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Yup, long story short, no one can afford downtown Durham now, almost irregardless of neighborhood, unless you have $250,000+. It is amazing how different it is than even 3-4 years ago.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RedZin
Gentrification.
Nobody cares what the old tax value was. They care about what it'll appraise for now.
Nobody cares what the old tax value was. They care about what it'll appraise for now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by freshjiv
Yup, long story short, no one can afford downtown Durham now, almost irregardless of neighborhood, unless you have $250,000+. It is amazing how different it is than even 3-4 years ago.
Regarding home appraisals in downtown Durham, I find them to be rather low. I live in a pretty desirable area, and our house appraised last year for a little over $200/sqft. If I put our house on the market at that price, there would be a bidding war the next day.
My experience is anecdotal, but the couple of appraisers I have dealt with in recent years seemed puzzled that the property values were so high, and one even remarked that people were crazy to spend so much to live in Durham. The end result was that both appraisers ignored several favorable comps.
Do you see home appraisals in the $250-$300/sqft range yet? I think that's where the actual market is for some of the most desirable areas, but a lot of home sale churn will probably be needed to reach that true level.
Regarding home appraisals in downtown Durham, I find them to be rather low. I live in a pretty desirable area, and our house appraised last year for a little over $200/sqft. If I put our house on the market at that price, there would be a bidding war the next day.
My experience is anecdotal, but the couple of appraisers I have dealt with in recent years seemed puzzled that the property values were so high, and one even remarked that people were crazy to spend so much to live in Durham. The end result was that both appraisers ignored several favorable comps.
Do you see home appraisals in the $250-$300/sqft range yet? I think that's where the actual market is for some of the most desirable areas, but a lot of home sale churn will probably be needed to reach that true level.
Yeah, the old bias everyone says doesn't exist but Durhamites know it does....
When we took out a HELOC a few years ago, one issue we ran into is that most of the sales on our street had been in the $300-500k range, but were all for older housing stock requiring significant ($100k-300k, probably) renovations. Yet once renovated, none of us had sold our houses back on the market, so all the comps were pre-renovation!
We all know that if we sell, buying back in is going to be hard... and it's a desirable area so folks aren't selling. The last sale was a rental duplex where the owner decided not to be a landlord anymore, which meant a late 70's y/o and her 90+ y/o mother had to find a new place to live....
Yup, long story short, no one can afford downtown Durham now, almost irregardless of neighborhood, unless you have $250,000+. It is amazing how different it is than even 3-4 years ago.
I know! I am kicking myself for not buying in three years ago!
Where are you at exactly downtown? I am in the Forest Hills area, and I bought our place for $350,000 2 years ago, have put about $150,000 into it, and it should appraise somewhere between $600,000-$700,000 (depends on the day and appraiser sadly enough).
Don't get me started on appraisals. However, I have been fortunate enough to have appraisers that let me supply them the comps that are most relevant to my homes or clients homes. It makes sense, as most of the times these appraisers come from apex, morrisville, raleigh, etc, and they really don't know Durham like they might think. Hardly anywhere else in the triangle can you go from $30,000 tear downs to $400,000+ bungalows just a block or 2 away. And that is in alot of different areas throughout the downtown Durham area.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chris75
Regarding home appraisals in downtown Durham, I find them to be rather low. I live in a pretty desirable area, and our house appraised last year for a little over $200/sqft. If I put our house on the market at that price, there would be a bidding war the next day.
My experience is anecdotal, but the couple of appraisers I have dealt with in recent years seemed puzzled that the property values were so high, and one even remarked that people were crazy to spend so much to live in Durham. The end result was that both appraisers ignored several favorable comps.
Do you see home appraisals in the $250-$300/sqft range yet? I think that's where the actual market is for some of the most desirable areas, but a lot of home sale churn will probably be needed to reach that true level.
Regarding home appraisals in downtown Durham, I find them to be rather low. I live in a pretty desirable area, and our house appraised last year for a little over $200/sqft. If I put our house on the market at that price, there would be a bidding war the next day.
My experience is anecdotal, but the couple of appraisers I have dealt with in recent years seemed puzzled that the property values were so high, and one even remarked that people were crazy to spend so much to live in Durham. The end result was that both appraisers ignored several favorable comps.
Do you see home appraisals in the $250-$300/sqft range yet? I think that's where the actual market is for some of the most desirable areas, but a lot of home sale churn will probably be needed to reach that true level.
Maybe its just appraisals in general. Same thing in Holly Springs. Even though 2 homes exactly like mine had sold within 3 month across the street from me, the appraiser came in 7k below their sales prices. One could even argue we had better features and a larger lot. And that was after we disputed it and asked them to look again. Thank goodness I was just refi-ing and not trying to sell! All that said, the appraised price was still up about 4% in 1 yr.
Last edited by twoisbetter; 04-09-2015 at 02:46 PM..
Reason: 1
We sold our house recently (close at the end of the month). On a Saturday - we had 11 showings!!! We probably had 60 showings in under 3.5 weeks...it was crazy!!!
I know! I am kicking myself for not buying in three years ago!
Why? When buying a home you should always buy where you want to live. Buying with the hope of making money is a fools game unless you have the resources and skills to flip (i.e. you're in the construction industry). Sure, some folks get lucky, but most of the time when a specific area spikes more than the areas around it, either it will crash hard or the areas around it will catch up soon after.
Also basing values on bank appraisals is scary. Banks like loaning people money and have a curious habit making sure the appraisal meets the number the buyer wants to pay. It's gotten harder now for people to just give up and run away from their homes and banks know it. Just because a home appraises for a given value today doesn't mean that the market realities won't say it can only sell for 80% of that in five years.
Beware area-specific property spikes. Whatever is driving the prices up can change in a new york minute with some sort of event like 9/11 occurring again and resulting economic downturn.
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