General

We wanted to move last summer but weren't able to. There just weren't many houses going on the market at all, and when one did, the competition was insane. I've heard of so many houses selling for 10, 20, 30+ thousand over asking price, it's crazy. The interest rates were better at least, but the market was still crazy. We were hoping to try again this summer, but I just don't know with these rates. We do want to move eventually, but we'd be fine sticking it out a couple more years at our current home if not for our annoying neighbor that moved in almost a year after us. We're just so sick of living next to this guy.

My wife is a realtor - things are insane now. There won't be a crash, but things absolutely will have to come down - people are pricing themselves out of their range during their searches.

Things are already slowing down a bit with the interest rates skyrocketing, but they will inevitably also come down - slower than it went up.

According to Zillow, the value of my house went up $120K since I bought it 3 years ago.

I just sold my house in California. Received 7 offers following our open house. All offers way above my asking price. I’m not thrilled about interest rates and feel a bit dumb for even considering it… but it is what it is. I will fall back on my VA to get a competitive rate all things considered.

Just pay landscapers

We closed on our house late 2020, when interest rate was at its lowest. So we lucked out I guess. But yea the market is crazy and with interest rate so high, buyers are reluctant or just completely shut out.

My friend lost her partner in December. They paid $150 for their home in 2000. She listed the home last month for $300. A sale for $370. was pended 12 days later. People are out of their damn minds. Their house is nice, the lot is nice and in a nice area on a dead end road, but $370 for their home crazy.

The prices $ rates will come down eventually. They always do.


"Millennials feel screwed by the housing market after a series of economic disasters—82% of them have major regrets over their new homes"

https://fortune.com/2022/02/09/millennials-feel-sc...

Lunar wrote:

haha, if we buy this, we won't be able to afford landscapers!

My sister-in-law is a realtor around here, and she's constantly getting ~$25-$50k+ bids above ask, just ... bonkers, when they're already over valued.

My gut says crap will calm down because this isn't sustainable, especially with everything else going on in the world (fudge you stock market!). Yet, there's such a rush of people moving away from big cities because they can work remotely and Northeast Ohio is honestly an amazing spot for some kickass homes/lands.

Ugh, this sucks, I need out of this damn house. My kids have no land to play, we can't put in a pool, our driveway is tiny and on a hill. I clearly have my wants/needs, but I want a place where my kids and go outside and have fun. Having woods/water is key ...

What is the reason for your move? Do you just need more space?

That property is beautiful but at nearly 5.5k sq feet, its pretty huge. Unless you really need that much space, maybe you could find something a bit smaller/cheaper. I'd be hesitant to drop that kind of cash on a house given how high prices are right now. You may spend 625k and then the bubble pops and it's only worth 550k and then you're in the hole equity wise. However with that said, if the area is good it doesn't seem THAT crazy of a price given the size and how nice the house/property looks.

Bought my place early 2019 and one of the more recent sales in the neighborhood went for more than $300k what we paid. It's nuts.

That's a beautiful property @MrBean. That would go for about $2mil+ in San Diego.

Bought in June 2020, right before the boom. House was vacant for over a month, and I got it below asking. Already appreciated over 25%.

Looking to move to Tennessee some time soon, work is just insanely busy. We have stopped lending to all states west of the Mississippi, jacked up our rates, and suspended programs. The applications keep coming. Getting a storage unit in the next month or so to store all my stuff so I can start the selling process. Homes tend to only stay listed a few days before they are sold. Boeing moving nearby will definitely help.

I work from home, no need to live in such an expensive area. The yard sales and thrift stores are nice, and the area is nice, but I would rather not pay income tax, have a nicer house, and a lower cost of living.

sa330206 wrote:

We definitely need a lot more space both in house, and outside. 2.5 and 5 year told that have nowhere good to play. My kids can't even easily ride their bike outside, no water/pool, small yard. I want to give them much more. That and we have a lot of 'stuff', my house is feeling too cramped (2500 sq ft + 1000 sq ft basement). I want to be at least at 4000sq ft going forward.

Crazy enough, that price, is pretty spot on for the house regardless of the market. There's so many houses surrounding and nearby, with less land, and less house, that are more expensive. If that land was tip top shape, fully finished basement, and the deck didn't need some help ... this should be selling for ~$800k compared to so many others. My sister-in-law feels confident that this is actually under priced (yet, still on market after a year --- because of the upkeep required on the yard more than likely). So the price is actually quite good for what it is.

Still, I'm in that same boat of the bubble popping and being in the hole.

YET ... if you use Zillow, look at the Zestimate (which is usually pretty damn spot on), look at the past 10 years. It doesn't look like it's spiking because of the market, vs. natural appreciation.

Porksta wrote:

Yeah, we debate about packing up and picking up an appt. Just so hard with the two kids ... but, it's truly the smart move. Contingent bidding right now, is very difficult.

MrBean wrote:

I definitely feel you on the outdoor space. For both of our houses we've bought since we had kids, it was important to me to have a big (and flat!) yard with lots of room for playing and sports. Your indoor needs are insane though! We're also a family of 4, with about 2000 sq ft, and we're only starting to feel slightly cramped as the kids are approaching their teens. That was the main reason for us wanting to move within a few years anyway, but our annoying neighbor has expedited it. Anyway, I don't know how you're feeling cramped with 3500 sq ft! Maybe some downsizing/de-cluttering is in order It would certainly make moving easier.

@Scott Well ... we definitely have too much clutter. We haven't fully committed to a 3rd kid or not, and we have a TON (legit way too much) "stuff" that we're hanging on to because we haven't decided. I think we're definitely more in the camp of not having a 3rd, more so because we're getting too old. My wife will be 39 this year and that's possibly danger zone for challenges. Not to mention, I'm hitting 40 in two weeks and don't really want to go through baby phase again .... yet, I really would love to have another kid If I'm being honest.

Still, I like big open spaces. My video game crap in itself is a massive problem, consuming far too much space.

If we had better storage areas, and could drop a lot of the old kid stuff, we'd definitely be better with ~3,000sq ft. Yet, I'll always go for more as I'd like to (in time) get fun stuff like pinball, pool table, air hockey, etc. etc. I'd love to have a massive basement with a big open floor plan.

I just looked at the house you posted vs general thoughts before - unless you're stuck in the past it's very out of date...there's a ton of money to be put into that home, it's dripping with the previous owner's touches.

The property is huge though, I know you mentioned the maintenance - which seems like a nightmare unless you're super into lawn/garden and have lots of time.

If this is at the top of your budget - I'd suggest you look elsewhere unless you absolutely love everything about it and have no concerns with anything going wrong with the house (for extra cost).

SublimeFan wrote:

Yeah, my wife says the same ... I'm largely fine with it as-is, but she's already calling out lots of updates. Still, the two expansions, were done in high quality, the interior/exterior, all very nice, better than most modern homes.

ha, I hate cutting my 1/4 acre now! This would be a massive change, but honestly, I feel like I want it. More outdoor time, more physical work, and may actually for the first time in my life, get/sustain some color in my skin! The grass isn't all that bad, it's the INSANE amount of beds, and the perimeter ... tons of work to be done (way more than you can see in the pictures, it's pretty ridiculous to be honest).

The dog of it is, ~$600k, nothing even remotely this big (both house and outside). Reality is, there's a lot of money to be spent here. That deck is gonna need replaced, we'd need to do some massive landscapping, put up a fence, etc. etc.

We'll probably end up walking away, and waiting. Just really loved it when everything else we looked at, not even close in comparison (for size and all the outside has to offer).

I really liked this, wife did not: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/80-Willow-Wood-...
This house we both loved, but the yard is tiny, and all hill ... https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/...

SublimeFan wrote:

I must just be out of touch, it doesn't look bad to me. The interior reminds me of a fancy home from the 90's. I guess it's out of date a bit but it certainly looks livable to me. I don't love the basement 80's/90's wood look but if it's dry then I could easily live with that. The porch/patio is amazing and it looks like a well built home. I'm surprised it hasn't sold at that price, maybe there is something wrong with it not indicated in the listing.

Those other two houses look wonderful (IMO, throughout of course). Minimal work you need to do for either - also, I know nothing about the OH market in particular so comparisons would be rough.

I know you mentioned having young kids, but do these neighborhoods have parks? You talked about having enough space for them - and even the yard on the smaller lot seems like it's a good enough size to play in (BUT you also mentioned it's all hill, that's a killer. It makes our backyard nearly useless aside from our deck / one landing with a trampoline on the entire thing). Parks make things way easier and can save you money on building your own :)

There's nothing in the disclosure. I've been there twice. I can't find really anything wrong sans typical wear and tear (largely outside - the deck and the pavers). The basement is very dry. The carpet needs some help ... but legit doesn't feel like anything wrong with it at all. There are some older elements of the look, and that electric stove sucks (seriously, who 'likes' electric?), but so many other cool little things like the wine cooler, a master bathroom with a washer dryer + fridge (odd), the water fountains, dual fire pits, electric run through multiple parts of the yard. They were clearly entertainers at some point.

What's not pictured is the massive 4 car garage, and massive walk in attic above the garage (not finished), and a nearly finished basement bathroom, a gigantic walk-in master closet, and a whole separate work bench area with the utilities.

SublimeFan wrote:

Yah, we have a fair amount of parks all around us, we try to frequent them. This is where I'm torn between land, and development style living. I swore I'd never live in a development, and I've been in one for 13 years. New(er) developments, are amazing for kids, especially with wood/water access. Sadly our development, was built in 2002-2004, so most of the kids here are older. I would sacrifice land if it had nearby (walkable) access to woods and water, ideally with other kids nearby.

Damn Bean, both houses are nice.. That amount of $$ in NJ won't even get you something half as big.. I like house #2.

Yeah, I just don't get it ... these prices are so much higher than they used to be; however, still vastly cheaper than so many other areas. I have some West Coast friends, and I'm just baffled at how much they pay, when we all make similar incomes. This is why places like us, are being bombarded by new out of state folks looking to gain bigger houses/land at a much cheaper price, now that many can work remotely.

MrBean wrote:

Parks are nice to visit occasionally, especially if you have no other option but to move into a house with little/no yard space, but nothing beats the convenience of being able to just walk out into your yard and play, IMO. Not to mention the privacy.

We built a house through last year and did a ton of the work ourselves. Our market has slowed down a bit from the recent insanity, but our house is easily worth twice what we have in it right now. Sometimes I'm tempted to sell.

yeah housing market is nuts, car market is nuts, everything is pretty nuts. Houses around here going for way above asking, there was one in north Houston that got talked about a bit for going 80k over market value. How's that even work with a bank anyway? If the value is 300k, is the buyer paying cash fort he rest so the bank isn't too far upside down on a loan?

Is there any truth to tech workers with lots of cash buying up houses without negotiating/wanting to just get the deal done?

akfa wrote:
Borrower has to pay any difference between appraisal and sales price. Banks will only give you a loan up to the home's value. If an appraisal says a home is worth $100,000, but you are paying $180,000 that extra $80,000 is on you.

Yes

My parents wanted to buy a house in the Poconos as a vacation home 2 years ago.. The realtor was telling them that people were paying 20-30k over asking value SIGHT UNSEEN!!! They were basically buying the house without even seeing it first.. That's very risky in that climate with all the wooded areas and moisture, but paying over asking value for a house you never even step foot in is just insane.

Places like Zillow were buying up tons of crap to try and manipulate the market in their favor. I thought it had kinda simmered down, but I guess not.

Didn't I read somewhere Zillow was trying to sell off all the homes they had bought? Maybe that was Redfin.

I feel like I’m seeing just a little softening in the market compared with a year ago. I think the interest rate hikes should definitely have an effect. Stock market is down, inflation is up; people only have so many dollars to spend. No way these prices can be sustained (at least I hope not). I don’t think they’re going back to pre-pandemic levels but I’ll be surprised if they stay high with rates climbing.

Not to charge this topic with politics but I read something interesting the other day about how if Roe is overturned it might drive some people out of red states which would cool down the market in these traditionally lower COL states. Will be interesting to see how that develops in the next 6-12 months.

My sister and brother in law bought a Duplex in Queens for nearly 400K last year. It's maybe 1000 square feet. 2 beds 1 bath. They locked in at under 3 percent. The rates were substantially low and it's not a surprise that they've gone up.

The housing market is crazy here. And many are paying straight up cash for million dollar homes in my neighborhood.

Most of my block changed.hands in the past few years. Mainly Koreans and Chinese people bought most of my block.

If you want/need to move then do it. But don't bother buying an overpriced place, just rent for a year at a time until the market re-adjusts back to being realistic. That's what we're planning on doing before this next school year...probably. Or we'll just stay put another year, not sure yet.

Yes, you're not paying towards the house but it'll be either the same monthly payment or cheaper than a mortgage. Plus someone else has to fix all the issues while prices stabilize without putting you in any risk.

metsfan718 wrote:

I take it that's worth mentioning because they all like the Yankees?

I've been in the market for 3 years now. It was hard before and even harder now. I've been hoping interest rates go up so I have less competition. I have a large down payment and my mortgage would probably be $30-$50k for most houses. I'd be paying it back inside of a year or as soon as my current house sells, which I own outright. I'm on the lower end of the market for a narrow area I want to move to. Anything I buy would likely need to be remodeled and that's fine. I've had chances lately but the properties were in such disrepair I've passed on them.

Also that house linked in the first post... 600k here gets you lakefront property or a house with multiple acres and a stable.

Half the houses above 300k where I'm looking come with "she-sheds".

Anxiouz wrote:

Lol. It's worth mentioning because they are normally the ones who are able to buy a 1.5 million dollar house in my area with straight up cash. It's expanding into long island now as well. The Asian population in NYC has more than doubled in not too long of a time span as a result of that.

We were tempted to sell our house and move closer to my store (I have a 20-25 minute commute and my husband is going to stay virtual post covid.) Even though our house has gained nearly 200k in value (yes that is not a typo) we know we'd immediately lose any of that gain in buying another home as all homes are inflated. That's even if we could find one. So instead we're staying put. We love our school and our neighborhood. Instead we're putting cash into the house to fix it up to be what we want and need.

I'm dropping 50k on a new composite deck with enclosure/electric and ceiling fan. Another 10k for windows and a sliding glass door. After we're caught up on that we're going to look into remodeling the kitchen because our kitchen sucks and makes no sense. We have a ton of open empty area for another table and like 2 tiny counters to work on. There's always a traffic jam at the pantry/fridge/laundry room door and our home is so huge there's no need for a tight area like that.
So yeah we've resigned to staying put for a while and loving our home. Plus we don't wanna lose our 2.5% interest rate at this point

I was starting to seriously consider selling our house now while the market is so high and then just renting until things calm down. But, I checked rental prices and they're pretty ridiculous. It's probably not worth it, especially with no guarantee of how long until things really calm down.

Scott wrote:

Then if you're stuck in a lease that's another issue.
One of my employees hit the rent jackpot last month. Found a nice newer apartment, under priced, NO DEPOSIT and they let her move in with just a letter from me stating she was a good employee and makes X amount of money. Her first place too, so she's pretty happy. I wonder if someone was murdered there? lol

Our home value doubled in the last 5 years- but doesn’t matter because we can’t afford to get into anything else nearby. Our taxes have gone way up because of it so mortgage escrow is short and I end up paying about 100$ month more annually. Seems cool that it’s worth more but it kind of sucks. I need to discuss with a financial advisor soon.

This thread reminds me that I should probably sell a rental house or two off...

Anyone want to move to Michigan? I'll make you a deal...

Also, I have a 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe that I was hoping to get $4000 for. Just ran it at KBB and they made an instant cash offer of $6800! It's insane!

Yup, that's the problem with rising home values...you may be able to sell your home for way more than you paid for it...but everyone else's value rose too.

We refinanced Dec 2020 and got a 2.5% rate on a 30-year fixed on our primary (down from a 3.125% 10/1 ARM) and a 3.125% on a 20-year fixed on our rental property (down from 4.125% on a 30-year fixed).

We have a nice home (3200+ sqft) but the lot is small and the house is 3 floors (no basement) so it's not as open. But the prices are ridiculous here in the Portland metro area in Oregon.

Yeah, I was looking at getting a new car but I need one without a sunroof. Cars are already tough to get, much less ones they don't make too many of. Gave up and will probably just wait until next year's models.

The more we look into it, the more we are leaning towards waiting. I have a hard time giving up our 3.2% and having to double our mortgage knowing that we could be in a massive negative equity situation in a year. Yet it's hard not to debate... What if it only goes up!

MrBean wrote:

My first home this happened to me. Bought in 2006 and moved after residency- 3 years- during the collapse. Had to short sell it and got a loan / mortgage to get out. Took about 8 years to pay out of it.

Feeb wrote:

Oofff, that sucks!

Yeah we sold our old house and lost like 50k (bought two months before market collapsed, was underwater ever since). Now, if we sell our current house (which I wont) we could make 150k lol

All I have to say is Bean listen to your wife. You don't exactly have the personality for sound financial decisions... unless I'm mistaken.

John wrote:

CML

John wrote:

lol reminds me in 2020 I was going to sell my 2018 Renegade and get something cheap because I needed some fast cash. I was offered basically what I owed on it, 14k. Now trade in at the dealership they're offering me 23-25k. Of course you can't find a damn thing to buy and anything you order is 2-6 months out at minimum. Still I'm gonna probably trade up. Once I put a stroller in it plus two car seats, I can't get anything else in it.

Even if you do buy something you will have to bring it back later to get the chip installed.

Porksta wrote:

It greatly depends. I think Chevy is the only main one having issues and they're selling vehicles without heated/vented seats and steering wheels, some other features. I am not seeing that with Hyundai, Jeep or Kia. However I have heard that thanks to the Telluride Kia can't get caught up and are refusing orders on that vehicle through next year. I was inches away from buying a Palisade but am holding out for the new Jeep Cherokee 4XE and will likely decide between that and a full sized L. Of course it could be these other makes aren't openly advertising reduced features due to chip shortage either. I guess I'll find out.

KCPenguins wrote:

Hahaha, whaaaaaat? My DOGE investment is doing oh so well....

sinnie wrote:
That may vary state to state because when I was looking for a home years ago a realtor told us that it's legal to break a lease if you are purchasing a home. I'm sure you have to give proper notice and I don't know what that would be.

BlueJava wrote:

Could be true. I know it wasn't the case here. We were stuck in a situation a few years back where we had to decide to renew a year lease or get out. Our home in another state was in the process of being sold and we just kind of bought our current house because it was what was available where we wanted to be. I just didn't want to be locked into a lease for a year.

BlueJava wrote:

I don't know of any state where that is true/accurate. Sounds like Realtor bull.

In my experience, leases can be broken, but there is usually a fee of some sort to do so. It can be quite a bit though. One lease I had said I basically on the hook for the rent until a new renter moved in and I had to pay for all marketing costs.

SwiftJAB wrote:

Yeah, that's what I had to deal with here in MO years ago. I was offered a buy out option. My security deposit plus one additional months rent. I took it. That damn place was PITA. Residents throughout the building were awful.

Some states have a law that DV victims must be released from their lease. I've never heard of the release based on a home purchase though.

SwiftJAB wrote:

Well, yes, everything can be "broken" if you pay the agreed fees. That's not really "breaking" a lease. It is following the clauses of the lease.

In most states, if a lease does not specify an "out", then you are responsible for the remainder of the lease until it is re-rented, including marketing costs. Like you've stated here. Basically, you are responsible for leaving early until the landlord is "made whole."

-John...

We're lucky, my MIL has a place she uses as an investement propery in Bothell Wa so we are going to move and rent from her for the next few years (maybe take it permenantly). She will make a little more charging us less rent and cutting out the realtor fees. So we are selling out place here in Apex, NC and if I was buying my house right now in apex I wouldn't be able to afford it. When we bought in 2018 it was 374k. We meet with the realtor the other day and she asked what we were looking or and we said 550k. She laughed and said she sold a house around the corner with the same dimensions as ours for 650k. Told us our insides are better so we could be looking at 700k. The IT industry is moving into the Raliegh area like crazy and the amount of money being thrown around is ridiculous.

Put an offer in on a house today! Wish me luck… have my fingers crossed.

Good luck, we looked ourselves but everything is crazy. I bought my house in 2010, its a 2/2.5 bedroom townhouse ~1200 square feet. I got it for $167k, person i had bought it from paid $300k.

Current Zillow has it priced around $450k, basically triple what I paid. I can't imagine what people who are looking for a first time home and don't have the capital are going thru.

We decided to wait. Hopefully the market is better next summer.

Market might be better next summer but interest rates are going to be up and if the economy crashes it might be harder to even get a loan. Scary times buying. I'm concerned about car loan shopping

loztdogs wrote:

address?

I’m going to speculate the market for houses <500-600k are not going to change much in price. I’m betting people who get priced out of even higher-priced homes will fill demand for lower-priced homes as interest rates rise.

Man, 15 acres with a badass lake... The house isn't the best but wow I want that land -

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7755-Ravenna-Rd...

Then there's this fantastic house, lots of land, but appears to be very hilly https://apps.realtor.com/mUAZ/2fonrsyq

Ugh, wanted to stop looking but these apps keep notifying me!

That place looks great, love the lake! We're hoping to get more land when we do move. Put more distance between us and our neighbors.

I lived and worked in fair lawn for a few years.

I plan on going for less grass. I'm at about 1.25 acres now. I'd rather have 3/4 to 1 acre that I can setup a Husqvarna automower to take care of the open spots. Then small lawnmower the rest.

I live in PR and Ive been browsing for a while now and I can say we have the same problem here.

People are even paying stupid prices for bank reposessed houses way above asking price. Its crazy.

My house is worth ~900k +/- 50k, according to zillow and redfin. I owe $14Xk. It's time to sell.

I put in notice at work today, going to finish the work on it over the next couple of months and who knows, I'm close enough to Seattle I could get a bidding war. But even if things start going down, $850k easy, but in a wild world I could see it going $1.1M+.

After taxes, fees, still walking away with over half a million, best case I could walk away with upwards of like $750k.

Plan is to then start a business. Which business depends on how much capital I raise selling. Garage door installer in case crap really hits the fan. CNC-based wood goods manufacturer is mid range. Earth moving company is if I sell for a crap ton.

Short term I'll live with my parents once I sell / have it listed, willing to move cross country after that, though. In large parts of the country $400k can still get you an old Victorian mansion with a giant basement that could easily fit a work shop. Or converted schools or churches could make amazing places to live.

What I will likely be able to get in Washington:
https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/23500193_zpi...
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/44352-Geraldine...
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/200-S-Ash-Ave-W...

I'd be willing to live those places, but if I look nationally I could end up somewhere like:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/205-W-State-St-...
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/98-100-N-Broad-...
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/109-W-Macon-St-...
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1405-M-St-Bedfo...
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/133-Maple-St-Je...
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1222-Millington...
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3744-E-Ramsey-A...

etc. etc.
I'll probably stay local to Washington but I'm having to consider other places... real estate is so fudgeed on the coasts.

Our offer was accepted! Wooooohooooo!

Ready or not Montana, here we come….

https://imgur.com/a/nyYiMdh

Nice. Congrats!

kevolones wrote:

Thank you!

Indeed! Congrats!

And, Chad, that sounds great! Congrats to you also! And good luck!

Nice. Good job and grats to y’all. Nice places.