State of the US housing market

[jamesblonde]

The recent purchase of homes by Nerak, Mastequilapf and GreatLakes, shows that there are buyers out there. What is the market like in your area? Our local newspaper printed an article the other day (gotta love the media) that said that nation wide we are dealing with the worst real estate market since the great depression and that things won't improve until 2009!!

Considering that this is how I make a living, it scares the stuff right out of me. I have just reduced prices on all of my listings. Some by 15%. Builders here are slashing prices on new construction by 20%, plus offering other buyer incentives just to move inventory. I've been selling real estate since 1989 and have never seen a market like this one.

What's it like in your neighborhood?

[jsotherj]

Some buying going on, but definitely a downswing. Prices are going down a little. We are in an area that was just listed as the best place to buy a second home in the west, by Parade Magazine. Hopefully this will help us sell Jeff's dads old house he bought for $13,500 in 1970 now selling for $287k, and this is one of the best deals in our little area. Very little for sale under that price, and if it is under that it will be a major fixer upper. A good time to buy if your in the market.

[playabum17]

If you'll recall my parents house was on the market for 2 years and that's not uncommon in this area. What I do find interesting is how much it varies. Other houses sell within days of being on the market. I know 3 off the top of my head and they really vary on size, location and price. While my parents house and others in the area are on the market for quite some time. My parents did drop the price a couple times and it is in a good area so I'm not sure what the deal was.

[Ginger]

Well, I'm not in the US, but.....

The housing market up here in the Greater Vancouver Regional District has skyrocketed, and continues to do so. My area in particular has succomed to vastly over-priced housing. For example, a three bedroom house on a standard lot 20 minutes away from us goes for about $500,000. That same house here in White Rock/South Surrey goes for $800,000 !!!! And I am talking the exact same house....only difference is location. We are in a very desirable area, close to the water, a lot of more upscale homes...and so the housing prices are absolutely rediculous.

We live in a townhome. 2000 sq ft, 9 years old. I could put it on the market right now for $390,000 and I would have three or four people in a bidding war on it. It has happened recently to 3 units in our complex. And they sell within a month of being listed.

Jami, looks like you need to move up here!

[jamesblonde]

Originally Posted by jsotherj

Some buying going on, but definitely a downswing. Prices are going down a little. We are in an area that was just listed as the best place to buy a second home in the west, by Parade Magazine. Hopefully this will help us sell Jeff's dads old house he bought for $13,500 in 1970 now selling for $287k, and this is one of the best deals in our little area. Very little for sale under that price, and if it is under that it will be a major fixer upper. A good time to buy if your in the market.

A year ago, if something was under 300k, it would sell in a day with multiple offers. Hopefully the article will send buyers your way. $287k and an ocean view? I may have to take a drive down myself

Originally Posted by playabum17

If you'll recall my parents house was on the market for 2 years and that's not uncommon in this area. What I do find interesting is how much it varies. Other houses sell within days of being on the market. I know 3 off the top of my head and they really vary on size, location and price. While my parents house and others in the area are on the market for quite some time. My parents did drop the price a couple times and it is in a good area so I'm not sure what the deal was.

I remember your parent's house taking forever. Here we are pretty much seeing homes sit for months across the board. Although there are still a couple of "hot areas" that sell within a few days of going on the market. It is such a great time to be a buyer that I'm surprised that there aren't more out there. They can pretty much call the shots right now.

[Banzoomba]

It's definately taken a drop off in our area...lots of homes for sale in our neighborhood have been on the market for 6+ months were two years ago they went in less than 1 week...but we are about to get a boost as our local military base is about to do a huge expansion...lots of jobs coming in from out of state....people needing homes...mostly civilians...and the prices have continued to climb anticipating what they call here the BRACC.

We got lucky and got in our house 4 years ago before the market and prices skyrocketed...couldn't afford to buy into our neighborhood today. We are definately the rednecks of our block....we fly the red, white and blue in front of our house...redneck, white trash and blue collar....

[jamesblonde]

Originally Posted by Ginger

Jami, looks like you need to move up here!

Canada, here I come My cousins live in Delta. Maybe they'll rent me a room while I get started

[Ginger]

I just found this in an article about my area:

The province (BC) has the highest average resale price in the country, at $431,909 – up 11.1 percent over last year. And Vancouver tops cities here. The price for a detached home in Vancouver has risen 11.9 percent from last year: May’s average selling price was $682,173. An attached home has risen even more, up 13.8 percent (average price in May for an attached home was $482,299), but topping even that increase is the average price for apartments: at $349,393, it is up 14.7 percent.

And with the coming of the 2010 Olympics, experts see a continued rise in home prices for the years to come. At that point, we may sell ours at what looks like a peak, and then hold out until a downfall to re-enter. I dunno, we're still looking into options in that regard.

[jamesblonde]

Originally Posted by Banzoomba

..redneck, white trash and blue collar....

You wanna buy my neighbor's house. You'd fit right in with us!!!

[jsotherj]

I mentioned on the grandparent thread that I quit my job on Wednesday - I worked in Escrow and the market has flattened out. Corporate decided that they are closing our branch office - layed off my supervisor who happens to be a good friend. Of course they want two weeks notice when you quit - but they call you in and hand you a check and say see ya later bye! So when I came back from lunch (my supervisor met us at the park and told me she had been layed off) the big boss was there and told me they layed her off - I told him "well I am done then too" see ya later bye!
Back to the market - in the last year I saw a lot more FSBO's. In the last 2 mos. we started getting in more realtor deals, but it is that time of year here when things start selling. Still not the boom of '05, but not so bad. It just took longer for the lull to hit our area than the rest of the country. There is an article in the Oregonian regarding the affect that the decline in the new housing market is having on the lumber mills in the Pac NW. And it is a trickle down affect - the stock market etc. Hopefully things will bounce back soon!

[Seakony]

Don't forget me... I also bought and sold a home this year..and at the worst time for selling...January!. We had several offers on our house within a week of putting it on the market. Our problem in buying a house was the good properties available. Most everything we looked at were dogs and in need of alot of repair.
Also when we were getting ready to sell ours, we went to look at the competition..also dogs and way overpriced. The most important things in selling a house is Location, price and condition. If people do not want to fix and update their home, then it ain't going to sell at the price they want for it. Period. Also...empty vacant houses take longer to sell than homes that are clean and "staged" with furniture. (some people cannot visulize.) My parents home, while clean as a whistle, was vacant and I got lousy offers on it. I put some furniture in it, put up a fence to block the nasty backyard next door, raised the price 2000.00 and sold it that week at full price. My SIL also place furniture in her vacant, really nice house, and sold it within a week.
Buyers do not want to buy a house that is dirty, clothes on the floor instead of the closet, and still looks like something out of the 70's. And neighbors with nasty yards don't help either.
I too also noticed that alot of peeps were buying homes...and wondered where the press was getting their info.

[Banzoomba]

Originally Posted by jamesblonde

You wanna buy my neighbor's house. You'd fit right in with us!!!

Think about the block parties we could have....

[roni]

We bought our house here in May 2001 for 167,000.

Roughly equivalent houses in our neighborhood are listing for 330-400k.

I do not know what they are selling for, but one a couple of blocks from us sold recently (or was taken off the market).

Unlike most new construction (think 5,000 square foot lots), we have a real yard (1/4 acre). We'll live here till we move somewhere else. We enjoy our nice little quiet neighborhood 9 miles south of downtown.

[Seakony]

Another problem with the market is getting buyers to qualify for the loan. Too many Americans have too much credit card and car debts or just have bad credit. The mortgage compainies have tightened their requirements on loan approval. They do not want to re-possess homes.

[Mikey]

We are closing on a Condo about two blocks from where we live right now....We lost out on the first one that was up for sale because the sellers had already accepted an offer from another buyer even though we offered more for it....Our realator sent out letters asking If anyone was interested in selling in the complex and there were two other people that were.....We are getting this one for $30,000 less then what we offered for the first one....In the area were we live just North of downtown in an area called Turtle Creek your lucky to find something you can buy and own that does not start at a million for a shell....The Condos were built in the 80's....Three bedrooms two and a half baths,two car garage, two fire places. (Wood Burning) 2,500 square feet with a pool and tennis court.....We are going to have it reapainted, wood floors put in the living room, and new counter tops.....People are still buying but they seem to be building more in the Frisco (North of Dallas) Denton and Collin Counties...Also North of Dallas. You can get a 4,000 square foot home up north for what we are paying for 2,500 downtown....But we are about a minute or two from where we work....You could not pay me enough to live up North and have to commute every day downtown......The traffic has gotten insane in and around Dallas.....Plus becasue of The "Victory Project" upscale high rises are going up all over North Downtown.....One bedrooms start at $400,000 two bedrooms start at $570,000.....And they are selling like crazy.....They have them full before they have even finished building them......They are trying to bring people back downtown and I am all for that...Nothing worse then a dead downtown on a weekend.....And If it wasnt for Laura Miller screwing up the Cowboy's deal....We could have had a new Stadium at Fair Park just a few minutes from downtown......Not Arlington.....That would have brought people down before and after the games......And helped with the growth of Downtown.....Thanks Laura Miller...For Nothing.....