When will housing prices go back up? (Burnsville, St. Louis Park: hardwood floors, sales)

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Dontbewillful

I bought a 4 bedroom home just off Victory Memorial in Minneapolis last fall. I put in a nice fence this spring, paid someone $2500 to refinish the floors, and put in some sweat equity of my own, and everyone who comes to my house (in one of the safest neighborhoods in Minneapolis) raves about it, even without seeing the "before" pictures. I will throw my hat firmly in the "there are plenty of nice single family homes below $150k" arena.

I guess my idea of a nice home and a nice neighborhood is one where there is variety and parks and a nice mix of neighbors who watch out for each other. Someone else's cup of tea may be a development in a suburb where every house is a like and there's association fees. Just because someone else has a different idea of "nice neighborhood" than I do doesn't mean that I live in an area with rusted out cars or crap in the front lawn. "Different" does not necessarily equal "worse."

You could not PAY me to live in a "nice, neat suburb."

I don't know your neighborhood so I'll take your word for it.

We agree. I would not like to be in a development where you choose you shade of vinyl tan siding. At the same token, drive by Mound and you will see what I am talking about. I hate crap in peoples yard with a bunch of parked cars in the yard. One home is nicely maintained while the other one has siding missing. But like you say, to each their own.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by track2514

Sorry I am still getting used to posting here and I am not sure what happened to the website link to Standard and Poors

For a period of time you can also re-edit messages and play with things until they work the way you want. FYI, anyway. It takes a while to learn the ropes of this forum software, but it's not too bad.

[Radical_Car]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Unless you are self-employed, layoffs are always possible.

Well ya, but I meant if you're seriously in danger of being laid off, then buying isn't a good idea.

[Radical_Car]

Well if there is 1 house on the street in crappy shape or someone with junk in the yard how does it make the neighborhood bad? And why would you care. If the whole neighborhood is like that then I wouldn't want to live there, but if its only a couple houses, how does it affect anything?

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Radical_Car

Well if there is 1 house on the street in crappy shape or someone with junk in the yard how does it make the neighborhood bad? And why would you care. If the whole neighborhood is like that then I wouldn't want to live there, but if its only a couple houses, how does it affect anything?

The neighborhood isn't "bad" but an eyesore. There are a lot of people like me that would not reach for their checkbook if they say junk in the yard(s) and an crappy maintained home(s). That's why other neighborhoods have covenants. Therefore your resale value will go down because of the lower amount of overall buyers.
[SIZE=3][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE][SIZE=3]If it is really is one home out of a 100 that is one thing. But if that home was your next door neighbor, your value could suffer. I don’t like to live near trash (any kind).[/SIZE]

[Kid Cann]

I am a mid 20's something guy, I have a full-time decent paying job, with just student loan debt, do I have any chance what-so-ever at buying a home

[Camden Northsider]

Nrogers- tough decision. Homes are a lot of work, and one potential downfall for you is that it seems like you're looking for a home with a significant amount of space/amenities (in the form of bathrooms, other rooms, etc.), which you're more likely to find in move-in condition for under 150K in areas like Shakopee or Prior Lake which, in my opinion, would be the worst decision investment-wise you could make and would be really disadvantageous in terms of commute times as a law student- outside of being able to get more square footage for the money, neither of those suburbs have anything too great to warrant someone to want to do that kind of commute, and (in my very laymen's perspective) I think the far-away mass-developed split foyer developments are going to have some of the lowest rates of appreciation in coming years (and i've heard several horror stories about persons trying unsuccessfully to 'dump' their homes in shakopee).

As for which of those areas might have the best potential to have an uptick in values in the next 7-10 years, I mentioned in another thread of yours that (again, in my non-expert opinion) I think Robbinsdale and Richfield would be your best bets for the following reasons: (1) the significant number of younger families/couples/single buyers I've known (or seen) targeting both areas in recent years which isn't likely to abruptly change anytime soon; (2) their close proximity to the city, major transportation routes, and other amenities; and (3) what in my mind seems to be both of these areas previously straddling the boundaries of, but now moving more and more towards, being viewed as "desirable areas" vs. "potentially declining suburbs".

The other suburbs (New Hope, Crystal) are nice/fine but don't usually register on too many people's radars- although for whatever reason it seems like New Hope enjoys a slightly better rep than its very-similar neighbor of Crystal.

[Arushan]

Originally Posted by Kid Cann

I am a mid 20's something guy, I have a full-time decent paying job, with just student loan debt, do I have any chance what-so-ever at buying a home

I say it depends on certain things. Like how long have you had the job, how big of a loan do you need, if you could afford making a hefty down-payment, your credit score, and how much student loan debt you have. I'd say look into it. It could end up being cheaper than renting depending on the house. It's a shame the tax credit expired though.

[tvdxer]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

The neighborhood isn't "bad" but an eyesore. There are a lot of people like me that would not reach for their checkbook if they say junk in the yard(s) and an crappy maintained home(s). That's why other neighborhoods have covenants. Therefore your resale value will go down because of the lower amount of overall buyers.
[SIZE=3][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE][SIZE=3]If it is really is one home out of a 100 that is one thing. But if that home was your next door neighbor, your value could suffer. I don’t like to live near trash (any kind).[/SIZE]

Not me. In fact, I think that actually might be an advantage, as I know that either the community is not "protected" by restrictive covenants, or they are not enforced.

[west336]

Originally Posted by Arushan

I say it depends on certain things. Like how long have you had the job, how big of a loan do you need, if you could afford making a hefty down-payment, your credit score, and how much student loan debt you have. I'd say look into it. It could end up being cheaper than renting depending on the house. It's a shame the tax credit expired though.

Just to build on that a little....your FICO score wraps up most of this. Assuming you don't have excellent credit, you pay a slight premium for your loan. Then you pay another premium because (and I'm assuming) you'll need an FHA loan because you don't have 20% down payment. If all of those things are in place and you can put AT LEAST 5% down, you can probably find someone who will give you that loan. But not for long, IMO, as I feel that lending agencies will start to raise the standards some once we start crawling out of this recession.