Hot Housing Market

[Route 45]

mortgage rate of 2.375% at IMCU for 15yr loan. may as well push the prices up.

I am tempted to sell but then where can you go? too expensive to build now and the house you'll buy is jacked up

This is exactly where I am. Although I'd really make bank selling my current house, finding a good plot of land at a reasonable price for a new one is nearly impossible. And building prices are through the roof.

 

[gregkl]

I'm going to talk to my bank on Monday and see what their current rates are. I have 15 years left at 3.25%. If I could refi to 10 years and not have my payment increase much or at all, I may do it.

 

[Timjoebillybob]

Heck my tax valuation last year went up 20k with nothing new. I cant imagine this year.

Mine went up and we had a house fire. Seriously, house fire made it uninhabitable and the value went up. I'm going to hate to see what it does next year now that the work is about finished.

 

[Crusader17]

I feel like just a few weeks ago houses starting sitting a little longer (as in not selling the first day or two), but it’s been madness all summer. There are properties selling for 3 times as much as they did back like 3 years ago, when I know for a fact the condition didn’t improve that much. That’s great for the sellers right now, but that will not happen again, at least not in such a short time period. doesn’t it seem like we are heading down a similar path as 2008/9?

 

[WebSnyper]

It was crazy last year, we were out bid on 3 houses and we bid over asking price by 5k.

Finally found our home and bid 8k over and got it.

Been like that for 3 years now. I sold mine as soon as I called the realtor (literally had buyers already lined up for it) and have been waiting for the market to calm down to buy again ever since then and it really hasn't. The only stuff that sticks around long around me are things that are WAY over priced and/or in terrible locations.

My suspicion is that a change in national leadership is going to bring a slower economy and slow the market down. We shall see. I'm looking to be a buyer next summer regardless.

Yep, housing market was heating up well before this.

We sold our house and moved about a mile from it, in Oct/Nov last year. We purchased the new to us house first and then sold ours about a month or so later. Closed on the new one in Oct, closed on sale of our previous house the week of Thanksgiving last year. We made an offer of asking price (actually I offered about $100 over to make it a round number and strong offer), and we sold ours for very close to asking.

Made me a little uncomfortable with the thought of having 2 mortgages very long, but I knew the house we were buying would not last long and not many all brick ranch homes with a large/finished basement were on the market, and that's what we wanted and already loved the area we lived in. We were not finding many that we liked, in an area that we liked. I was thinking hard about new construction, but was having trouble really finding land that we liked, and my wife still wanted to be in a neighborhood as opposed to just open land.

I also had funds to cover the a 20% down and had earmarked a good portion of the coming proceeds from our sale to renovation of new house. Having all your ducks in a row, having money & mortgage, etc already lined up before even really looking makes things much easier and a bit less stressful.

We moved from a 2 story with the master upstairs as my wife tired of the 2 story, and both kids were now in college, so it made sense.

 

[hoosierdoc]

with this market is there a need for a realtor vs a contract attorney?

 

[indyjohn]

are costs of a steel building home much better right now?

Yes. The problem there is finding a builder with an open schedule to put it up.

 

[smokingman]

I have been outbid on 3 properties in the last 2 weeks(in Indiana).

It is crazy. One property was for sale less than 24 hours with 8 offers and asked for highest and best the day after it hit the market. I went 15k above asking price and lost.

 

[Cameramonkey]

A lot of people will be upside down.

This. I'm not about to buy right now. Im not overpaying (and over financing) for a home. Anyone wanting to move again within 10 years is gonna be totally screwed. This is DEFINITELY a bubble. I would surmise larger than any previous bubble.

 

[Sigblaster]

You are tucked away from the main madness where you are located. Nice place from what I saw.
Spouse and I had the same plans as you to re-locate when the time was right.
Life has a way of altering plans.

Thanks, that's nice of you to say. It is a nice place. Over time, though, there are some design features that have come to annoy me. Nothing that can't be corrected with enough effort and money, but I'm not sure I want to expend either of those.

We moved several times when I was growing up. It's a kinda weird and funny story. When I was born, we lived in the upstairs of an upper/lower duplex my parents owned on Webster Ave. It was a pretty cool place. Then we moved to a great house on Westchester Ave. Man, did I love that house. Then we moved back to the duplex on Webster for a few years, then back to the house on Westchester. Then we moved out to the suburbs to a house that my Mom loved, but I absolutely hated. She still lives in that house and loves it over 40 years later, and I still hate that house.

Then in the Army, I lived in an assortment of barracks, on base family housing, rental houses, and eventually purchased homes.

Other than the house on Westchester, I never really developed a bond to a house where I was like "I could live here until I die". I know people who have that kind of tie to a home. Their grandparents bought or built it, their parents were raised there, and they were raised there, and they're raising their kids there. It's nice, that kind of family history tied to a home. I have neither the benefit nor encumbrance of that kind of attachment to this house. It's nice, it's comfortable, but it doesn't have that kind of pull on me that anchors me here. I want a house that has that kind of pull on me.

 

[NKBJ]

Anybody wondering how much of the hot market is hot money looking for a real (estate) haven?

 

[Route 45]

Um...no?

 

[OkieGirl]

In a former life I held a real estate license and remember well the housing mess of 2007 - 2009 and it was brutal. DON'T OVERPAY for your home. Seriously. Don't do it. When home values stabilize (drop) you need to be certain that you are securely positioned to weather that storm. Be sure that you are comfortable with the monthly payment: it's not a variable rate, there is room in your budget for when the property taxes go up bumping your house payment up, you can afford to stay there as long as you have to if you can't afford to take a loss if you want to move and property values aren't where they were when you purchased. Take the time to save up and have the 20% down to avoid the PMI and get the 15 year mortgage instead of the 30 year.

So many people lost their homes in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Loosing your home means that you also loose the benefit of the equity your blood sweat and tears built into that home. Usually when you sell a home you walk away from the closing table with a check in our hand. Generally speaking - foreclosure means you move out and the bank pockets your equity. Every bubble bursts. A hard turn in the market from political changes at the top could mean every variable interest rate you have tied to debt could spike (credit cards, lines of credit, etc...). As those payments trend up they will take more and more of your disposable income. Pay off those debts as soon as physically possible to avoid the coming roller coaster...

Sorry for the rant, just see changes coming that are possible to prepare for.

 

[churchmouse]

In a former life I held a real estate license and remember well the housing mess of 2007 - 2009 and it was brutal. DON'T OVERPAY for your home. Seriously. Don't do it. When home values stabilize (drop) you need to be certain that you are securely positioned to weather that storm. Be sure that you are comfortable with the monthly payment: it's not a variable rate, there is room in your budget for when the property taxes go up bumping your house payment up, you can afford to stay there as long as you have to if you can't afford to take a loss if you want to move and property values aren't where they were when you purchased. Take the time to save up and have the 20% down to avoid the PMI and get the 15 year mortgage instead of the 30 year.

So many people lost their homes in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Loosing your home means that you also loose the benefit of the equity your blood sweat and tears built into that home. Usually when you sell a home you walk away from the closing table with a check in our hand. Generally speaking - foreclosure means you move out and the bank pockets your equity. Every bubble bursts. A hard turn in the market from political changes at the top could mean every variable interest rate you have tied to debt could spike (credit cards, lines of credit, etc...). As those payments trend up they will take more and more of your disposable income. Pay off those debts as soon as physically possible to avoid the coming roller coaster...

Sorry for the rant, just see changes coming that are possible to prepare for.

CKW was a loan officer for a major lender for 15 years. 06 ended all of that. We were neck deep in that madness and this is just as insane.

 

[OkieGirl]

CKW was a loan officer for a major lender for 15 years. 06 ended all of that. We were neck deep in that madness and this is just as insane.

Oh I bet she could write a book!! There were lenders out there that would write anything! I had clients who had credit scores at 530 and there were subprime lenders drooling over the chance to get them in one program or another...when lending them more money was the last thing they really needed! I had buyers who had been told they could afford a house priced at $ XXX,XXX but they didn't want to slow down and look at what that translated to a MONTHLY responsibility because they had been online looking at the pretty things they could buy for $ XXX,XXX. There were clients I had to fire because I just couldn't do it. Felt like I would have been either helping them destroy their financial lives OR eventually adding another foreclosure to the market I was actively working in. Debt is an evil mistress...

 

[churchmouse]

Oh I bet she could write a book!! There were lenders out there that would write anything! I had clients who had credit scores at 530 and there were subprime lenders drooling over the chance to get them in one program or another...when lending them more money was the last thing they really needed! I had buyers who had been told they could afford a house priced at $ XXX,XXX but they didn't want to slow down and look at what that translated to a MONTHLY responsibility because they had been online looking at the pretty things they could buy for $ XXX,XXX. There were clients I had to fire because I just couldn't do it. Felt like I would have been either helping them destroy their financial lives OR eventually adding another foreclosure to the market I was actively working in. Debt is an evil mistress...

Che was called on the carpet more than a few times for refusing to sell them money. Basically that is what she did. But she had to live with herself. And towards the end of that bubble people were signing insanely ridiculous contracts for 110% of value no down and a balloon. You know what that is. Its a loan with a 1 year fuse and a walkaway.
She would tell these people they could not handle the vinyl castle they desired. They would just say well someone will do this for me and sure enough they would. Then a year later they would call her back and ask for help as she was honest with them. 1 look at what they did and she would gently prepare them for the upcoming move.

These same people will slice you to ribbons on a proposal to install an HVAC system but will blindly sign the reams of paper put in front of them at closing.

 

[KJQ6945]

Spent all day packing today. Tomorrow will be the same. This will be my last Saturday night in my garage. Time to write a new chapter in my life.

 

[churchmouse]

Spent all day packing today. Tomorrow will be the same. This will be my last Saturday night in my garage. Time to write a new chapter in my life.

You will be missed my friend.

 

[Sigblaster]

Oh I bet she could write a book!! There were lenders out there that would write anything! I had clients who had credit scores at 530 and there were subprime lenders drooling over the chance to get them in one program or another...when lending them more money was the last thing they really needed! I had buyers who had been told they could afford a house priced at $ XXX,XXX but they didn't want to slow down and look at what that translated to a MONTHLY responsibility because they had been online looking at the pretty things they could buy for $ XXX,XXX. There were clients I had to fire because I just couldn't do it. Felt like I would have been either helping them destroy their financial lives OR eventually adding another foreclosure to the market I was actively working in. Debt is an evil mistress...

It was crazy a dozen or 15 years ago. I was getting all these unsolictited mailers telling me I was pre-approved for ridiculous amounts. My credit score was high, but my income was E-7 pay. Sure, I could afford that mortgage if I didn't have to eat or have utilities. They burned so many people with that, and at the governments behest. They created the bubble, then they burst it.

This current market looks weird, though. It doesn't look like it's being driven by the government or subprime lending, from what i can see. Where's this coming from?

 

[indyjohn]

Spent all day packing today. Tomorrow will be the same. This will be my last Saturday night in my garage. Time to write a new chapter in my life.

Dude- life is made of chapters. You've done well so far, I have nothing but grand expectations for your next adventure. Carry On.