Where are all the houses for sale in the Seacoast area? (prices, housing)

[potatosoup]

Originally Posted by dognh

Tell us what you're looking for. You may like my house

You live in one of those 3 towns? What's the sq footage? I'm looking for 2400 minimum, 3500 max. Min of 1 acre, max of 2.5. Are we even close?

[dognh]

Originally Posted by potatosoup

You live in one of those 3 towns? What's the sq footage? I'm looking for 2400 minimum, 3500 max. Min of 1 acre, max of 2.5. Are we even close?

Yes on square footage. Close on acreage (on a little more). Border town, same school district

[rmcewan]

Never thought I'd hear a buyer complaining about the current market.

[OCCASparky]

No kidding, considering a house I saw in Kensington was probably going for $700K a couple of years ago, and at $475K today.

[potatosoup]

Originally Posted by OCCASparky

No kidding, considering a house I saw in Kensington was probably going for $700K a couple of years ago, and at $475K today.

I don't see any houses in Kensington for that exact amount. But just because it was insanely priced years ago doesn't mean it's fairly priced today, nor does it mean it's a house I like. There's just very few houses for sale as a % of the population vs. other parts of the country.

[NH2008]

Originally Posted by potatosoup

But just because it was insanely priced years ago doesn't mean it's fairly priced today.

Totally true. I think a lot of homeowners feel like they are being had because they've lowered their price so much, when the truth is they started with inflated prices.

[OCCASparky]

Originally Posted by potatosoup

I don't see any houses in Kensington for that exact amount. But just because it was insanely priced years ago doesn't mean it's fairly priced today, nor does it mean it's a house I like. There's just very few houses for sale as a % of the population vs. other parts of the country.

Really, now you're just being obtuse...

5 Rose Petal Lane, Kensington, NH, 03833 - MLS ID#2721413 - Single Family Home real estate - REALTOR.com®

And I disagree with you regarding inventory being low here. Where I used to live (population 70,000 in Orange County) has less than 50 single family homes TOTAL for sale. The surrounding areas aren't much better.

While it might have been insanely priced a couple of years ago, don't expect to get bargain basement prices now. A lot of people are simply sitting on their properties, waiting for the market to recover. Oh, and we weren't as "insane" as, say, California, Las Vegas, Phoenix, or other large metro areas.

You're going to get a good deal if you're 1--willing to put 15-20 percent down, 2--be realistic about what you're going to get even in this market. People might be a little more desperate to sell property and be more aggressive or offer greater incentives, but they're not going to just give you their house for a song.

[OCCASparky]

Originally Posted by NH2008

Totally true. I think a lot of homeowners feel like they are being had because they've lowered their price so much, when the truth is they started with inflated prices.

As I've stated before, just because NATIONAL home prices have dropped 20 percent, doesn't mean they've dropped that much EVERYWHERE. Frankly, when areas were overpriced by 30-40 percent and are high costs to begin with, that means other areas are not only not going to be taking as much of a hit, the drop in actual dollars might be much lower.

That being said, if I'm a developer who knows how much went into a house and land, and I've got enough reserved, I can simply sit on the place (as long as that is the exception and not the rule) until the market recovers.

I'm seeing that happen. You might see a drop of at most 10-15 percent in NH. Just because you WANT prices to drop 30-40 percent, doesn't mean that you're being realistic or that it's going to happen.

[NH2008]

OCCA Sparky,

Believe me, as a new homeowner I have no interest in seeing prices drop further. In fact, I'd love to see them skyrocket - then we'd feel like we hit the jackpot! And yes, real estate is always local. But the credit crunch is national, as is the decline of the stock market. This means fewer buyers across the board, and we all know what reduced demand does to prices.

As to how realistic I'm being, we bought our house after looking all over NH for almost 2 years. The house we finally bought had been on the market that entire time and we paid about 25% less than the original asking price. During that time, the houses that seemed fairly priced got snapped up (some on the first day), and others languished. Some are STILL on the market after dramatic price reductions. By definition, those sellers have not set market-clearing prices yet. I know our sellers were very sad to see the house go for less than they'd hoped (not just for the obvious reason, but because as is so often the case there was an emotional connection and they wanted to believe their house was "worth" a fortune) but even the sellers' realtor told me the house couldn't have fetched the original asking price in any market. I feel very confident that if we hadn't been in a rush, we could have waited longer and paid even less.

While I think many potential sellers can afford to stay in their houses rather than sell at reduced prices, most developers aren't going to hang onto empty properties. They'd be putting more and more money (property taxes, maintenance, interest on their loans) into a depreciating investment. Of course, many investors will hang onto land and build later, but that's different than voluntarily letting houses sit empty rather than reduce prices.

A house is worth only what someone is willing to pay for it. It's not the cost of the bricks and mortar. A tear-down in Greenwich, CT is worth 10x what a beautiful house in rural Mississippi is worth.

[potatosoup]

Originally Posted by OCCASparky

Really, now you're just being obtuse...

5 Rose Petal Lane, Kensington, NH, 03833 - MLS ID#2721413 - Single Family Home real estate - REALTOR.com®

And I disagree with you regarding inventory being low here. Where I used to live (population 70,000 in Orange County) has less than 50 single family homes TOTAL for sale. The surrounding areas aren't much better.

While it might have been insanely priced a couple of years ago, don't expect to get bargain basement prices now. A lot of people are simply sitting on their properties, waiting for the market to recover. Oh, and we weren't as "insane" as, say, California, Las Vegas, Phoenix, or other large metro areas.

You're going to get a good deal if you're 1--willing to put 15-20 percent down, 2--be realistic about what you're going to get even in this market. People might be a little more desperate to sell property and be more aggressive or offer greater incentives, but they're not going to just give you their house for a song.

There are houses that list at $475k and there are many search engines and they sometimes get out of sync. I wasn't being obtuse, I just didn't see the house you were talking about at the exact price.

I personally believe (and therefore don't need convincing) that NH and especially the Seacoast area has good reason that its value has held stronger than other regions. I'm also not expecting people to sell at major losses.

I've poured through the sale prices and see houses that clearly could be sold at reasonable profit or break even, and that's factoring conservative increase in equity from principal payments and appreciation. Yet these people want hundreds of Ks profit and their houses are not in the best shape. This is insanity, and even for the region there is nothing to support it. That is what I'm mostly talking about.