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The whole house buying process, will put you in your place quick. I see all these 400k plus house's, I mean seriously are there that many people out there you can afford these. What did I do wrong? I was talking to my wife the other day trying to figure this out, it seems like Apex and Cary are trying to push us small fries out. Maybe if I had never joined the Army and went to college. Just a thought, every other sub-division is 400 plus. Then again it may be because we are looking at new house's.
You have to buy what you can afford, not what is brand new and when you qualify you need to make the purchase for less money than what you qualify. Too many people make purchases for what they qualify and if something happens they arn't prepared. Try to live below you means when you purchase your home. Is there a way you can look for something cheaper/smaller?
Did you ever live in New England? We did. Our money goes a lot further here housewise. We sold our 2nd house there for 395K & moved here and bought one in the 400s. We got a bigger and a lot nicer house. This is our third house tho. You can build up to a house like that by gaining equity to use towards the purchase of another bigger/better house if that's what you want.
There are myriad choices out there well below $400,000.
Housing isn't life. A fine home shouldn't be your life's goal.
It is shelter, and shelter supports life. It shouldn't be a terrible burden.
Did you ever live in New England? We did. Our money goes a lot further here housewise. We sold our 2nd house there for 395K & moved here and bought one in the 400s. We got a bigger and a lot nicer house. This is our third house tho. You can build up to a house like that by gaining equity to use towards the purchase of another bigger/better house if that's what you want.
The quoited post above is the reason you can't find many new homes for under $400k in Cary/Apex anymore. Many transplants to the triangle are people from expensive areas who see this as a bargain, so they move to the area and build/buy their "Dream home" at $400k+ with the profit they made from selling their house in a more expensive area (typically Long Island, New Jersey, Massachussetts, Florida, or California)...Builders take note of this, and realize they can make more money selling the houses to eople who are willing to pay more than locals/longtime residents. Thus the price raises for everyone. This is how the areas everyone is fleeing for the triangle got as expensive as they are and how the triangle will soon follow suit.
I also agree that no matter where you live you did nothing "wrong" at all....and that you can find plenty of homes for under $400k still, even in Cary and Apex. But you are correct that most brand new developments in that area are in that pricerange. There are many nice existing homes in Cary and Apex for under $400k though, and chances are you could get a lot off of the asking price for many houses that have been on the market for a long time. (Again, like you, most people moving to that area want brand new homes, so those who can afford it build those expensive homes you are talking about)
Last edited by just_sayin'; 06-12-2008 at 09:41 PM..
Reason: typos
This American Life ran an interesting episode recently on the housing bubble (nationwide). You can listen to it here: This American Life The forces it describes definitely affect this area, though not as much as they've affected areas in the Northeast and other hot spots around the country.
A lot of people don't go straight to buying a $400K+ house. They might have started off early in their career buying a $100K house, then married, sold the $100K house for $150K house and used the equity, additional spouses salary and their own income growth over the years to buy a larger $250K house. Then when they had some more income growth and interest rates fell to all time lows, they sold the $250K house for $300K and bought a $400K house.
Or maybe they just moved here from up North where their home market skyrocketed and they got out at the right time.
Also, Cary especially is starting to see land get fairly scarce. The demand for new homes is still high and with scarce resource you are starting to see much smaller and more expensive lots. The same home in Cary may cost $100K more that other areas because of the lot price.
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