Foreclosures Are a Symptom, Home Prices Are the Problem (Edison: appointed, best town)

[paullySC]

Foreclosures are a result of people being dumb and doing dumb things with there money like trying live beyond there means and buying to much house. Call it what it is instead of blaming everyone else.

[krusher]

Originally Posted by billb7581

It's funny. In the span of a year, I went from thinking I got royally screwed on the price of my house to everyone in the neighborhood telling me how smart I was, and what a good deal I got.

We bought this year and have been told by some of the neighbors in a half joking way that we are solely responsible for home prices plummeting in our development (we got a pretty good deal).

[nic529]

Originally Posted by paullySC

Foreclosures are a result of people being dumb and doing dumb things with there money like trying live beyond there means and buying to much house. Call it what it is instead of blaming everyone else.

I don't think anyone is blaming anything on anyone here. NJ has become extremely expensive rather quickly. Its a situation that the middle class are facing here. People are just trying to talk about it.

[krusher]

Originally Posted by emanon

There is nothing wrong with starting out small and moving up every 10 years or so, makes you appreciate what you have worked for.
Todays young people want everything NOW and look where it's got them, in debt because they bought over their heads because they have to have it all right now.

Those starter homes are out there you just have to adjust your priorities.

Part of the explanation is lifestyle change.

I'm one of your "young people." I didn't want "everything" in our latest home purchase, but I did need a bedroom or other area for a home office because I work from home frequently. How many people worked from home years ago? Not many. So instead of looking for a 2 BR, we looked for 3 BR (and wound up with a 4 BR cuz the 3BR homes were typically priced the same making that 4th BR free! )

[Sarah07080]

Many starter homes in Middlesex county start at 379k plus thats really absurd....gone are the days when a 500k was a really huge house only for the rich ..
I still believe that home prices are really to high for the average person to purchase ...hence the problem that facing the US right now....

[Badfish740]

Originally Posted by emanon

Todays first time buyers don't want starter homes like most of the older folks started with 40 years ago. They want fancy kitchen and baths, best neighborhoods, best schools, two new cars in the drive and a great vacation every year and they are in their late 20's early 30's.

I'm 26, my fiancee is 23 and we want a 2 bedroom one bathroom house. That's it, we're not picky. It could be a ranch, cape cod, etc...whatever that's within an hour of both of jobs. Recently we looked at a 50 year old ranch that needed a complete gut job just to be considered habitable. It was originally listed at $319,000 (no, I'm not kidding) and was selling for the bargain price of $229,000. $230,000 was our total budget, so we passed. The home eventually sold to a contractor who was planning to knock it down-gee I wonder what he's going to build there So how much should a starter home cost? I'm talking basic as can be-pea green kitchen, shag carpet, 70s wood paneling, pink tile in the bathroom, ancient heating equipment, no central air, etc...but livable. No mold, structural, or other issues. What is a fair price? I just think that the fact that the price of a "starter home" in New Jersey is basically a quarter million these days.

[CuCullin]

Originally Posted by Badfish740

I'm 26, my fiancee is 23 and we want a 2 bedroom one bathroom house. That's it, we're not picky. It could be a ranch, cape cod, etc...whatever that's within an hour of both of jobs. Recently we looked at a 50 year old ranch that needed a complete gut job just to be considered habitable. It was originally listed at $319,000 (no, I'm not kidding) and was selling for the bargain price of $229,000. $230,000 was our total budget, so we passed. The home eventually sold to a contractor who was planning to knock it down-gee I wonder what he's going to build there So how much should a starter home cost? I'm talking basic as can be-pea green kitchen, shag carpet, 70s wood paneling, pink tile in the bathroom, ancient heating equipment, no central air, etc...but livable. No mold, structural, or other issues. What is a fair price? I just think that the fact that the price of a "starter home" in New Jersey is basically a quarter million these days.

I'm guessing that means a no go on the lot by the forge? Btw, the forge just agreed to something with the union forge heritage association which declares large sections of the current property as parks, potentially including some buildings. Which is interesting, because the forge has produced munitions for every war from the revolutionary war, on up through vietnam.

[nic529]

Originally Posted by Badfish740

I'm 26, my fiancee is 23 and we want a 2 bedroom one bathroom house. That's it, we're not picky. It could be a ranch, cape cod, etc...whatever that's within an hour of both of jobs. Recently we looked at a 50 year old ranch that needed a complete gut job just to be considered habitable. It was originally listed at $319,000 (no, I'm not kidding) and was selling for the bargain price of $229,000. $230,000 was our total budget, so we passed. The home eventually sold to a contractor who was planning to knock it down-gee I wonder what he's going to build there So how much should a starter home cost? I'm talking basic as can be-pea green kitchen, shag carpet, 70s wood paneling, pink tile in the bathroom, ancient heating equipment, no central air, etc...but livable. No mold, structural, or other issues. What is a fair price? I just think that the fact that the price of a "starter home" in New Jersey is basically a quarter million these days.

where were you two days ago when everyone was jumping all over me to downsize! LOL

[jerseyj]

Originally Posted by Badfish740

So how much should a starter home cost? I'm talking basic as can be-pea green kitchen, shag carpet, 70s wood paneling, pink tile in the bathroom, ancient heating equipment, no central air, etc...but livable. No mold, structural, or other issues. What is a fair price? I just think that the fact that the price of a "starter home" in New Jersey is basically a quarter million these days.

Hey! We bought that house in 1991!

We did gut it and put it back together ourselves, except for some plumbing help. Couldn't afford to buy it today

[Badfish740]

Originally Posted by jerseyj

Hey! We bought that house in 1991!

We did gut it and put it back together ourselves, except for some plumbing help. Couldn't afford to buy it today

Exactly, and for the record I wanted that house in the worst way because we could have done a lot with it! The problem is we can't afford to be making trips to Lowe's every weekend for materials if we max out our budget on the house! If I could have gotten that house for $170K I would have bought it in a second, put a ton of sweat equity into it, and resold at a profit to "trade up" as emanon described, but the house was $60K more! Also, I'm not just blaming house prices for all of this. Clearly there were A LOT of folks out there who could have quite comfortably afforded a solid $350-400K home who reached up into $500K and beyond with fast and loose mortgage brokers. However the fact remains that a near quarter million dollar house is damn expensive starter.