View Full Version : Thoughts on real estate??
I peruse real estate sites looking for our next home and have noticed that higher end home listings ($750K and up) are suddenly very numerous; there are way more than usual. Some days no listings at all when in the past there would be many to look at. It is hard to make buying/selling decisions when everything is so unsettled. Wonder what the crystal ball says about the future of housing as we move through this virus disaster?? Also wonder why so many big, expensive homes are being sold?
Random thoughts:
- stock market madness causing lower net worth, or more fears of the future
- covid-induced economic disruptions causing loss of income, or future fear
- people downsizing, or ditching second homes, because of the above
- depending on the area, increased market for homes in "safe" areas causing sellers to appear
Real estate can be a very local issue.
In our area, houses in lower cost ranges in good school districts are causing bidding wars. Empty lots in the building areas of our sort of inner city are a hot commodity. Tear downs are in demand in a couple of areas.
They bought a house they couldn't afford and are trying to get out of it without a major loss.
Real estate here is moving in a day-as it has been for several years. Our market hasn't changed 1 bit!
I think at the higher levels, it may be stock market related, as many think a repeat of 2008 coming, and they don't want to be holding the bag with the real estate when it drops in value.
many people thing its gonna be worse than in 2008
iris lilies
8-16-20, 12:12pm
I heard New York City prices are down in rents and sales because people are fleeing the city, a very high cost of living as we all know, to stay in cheaper places and work remotely. Why pay $5000 a month rent when you canPay $2000 a month?
I heard New York City prices are down in rents and sales because people are fleeing the city, a very high cost of living as we all know, to stay in cheaper places and work remotely. Why pay $5000 a month rent when you canPay $2000 a month?
Absolutely correct. Even our house in NJ is seeing a price surge. Nice property in CT is going ridiculously fast. Now that people and companies are realizing the benefits of telecommuting, and realizing how it sucks to be suffering heat island effect of cities during a pandemic, Green Acres is calling.
Teacher Terry
8-16-20, 2:11pm
Lake Tahoe real estate is booming as is ours. The average family of 4 here makes 48k yet the medium price of a house is 459 and our next door neighbor sparks is 400k.
I keep asking myself how did everyone get so rich that there are so many half million dollar homes on the market??
Even in Indy, house prices are rising and bidding wars are happening for desirable areas. Reasons: lack of robust supply and very low interest rates. People who want out of apartments are hoping to find an affordable house and sales are hard to find. This allows others who sell to push into higher cost areas to get their next homes. It really feels to me that we have less than half the inventory of homes for sale than at most other times. Our historic areas were 200,000 awhile ago, pushed to 300,000 and up. Then they were bought by investors, renovated and pushed to over $1 million. One young couple I knew sold their house end of last year for double what they paid for it. Bought a smaller house and paid off student debt.
Supposedly rent in San Francisco has fallen by 10% from what it was a year ago. Looking at ads on craigslist that seems like an accurate figure. Our landlord did not increase our rent this year.
We sold our 2-1 house in TX for $435K four years ago. It just sold again for $600K. Nuts...
We sold our 2-1 house in TX for $435K four years ago. It just sold again for $600K. Nuts...
Oh, man. I'm so sorry! As for our situation, NYC suburb real estate is expanding, and my son is planning on renting our Central Jersey home for the second year, but even HE said, let's just slap a ridiculous price on it and see if anyone takes it. But I am SO reluctant to do that. If someone offers $500k do I kick my son and grandkids out?? Do I risk that that resale value will stick?? Would I rather sell the house to DS/DIL next year, factoring in any devaluation that may occur post-COVID??
"Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens."
even HE said, let's just slap a ridiculous price on it and see if anyone takes it.
If DS knows that a sale puts him in the rental market and he still thinks you should put a ridiculous price on it, then go for it. You know the stakes; you might win big; you might find the ridiculous price is too much even for this market. What's that they say? You've got to play to win? :)
Would I rather sell the house to DS/DIL next year, factoring in any devaluation that may occur post-COVID??
I don't think anyone can say what will happen to housing prices post-COVID-19. I suspect we'll know more in a couple of months as the extra $600 and the eviction/foreclosure moratoriums expire (though they could be extended or reinstated).
For all the noise in the news about people fleeing cities for suburbs and points further out, for many/most people it's not as easy as just packing up and moving. Most people would have to sell their current home to buy another one (a big contingency) and they'll be buying the new place in pretty much the same seller's market unless they go to the outskirts (assuming there are outskirts where they live). Given the number of people who were furloughed or unemployed and the number who just don't have the money to move, I believe any exodus won't be as rapid as many think. It may be more visible in places like San Francisco, Seattle, and New York City, where people might cash out and have money left over after moving, but I don't think it's going to happen widely in Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, or Fort Worth.
Our local paper had an article, home sales and prices hit a record across the state in July. I've wondered if there hasn't been a back log of potential buyers and sellers who were out of the picture during the lock downs. But at the same time there was another article saying one in 20 mortgages were behind in May, so go figure. I've speculated that most of those who can afford a mid-priced house payment have been less likely to have been affected relative to those in many in the service industries. Low interest rates help.
It's all sort of crazy, though. The stock market has basically recovered and home prices are up, but unemployment is bad as is GDP growth. I think there could be some bubbles developing.
Cath, if you get a ridiculous price for the house, you can help your son with cash in hand if you and he still feel the need for you to do so. There are so many ways to approach this with cash on hand.
could son buy house now for fair, non crazy price--just go ahead and buy and know it is probably under what you could sell to a stranger, but house would still be in family?
Apparently in the bay area we're far from unique. Supposedly there's an abundant supply of houses on the market in the city and houses in the suburbs are getting snapped up like hotcakes. We offered $27,000 over asking and were not the highest bid but got accepted because our offer had the easiest terms. And the unit had just gone on the market this weekend.
We are at the point of giving up on moving until next spring. When the places you are looking only have a handful of listings every week with twenty people standing in line, it feels like too hard of a struggle. Will try to enjoy another winter in Colorado and hope we don't have any more trees blow down:(
Pinkytoe, do you recall the powerful reasons that you moved to Colorado? I know that you would like to be closer to the grandkids but they soon grow up and move on with their lives. Your daughter is busy with her life and commitments.
Texas may be your wish now but all the reasons for your original move still exist. Has the Covid confirmed your wish to move back to Texas or are you glad that you are in Colorado for this time? Will you need to build a new circle of friends and activities in any new location in Texas? Or are you simply someone who just loves Texas better at whatever effort is necessary?
Just asking as I had to make some serious decisions after DH's passing about moving closer to the kids but chose to stay where I had lived for a number of years. I now know that my kids (2 of them with spouses with one DGS) have full active lives that don't need me as part of it. We talk regularly and visit several times a year in normal circumstances. I am grateful that I made the choice that I did.
We just closed on selling the pandemic property we bought at auction in May that turned out to be too much of an undertaking for us. We had no desire to tear down and existing house and put up a manufactured house, which is what four "experts" all told us to do. Because of the pandemic, we never could see the property, even after we owned it. I think the guy who is buying it is going to fix it up, and it is bittersweet, as that is what we wanted to do, but we couldn't get it together to do at a distance, and we could not find any contractors willing to work on the house. We wish him well; it is a lovely lot and a nice area, and prices have skyrocketed there since the pandemic. We, of course, have lost money on it. But we are out.
It was nightmarish from start to finish, with everyone, from registry of deeds on down to electricians, closing agents, govt. agencies, to Fed Ex, all affected by lockdowns and closures.
So we lost money and time and a summer to work on a property. It turned out to be extremely stressful, but at least it is over and we can move on.
We just closed on selling the pandemic property we bought at auction in May that turned out to be too much of an undertaking for us. We had no desire to tear down and existing house and put up a manufactured house, which is what four "experts" all told us to do. Because of the pandemic, we never could see the property, even after we owned it. I think the guy who is buying it is going to fix it up, and it is bittersweet, as that is what we wanted to do, but we couldn't get it together to do at a distance, and we could not find any contractors willing to work on the house. We wish him well; it is a lovely lot and a nice area, and prices have skyrocketed there since the pandemic. We, of course, have lost money on it. But we are out.
It was nightmarish from start to finish, with everyone, from registry of deeds on down to electricians, closing agents, govt. agencies, to Fed Ex, all affected by lockdowns and closures.
So we lost money and time and a summer to work on a property. It turned out to be extremely stressful, but at least it is over and we can move on.
So glad to hear it's behind you! Welcome to the lose-money-in-real-estate-club :). Although in your case and with your experience, I'm sure you'll rebound very well.
So glad to hear it's behind you! Welcome to the lose-money-in-real-estate-club :). Although in your case and with your experience, I'm sure you'll rebound very well.
Haha. I'm not too sure about that. This is the fourth house we have bought sight unseen and the only one that turned out to be a dud. For us, anyway. I still think the guy is going to redo it and have a wonderful place. oh well.
Sorry to hear of that roller coaster experience, Tybee. Buying a property without stress sometimes seems a miracle.
iris lilies
8-19-20, 11:30am
I am a long-time member of that lose-money- in-real estate club, and I am Ok with that.
in 2008 we bought two little Victorian houses on one parcel for $42,000. We did major renovation work on them, only the exterior,. New roof, siding and Tuckpointing, new windows. They look decent from the outside but they were shells on the inside. We actually hired some of that work done, good for us! So we had $100,000 in verifiable outlay plus DH put in hundreds of hours of labor.
We sold it recently for $88,000. And that is perfectly OK because that property was our little farmette the city. It had acreage with it and was next-door to a huge city lot where I farmed Iris. It was my weekend getaway during my working years. I did not want to have one of those country places where you pack up The dogs and food on Friday evening to drive 2 hours to the country place,mget up Saturday morning and spend half a day mowing and tidying the land, and then rush home Sunday evening. That is not the lifestyle I wanted. So my little farmette in the city was literally a five minute drive away and we were there several times a week. We were so land rich that we rented some to our friend who grew potatoes there. She paid us in potatoes!
We had fun with that property, we improved the structures according to the historic code because we worked with our city’s cultural resources office, and we provided fabulous iris garden views in the spring for passersby and neighbors. We had fun with it and it and did good works at the same time. As for the financial loss – anhhh, it’s only money And we didn’t buy it for the purpose of being an investment property.
We had a similar experience with a tiny house I bought in 2004. Fixed up the exterior, left the interior barely habitable. But that one I loved —I love that house. It’s one of those tiny little Victorian cottages that is romantic. But DH never liked that house and so we sold it —for a loss of course!—but I did get in several years of good iris and lilies growing there.
Teacher Terry
8-19-20, 11:36am
Tybee, glad you sold it.
Tybee, glad you sold it.
Yeah, like Razz said, a rollercoaster.
IL, thank you for welcoming me to the club.
I retired to Colorado because I had always wanted to. It was where my parents and grand-parents were from and all my visits to the mountains stayed in my heart. DH was tied to his parents (Momma's boy) or we would have done it years before. It has been an adventure but now there is such a stirring to be closer to family. Perhaps it is the virus. I guess like all decisions that remain cloudy and stubbornly difficult to achieve, it either just isn't time yet or is not meant to be.
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