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I wasnt sure if I should post this in "other topics" or here but I believe this topic might spark a debate and involve a political aspect so to be safe I posted it here. no flames, no insults, keep it civil here!
OK is any of you mad you got priced out of your area and other areas you had your heart set on? To be honest I am mad but I realise its a free market and prices can be wherever they want. You dont like the price, dont buy and shop elsewhere. I should have seen years ago that there is a world outside my city. Many people still cant imagine being elsewhere, I suggest they take a vacation to a state like Pennsylvania, Ohio(especially eastern) and West Virginia. You may end up liking the new location and house prices are so much more reasonable.
Lets use the analogy. You shop at store A and dont like the prices. You drive a long way and store B has a similar item, not exactly what you want but its almost as good and "will do" and its 6 times cheaper than store A! For that much cheaper, store B becomes the deal of the year and youll gladly settle for the items in store B.
I thought I would like to stay in my city(I dont anymore frankly) because its convinent, im near my parents and im familiar with the surroundings. But ive come to realize the high crime and hurricanes have spoiled what could have been a great location. I wont be staying even if house prices halved because I came to realise there are better locations without all the crime and hurricanes. Ideally, I would like to live in north California because the weather is the best(mild summers and yet mild winters too) and the scinery is great. Too bad everyone else wants the same so house prices are insane. Strangely, houses are fairly expensive in much of the midwest and I dont even understand fully why. Is it the beautiful mountains? Is it all those Californians moving out of CA and to the midwest?
So im shopping around for states and cities within those states with bargin prices for nice middle class houses. I am making a list and will start another topic for that. It takes a long time to look thru every house in every city in all 50 states! I have the feeling only about 15 states will be ideal for me in terms of affordability, low crime and not too hot/cold weather. Cant find affordable houses? Shop elsewhere, simple as that. I refuse to pay the ridiculous prices!
I think there are several things going on here.
#1) There *has* been a sort of real estate bubble which is now seeping a bit. There *has* been overpriced inventory.
Prices were inflated, and the market in many regions as spluttered.
This market correction is necessary and needful (even if it did cost my husband his job! )
Wherever/whatever you buy--get a low fixed mortgage.
#2) I've said this before, but it seems to me that many younger Americans are watching too much HGTV, over-using their credit cards, and buying more house than they need. What's with the granite countertops for first-time home-buyers?
The new way of thinking of one's "primary home" as an "investment" is the demon that haunts home ownership today.
The added complication has been the flippers who do not purchase for a primary residence.
However, for those who will live in their house, whatever happened to "starter" homes? Or, for that matter, just renting until you can *truly* afford what you want?
IMO the concept of being able to comfortably AFFORD the home (and all associated costs) and still have money left over to have a somewhat enjoyable life eludes too many buyers.
Having peace of mind while living in a 900sf duplex sure beats sleepless nights and hiding from bill collectors in a 2300sf Mcmansion.
#3) Location will always matter.
I'd rather have a starter home in a city I really enjoy than an upscale home in rural West Dingleberry.
The sad part is if grown children would rather live in their hometown near family, maybe bring up their kids there, and can't afford to buy there. It's breaking up families!
The other sad situation is you can't go back to places whose prices are incrementally increasing once you've left. If you've moved elsewhere houses are cheaper as you say, and don't like it, you either have to find another cheap area you do like if that is possible (who knows where), or stay and be unhappy. Mobility is then lost for many homeowners.
cil - very good points. When my parents were young. They bought a two bedroom starter home in a working class neighborhood and raised me and my (at the time) one other sibling in it. Eventually we got bigger homes (of course the family size increased to six, so I think it had to happen). But they have never once had granite counter tops
However, location is everything. I love my location, and want to be near my family and work, hence the whole buying delimna. I refuse to sacrifice my quality of life in order to move out to 'rural West Dingleberry' (I tried living in a small college town once, I went berserk and was back to the city the moment I was done with school) where I could probably afford a home (but more than likely wouldn't be able to find a job
Politics also plays a huge part. Every article I've seen about high home prices in the Northeast and California points to zoning. Boston is a city of triple-deckers, yet they're now illegal to build in the city.
A lot of the more expensive towns in MA mandate 2-acre lots and don't allow multi-family housing. The last thing many towns want is families with kids, so development here tends to be 1- or 2-bedroom luxury condos. One town (Kingston, I think) defeated an affordable project on a gravel pit near a train station because they were afraid of "single mothers" moving in. If "affordable" housing gets built, it's almost always for seniors.
If you don't like flying bullets, a "starter home" within 2 hours of Boston is now a thing of the past. Young professionals who want to raise families are leaving in droves. Doctors are getting hard to find. Once I finish my degree (nursing), Hubby and I are leaving.
Last edited by Hatless Wonder; 01-17-2007 at 10:31 AM..
Reason: spelling
The real estate market always makes me think of this:
"Too much capitalism does not mean too many capitalists, but too few capitalists." -- G.K. Chesterton
I have a problem with any economic system that rewards investment over labor. US Capitalism seems to be going in that direction again.
Investment is as good as labor as long as it's risk capital. When it gets to a point where iBanks (see Goldman Sachs) dole out nearly $9Bn to its associates for doing nothing more than greasing transactions, capitalism is broke.
Tell me -- why oh why -- do our patriotic right wing brothers decry the trial lawyers yet hail the investment bankers? Someone explain that one to me, please.
Tell me -- why oh why -- do our patriotic right wing brothers decry the trial lawyers yet hail the investment bankers? Someone explain that one to me, please.
Because their primary source of information is Fox News and they have little grasp of history beyond Ronald Reagan.
Tell me -- why oh why -- do our patriotic right wing brothers decry the trial lawyers yet hail the investment bankers? Someone explain that one to me, please.
I'll answer the lawyer question.
Because of bull**** lawsuits like the one where the lady was awarded 2.9 million because SHE spilled hot coffee on her lap. Imagine that, coffee being hot.
It's one thing if a corporation/person is truly negligent. Then they should be held accountable. It's another when someone tries to ca$h in because of their own carelessness.
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