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I just spent over a month of intensive house hunting in the Selden, Centereach, Port Jefferson Station areas. I was looking in the $200,000 to $315,000 price range for a 2-3 BD, 1-2BA house preferably with a basement and/or a garage. (I concentrated in that area because I'm looking for something near my children, near the Three Village and Stony Brook Hospital area for medical reasons and something not too expensive.)
Let me say here that I'm not looking for perfection. A home has to be lived in and I realize that, but minor things can and should be fixed before showing your home and structural problems should either be fixed or the house should be selling for bottom dollar as far as I'm concerned.
I saw so many houses that needed so much work, had high taxes, and in general were not worth near what the sellers were asking for them, especially because they needed many thousands more put into them to make them a nice and solid home. All I could think to myself was why on earth are people caving in and paying these prices for these pieces of junk? If home buyers would stop doing that wouldn't the prices have to drop and then maybe they'd be more in line with what the houses are really worth?
Soft floors (rotten wood underneath), sloping floors, missing screens, dirty and ancient mismatched appliances that made me question if they even worked, rotting wood everywhere, overgrown landscaping, badly sagging roof lines, roofs desperate for replacement, bad smells, windows that don't work, missing baseboard covers, a different floor covering in every room, five different wallpapers in one small house, filthy bathrooms---I mean the list goes on and on. I saw it all! And, the houses are listed as, condition: "excellent" or "mint"!! Someone needs a dictionary!!!
If I walked into five solidly built homes out of the 50 or so that I saw it was a lot and even most of them
had other problems, but at least they had "good bones". Don't get me wrong, I love LI, but come on, these prices are crazy for what you get and why are people buying these dumps at top dollar prices? As the saying goes, just say "NO!!" Wouldn't the prices have to come down then?
Meanwhile I'm going to keep renting!
What is the median price in Suffolk right now?
I heard on WALK this morning home sales were up 33% in April compared to last year.
It's possible you are expecting too much for what you have to spend. It's illogical to blame buyers (Although thats an interesting twist. Usually everyone blames the sellers).
It is true that buyers control the market; if they don't buy there is no market. However, prices can only drop so much as sellers have to get "X" amount for their houses-they have no choice.
If you feel the market has bottomed, you now know what's out there and you can make your own decision.
If you think the market has not bottomed, wait.
I lived on LI most of my life and now reside in the South. The housing inventory on LI is old - we know that. The problem is - despite being located next to NYC and having highier incomes than many places in the United States - the taxes rob you of your ability to upgrade your life. I to looked at houses on LI before moving, and most of them (in good areas) needed serious work. They were basically old, ugly, in-need-of-repair, in-need-of upgrades, etc.. houses. So why are taxes so high? Long ago, LI, was the meca of suburbs. Move out here (white flight), pay the tax (protection) and your schools and neihborhoods will be free from crime (i.e. no blacks). This system worked for several years, but now the chickens are coming home to roost. The tax-for protection scheme is not sustainable. Unfortunately, the tax is paying the pensions for the people who devised the scheme. Of course, the LI of today looks different (demographics) than yesterday. So what will happen in th future? I thinks there will still be areas where the tax-protection scheme works. But there will several areas where one will pay the tax and live amongst crime. If I were to move back to the North, I would move to Central NJ. It's what LI was years ago.
Thanks all for the various points of view. I wasn't blaming buyers I was merely making (what I know is unrealistic) a statement that if buyers (of any age) stopped buying unkept but overpriced houses the prices would surely have to come down. And, as for myself I'm a practical person with lots of common sense. I know either I choose something out there and deal with the price and condition of it or I make other plans--that's life. I never was whining! I was just sharing my experience and shock at what I found when I became a buyer. It certainly was eye opening and now I'm more informed and can see yet another viewpoint in life.
I wonder if it was the incentive program and the fact that it expired this spring that pressured home buyers into buying whatever was available regardless of it's condition and if they would have been more choosey if they'd had more time. I also wonder if now that the incentive is gone if the market will slow down and prices will drop. We'll see, I guess.
What is the median price in Suffolk right now?
I heard on WALK this morning home sales were up 33% in April compared to last year.
Ok, here is how it works....
1. I see a online report that screams "Median prices for Q1" have gone up.
2. I click on the link which opens up the article.
3. I notice that the source of the information is NAR.
4. I click the X on the top right corner of the page.
5. I move on.
Ok, here is how it works....
1. I see a online report that screams "Median prices for Q1" have gone up.
2. I click on the link which opens up the article.
3. I notice that the source of the information is NAR.
4. I click the X on the top right corner of the page.
5. I move on.
^^ +1
Housing does NOT follow all the typical supply/demand principles you learned in Economics 101.
Their are many, many forces at work on the sidelines with skin in the game to keep prices inflated.
Ok, here is how it works....
1. I see a online report that screams "Median prices for Q1" have gone up.
2. I click on the link which opens up the article.
3. I notice that the source of the information is NAR.
4. I click the X on the top right corner of the page.
5. I move on.
Of course you are correct. Pretty much all of the RE related info out there is supplied by the RE industry. However, home sales were in fact up 33% this past April versus last April. *shrug*
Of course you are correct. Pretty much all of the RE related info out there is supplied by the RE industry. However, home sales were in fact up 33% this past April versus last April. *shrug*
Yup, if they sold 4 houses instead of 3 it's "up 33%".
The issue with the NAR is that they report and spoon feed the statistics to mainstream media. As everyone knows, statistics can be used to tell just about any story you want.
Thanks all for the various points of view. I wasn't blaming buyers I was merely making (what I know is unrealistic) a statement that if buyers (of any age) stopped buying unkept but overpriced houses the prices would surely have to come down. And, as for myself I'm a practical person with lots of common sense. I know either I choose something out there and deal with the price and condition of it or I make other plans--that's life. I never was whining! I was just sharing my experience and shock at what I found when I became a buyer. It certainly was eye opening and now I'm more informed and can see yet another viewpoint in life.
I wonder if it was the incentive program and the fact that it expired this spring that pressured home buyers into buying whatever was available regardless of it's condition and if they would have been more choosey if they'd had more time. I also wonder if now that the incentive is gone if the market will slow down and prices will drop. We'll see, I guess.
You should have been out there in 2001-2005. You would not believe what sellers were asking for (And getting) for garbage houses. It was absolutely unbelievable. People were outbidding each other for them too. I think in this market it's a bit different. The junk houses are sitting unless they are in a fast moving neighborhood.
As for the prices...anyone who claims to know doesn't. The incentive was only one variable to consider. As Mikeykid said, their are many forces at work. IMO, prices are pretty stable and will remain as is. I could get in to it but we'll end up with a locked, 17 page argument that ends with you living in Rocky Point.
As for the prices...anyone who claims to know doesn't. The incentive was only one variable to consider. As Mikeykid said, their are many forces at work. IMO, prices are pretty stable and will remain as is. I could get in to it but we'll end up with a locked, 17 page argument that ends with you living in Rocky Point.
Wanted to rep you did not allow me... !! you are funny !!
I looked up Smithtown and Dix Hills (probably big areas volume wise) for the past 2 years and they have even results, which means there is no specific increase in the number of sales year over year since 2008.
Source: Listingbook.
Any other high volume town comes to your mind ?
Update
East meadow - same
Garden City - slightly decreased
Hicksville - slightly increased
Levittown - same
05-11-2010, 12:08 PM
grant516
n/a posts
It isn't typical supply and demand-
The demand is for a housing stock that the Towns (especially Nassau) REFUSE to allow building of.
In any other normal market, that demand would be met since it drives the economy.
Here the Supply of 2 Bedroom units is absolutely minimal, so the pricing is high- but at the same point, they aren't desirable or demandable, they are just... what is left.
Those awful row homes on Rt 110 in the Huntington Station area come to mind. They're dilapidated and on a main road, and not quite so charming. If you lobbed down 3-4 of those in a row and built a 5 story condo/cop unit with quality retail underneath, you'd replace 4 bad homes, with 20, two-bedroom units.
yadda yadda school impact yadda yadda traffic yadda yadda water consumption yadda yadda rental noise yadda yadda preserve historical homes.
Somehow the rest of the US doesen't have these problems.
You know those $5.50 tolls you pay to drive onto (and off) Long Island, that's actually an admissions fee to enter "1950s land!" Welcome!
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The incentive was only one variable to consider. As Mikeykid said, their are many forces at work. IMO, prices are pretty stable and will remain as is. I could get in to it but we'll end up with a locked, 17 page argument that ends with you living in Rocky Point.
p unit with quality retail underneath, you'd replace 4 bad homes, with 20, two-bedroom units.
