sell the family town house in Panorama City so he, his wife and 9-year-old son can move to an area he likes better.

He has set his sights on homes in the West Valley.

But since the housing crisis began, the value of the Bustoses' town house has plunged from $365,000 to $295,000.

"The prices are dropping like flies," said the 38-year-old, who works for an insurance company. "I want to be able to make some money off of it so I can get into a house."

Bustos recalled a time when housing prices soared. He and his family spent six months trying to find a house that wasn't already in escrow.

"I didn't know when, but it had to come to a stop somewhere. It would have to stop somewhere and crash down," Bustos said. "It couldn't keep up at the pace it was going."

Bustos finally found one he wanted to call home. But within hours, six other buyers had made offers.

"Now, selling is the opposite," Bustos said.

He started thinking about selling his three-bedroom, 1 1/2-bathroom town house last year, when he first heard rumors about the crisis.

By then, it was already too late.

Bustos already expects to lose $70,000 on the town house he has owned for four years, but he dreads receiving even lower offers from prospective buyers.

That is, if offers even start trickling in.

His town house has been on the market since December. At first, he hoped the lack of interest could be attributed to the holiday season. He said he heard from a few more interested parties after Christmas, but only about 10 have toured it. None called back.

Now he just wants to be sure he'll make something off the town house.

If Bustos doesn't make enough to buy another house, renting wouldn't appeal to him. He said he's seen rent prices ratchet up to nearly as much as a mortgage payment.

And he lamented a system that has seemed to work against him at every turn.

"The way I see it is that all those people (and lenders) who purchased houses are now the ones pretty much to blame," Bustos said.

"Some people couldn't even afford their houses and blocked the market from the people who really could.

"It's been tougher than I expected."

brandon.lowrey(at)dailynews.com