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I've bought 9 homes over the years. The last four with cash. I live in a studio condo with a great mountain view in Chiang Mai, Thailand. HOA=29 usd, Electric<25 usd, 10 Mb broadband=19 usd, 300 English channel TV=7.75 usd, water=5.50 usd....I wish we had a Trader Joe's, though, wine and cheese are pricey here. Oh, and 100 usd deductible, 1 million usd medical coverage with direct payments to a some highly rated hospitals is 105 usd per month. Doctors visit is between 6 and 9 usd, but if it is routine, the pharmacist can give you what you need without the office visit. No Property taxes in Thailand.
View from balcony.....see if you can spot the 7-11.
I ask it all the time, since I will potentially be in the market some day I want to know what people are paying. If someone is overly sensitive to this stuff then I just don't associate with them. The whole point of any non romantic association is to learn from each other. IF someone is aloof about any real discussion then what do you talk about, the color of their babys poop or other such trivial matters?
What?? Being interested in the market and knowing what someone paid for a house is NOT the same as asking someone what their mortgage payment is! You can have very real disussions without getting into private matters. Do you also ask your friends how much money they have in their bank account, how much they weigh, or what color their underwear is?
The reason I ask people is because these people that can barely afford these homes are the ones keeping the "market" price where it is, if people stopped being willing to pay these prices the price would fall. I want to figure out the phycology of people that are willing to grossly over pay for a home compared to what their net income is (either just their income or their duel income).
What I have learned is that these people cant actually afford the homes they are buying, they are willing to do anything to get into a certain school zone and they buy into the realtors hands that prices are only going to go up. But how much further can they really go up if people are not making more money and if mass lay offs are occurring?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I'll tell you one thing, ours is about to go up about $100/month since the assessor has increased our home value by over $100,000, surpassing what it was before the crash in 2007.
The reason I ask people is because these people that can barely afford these homes are the ones keeping the "market" price where it is, if people stopped being willing to pay these prices the price would fall. I want to figure out the phycology of people that are willing to grossly over pay for a home compared to what their net income is (either just their income or their duel income).
What I have learned is that these people cant actually afford the homes they are buying, they are willing to do anything to get into a certain school zone and they buy into the realtors hands that prices are only going to go up. But how much further can they really go up if people are not making more money and if mass lay offs are occurring?
A lot of people buy on what payment their loan officer tells them they can afford........It would be interesting to see how many households spend more than half of their income on housing. "Going out on a limb" used to work pretty well for many, but as you stated; the incomes just aren't there, and assumptions about future pay increases are more foolish than ever. And what about people starting a fresh 30 year mortgage at age 50+? Very common.
Lots of info on loan balances is available in the court records....look for deeds of trust.....varies a lot by jurisdiction.
There is almost a whole generation of kids living with their parents for very long times. 33 is the new 21. Their lack of employment is really prolonging this so called recovery, and even if there were huge drops again; most would still lack the wherewithal to purchase.
mine should be paid off but I have a 2nd mortgage to help pay for my son in pharmacy college
I grab my ankles once a month for almost 900 for my house
but that's with property taxes and insurance too
and I live on the water
The reason I ask people is because these people that can barely afford these homes are the ones keeping the "market" price where it is, if people stopped being willing to pay these prices the price would fall. I want to figure out the phycology of people that are willing to grossly over pay for a home compared to what their net income is (either just their income or their duel income).
I'm not sure that is a reasonable assumption to make. At least in my area, the market price is not driven by people that can barely afford these homes, but rather by deferred demand and people seeing low interest rates as a limited time opportunity.
Everybody I know who recently bought a house, their routine total cost per year is less than they were paying as a renter, so how is buying a poor decision for them? These are all buyers who came in after the real estate downturn; buying a house is no longer seen as an investment which is likely to turn a profit, but as a way to take control of your own housing.
I'm not sure that is a reasonable assumption to make. At least in my area, the market price is not driven by people that can barely afford these homes, but rather by deferred demand and people seeing low interest rates as a limited time opportunity.
Everybody I know who recently bought a house, their routine total cost per year is less than they were paying as a renter, so how is buying a poor decision for them? These are all buyers who came in after the real estate downturn; buying a house is no longer seen as an investment which is likely to turn a profit, but as a way to take control of your own housing.
Not that you are wrong, but people can easily rent for more than they can afford too.
I'm not sure that is a reasonable assumption to make. At least in my area, the market price is not driven by people that can barely afford these homes, but rather by deferred demand and people seeing low interest rates as a limited time opportunity.
Everybody I know who recently bought a house, their routine total cost per year is less than they were paying as a renter, so how is buying a poor decision for them? These are all buyers who came in after the real estate downturn; buying a house is no longer seen as an investment which is likely to turn a profit, but as a way to take control of your own housing.
Interest rates only matter to someone who cant really afford the house they want, if I ever buy it will be a 10 year loan with over half down. But I cant ever do that if everyone is bidding up the prices and having huge debt.
Then to make matters worse even when the house goes into forclosure banks are holding on to them and the banks can afford to hold on to them indefinitely. The only hope to get into something for a reasonable price is if the bank has been unable to sell a property for a period of time and you can convince the city/state to force a sale to prevent blight but at the same time you don't want to buy in an area where there are lots of other homes like that either.
I wonder if some cities have statues to prevent a certain percentage homes being owned by banks and just sitting there because the banks are not willing to sell them at new market prices.
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