Housing Bubble? Your thoughts, predictions (tax lien, sales, purchase)

[maine4.us]

I think the agents wallets are still in the boom, and their brains aren't in the downturn. Here in north Florida, we aren't supposed to be as bad as down south, but it is nothing like it was a year or two ago. Here is my advice, for what it is worth, keep it listed. The big advantage of Florida is the number of people who visit here. There should be fresh blood coming in daily. I will admit that the snowbirds are here for the winter, and spring is a bit far off, but I think I would leave it listed. I would have a serious talk with my agent. You never know if the house in the other class was exactly what they wanted or not.... You have to show it to sell it. We bought a house out of our class because of a showing. - The agent knew it was out of our price range, but still took us to see the house - 2 weeks later, we bought it, granted, the owner did reduce the price.

[Elcarim]

Our house is much nicer and slightly larger than the one across the street and very similarly priced. That's why we never understood why it was shown 2-5 times a week on average, and our not shown at all. Something just isn't right about that picture.

[WhoFanMe]

Perhaps the agency with the listing across the street is doing a better job of marketing to consumers who are asking their agent to show the home or perhaps the seller is offering incentives to buyers/agents that you are not - something to ask your broker about when you have your next meeting. When I show homes, I look for similar homes in the area to see as well, if for nothing else just to give the buyer an idea of homes on the market. I worked with 2 different parties today for the first time, one in Scarborough and one looking at multi units in Portland. Neither trip resulted in the buyers finding anything they liked, but it did help them understand the market a little bit better. It's great to look at homes online, but eventually buyers need to see the inventory and they learn quickly what is priced right and what is not. They also know the pendulum has swung their way and are extremely demanding on condition (unless they are looking at fixer-uppers).

[Elcarim]

LOL. Same agent as the house across the street.......

[Elcarim]

And when do you predict the pendulum will swing back the other way?

[maine4.us]

The prediction today in the paper was the middle of next year. I find that hard to believe as all the developers have drastically scaled back projects that have been planned for years. I think they want to see it hit rock bottom before they put any more money out. Building lots have taken a real hit. We have taken a 10% price decrease up here in the last year, the experts say we can expect at least 5% more next year. Gee, next year is here. My DW and I took a walk this afternoon, and the number of houses for sale seems to get greater every day, and the signs don't seem to be disappearing.

[WhoFanMe]

I'm guessing we're in for a similar 2008 as 2007 in Maine, which is a normal market. We all got spoiled by the annual double digit gains in the first half of the decade and those days are gone, perhaps forever. If you look at the decade of the 90s, housing prices rose at a slow and steady rate, what happened after 2000 blew the doors off the market and threw conventional wisdom out the window. People are still marrying, divorcing, graduating, relocating for jobs, retiring, dying, etc. and that is not going to change. The houses that are initially priced right and have dynamic curb appeal are going to move quickly, those that don't are going to take longer.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by WhoFanMe

I'm guessing we're in for a similar 2008 as 2007 in Maine, which is a normal market. We all got spoiled by the annual double digit gains in the first half of the decade and those days are gone, perhaps forever. If you look at the decade of the 90s, housing prices rose at a slow and steady rate, what happened after 2000 blew the doors off the market and threw conventional wisdom out the window. People are still marrying, divorcing, graduating, relocating for jobs, retiring, dying, etc. and that is not going to change. The houses that are initially priced right and have dynamic curb appeal are going to move quickly, those that don't are going to take longer.

I agree.

Every year young adults venture out into the job market and seeking homes. Every year folks get married and want bigger homes with room for children. Etc.

We have not seen anything to imply that people are going to stop renting apartments. Certainly not anytime soon. So our apartments remain filled.

Smart investors make money. While risky investments will occasionally take a nose dive.

Life goes on.

[maine4.us]

Easy come, easy go as they say. We needed a housing adjustment here, because the price of homes had raced past incomes. People who live and work in the area were priced out by people moving in with more disposable income, usually from selling a home in an expensive real estate market.

[Elcarim]

We're just the opposite. We're coming from a low priced market, where our nice brick home should sell for $62 or so a square foot. That's the main reason we don't have any room to move much on our price. When other homes are listed at $350K or so, they can afford a $10K price drop with little pain. A price drop of any amount for us is much more significant, and becomes the difference between affording to move and not.