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I see that you are a realtor. I understand that you don't set the prices, but don't you have a huge input into what price a seller will list their house? If they say they want to sell their house at $250,000 when similar houses are selling for $180,000, (hypothetical figures), wouldn't you say to them that they are overpricing their house and it will not sell, or if it will, it will take a very, very long time?
I, personally, don't list a house that grossly overpriced. I would turn down the listing, and I have too many times to count. I've also watched those houses stay on the market for months/years and/or go through multiple agents at the same high price. I want to list a product I can sell, and overpriced products don't sell. Yes, a house is a product. If a seller suggests a small increase like $5-10k over what I think it could sell at, that's ok as the market will show them the price with an offer. A seller at $250k where the market is at $180-200k isn't even going to give the seller a chance to adjust with an offer as people would just balk at it.
Granted, a higher price point is different. I currently have a house listed at $1M. I feel it should be at $950k, but I listed it at $1M to catch the people starting their search at $1M so they wouldn't miss it at $950k. That's just strategy for the price point.
If people are really paying over asking price, I fear we have learned nothing from the past crash. Don't the houses have to appraise? Are those shady practices going on again?
I wonder what you mean by "high" income...because to purchase a $720,000 mortgaged home, I am assuming these people must all earn upwards of $300,000 a yr. If so, it makes sense how the average, local person can't compete or buy a home there.
Houses have to appraise if you get a loan. If a buyer is paying cash, they can decide not to get an appraisal. They should, especially if they are from out of the area and not familiar with the local market, but they can decide not to.
I see that you are a realtor. I understand that you don't set the prices, but don't you have a huge input into what price a seller will list their house? If they say they want to sell their house at $250,000 when similar houses are selling for $180,000, (hypothetical figures), wouldn't you say to them that they are overpricing their house and it will not sell, or if it will, it will take a very, very long time?
Pricing is more of an art than science. It's sometimes very imprecise. Pricing a tract home in a big subdivision where every other house is built the same and around the same year, yes that's easy. But for many neighborhoods, particularly the older ones, no two houses are the same. Sometimes the comparables are so widely different from what you need to appraise that pricing it is at best, like throwing darts.
Also you have the rising price effect: "Oh, Bob sold his house for $300,000 six months ago. Betty sold her house for $340,000 two months ago. Prices are going up. Let's see if we can sell ours for $380,000!" In this market, no one is really sure what a house is worth because new records are being broken, etc. When a big monies out-of-towner came in, they may just say,"Hell, $380,000 is still cheap, we'll take it."
And that's in a very overly general sense, is how prices are driven up in some instances.
You may ask, "But wouldn't the bank turn down the loan if it doesn't appraise?" Well, to that, all it takes is a coupe of all-cash deal that sets a new high and all subsequent appraisals will be in line.
Can someone help me understand why a lot of people think that immigrants drive up the price of housing to the point where the current residents cannot afford to purchase a house?
First, my use of the word "immigrants" has nothing to do with the movement of people from outside the country into another. I'm referring to state-to-state migration.
So, let's say that I retire and want to move from my awful state that has a "bad reputation". I won't be working, so jobs and schools are not a consideration. I may be escaping high taxes, high crime, lousy weather, high cost-of-living, whatever. Let's just say that I just want to move to a different area because the only reason I'm in my current location is because of my job and I want adventure and to experience a new place in my golden years.
So, I see a house that is advertised at some asking price. I assume the seller obtained input from a realtor to set the price of their house. If I like the house, and am willing to give the seller the asking price . . . how is that driving the market up beyond the reach of local residents?
Is it a supply-and-demand thing? Or is the market so hot in that specific area where there are multiple buyers bidding for the same house? I suspect not the latter because some of the houses I've been looking at have been on the market for months, even close to half a year.
Or, is it just local bias because the people who complain do not have sufficient income to purchase a home in their city and want to blame someone, so they blame outsiders who come in with money and seem to snap up available properties at will?
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Thanks for helping me understand. I'll be leaving one state and moving to another, and don't want to be a "bad neighbor".
Normally this is a case where someone has sold or HELOC'ed a house for a high price and is looking to buy in a "cheaper" place. So if someone sold a house and walked with 500k in his pocket can go to a area where the price is 200k and smack down all the locals by buying at top dollar and this sets the starting point on comps. Because I guarantee you the next guy selling will want the same or more. Now imagine a realistic scenario where few thousand someone's who sold for 500k or more going in and decimating the local price cap. So say you got a bunch of CaliSanfranYorkians who have high purchasing power going to say Boise Idaho or Cheyenne because they all want a mountain retreat and have the buying power to drive up prices sinpky from competing with one another.
Thanks for helping me understand. I'll be leaving one state and moving to another, and don't want to be a "bad neighbor".
You know, it really depends on the type of town/city you will be moving to. If you will be moving to a small town, any newcomer will have a hard time fitting in. Small towns are notorious for still thinking of someone as a newcomer, after they've been there for twenty years lol. I dealt with this when moving to WA state from CA to a very small mountain town. Foremost, they hated Californians, for the reasons mentioned as far as driving up prices, but they also hate people coming in and trying to change things. And, honestly, the type of people from CA who move to small mountain towns, do try to change things to be more like California. As a Californian, I apologize for this bad behavior ha ha. But, it really is sad but true.
An example of a bad neighbor who moved into that valley: New person buys property next to a dairy farm and promptly starts complaining about the smell. And some will try to interfere with how irrigation is done, or that hunters drive their vehicles through town with the head of their kill tied to the grill of their truck . Ha ha ha ha!
So, first don't be someone who rolls into town and tries to change everything. Other than that, it just is what it is. If you don't buy it, someone else will.
I had a friend there who had purchased a bunch of acres and lived a very granola lifestyle and raised horses, etc. He hated that the town was growing and that it was changing. He asked me what will he do, when it gets even more crowded? (This valley is only about 2 hours from Portland and became a kind of "resort" type area with the real estate prices to match.)
I told him, well, I guess you'll sell this place for a ton of money, and move to Alaska.
So, as someone else said, just be a decent citizen of your new town, and try to fit in within reason, or at least not rock the boat severely. But, you have just as right to move around as anybody else in this country.
BTW, I eventually made good friends in that valley, but honestly couldn't wait to move to a bigger town, and did.
Take Idaho as an example. Real estate prices there are a bargain compared to California. There has been a reasonable amount of migration from California to Idaho, particularly by retirees. Many of them cash out of their expensive California real estate and buy homes in Idaho at prices that seem like a bargain to them, but that are above what people working in the local economy can afford.
Dave
CA transplants are not good people. If enough of them converge on a town, city or the ''best community of the year'' they want to make it into the craphole they just left. Just as I would ask of any immigrant...why not assimilate and live with your new locale? Those who've lived there for decades don't necessarily want to live in CA east.
Why do they live where they are rather than CA?
CA transplants are not good people. If enough of them converge on a town, city or the ''best community of the year'' they want to make it into the craphole they just left. Just as I would ask of any immigrant...why not assimilate and live with your new locale? Those who've lived there for decades don't necessarily want to live in CA east.
Why do they live where they are rather than CA?
I know, it's embarrassing. I think they leave because they want somewhere cheaper, which usually means city people. The entire state of CA is not expensive like LA or SF. So, it's usually city people who want a cheaper lifestyle, and they "think" they want a simpler, calmer lifestyle too, away from the rat race.
And this is not the way ALL Californians are. But, this particular group of Californians, in my experience, are usually people with money who are whiny. To put it very simply. Whiny people with money who usually are the ones who shop at Whole Foods and buy only organic, and belong to the Sierra Club, even if they've never been hiking in their lives, and buy electric cars because it's good for the environment.
And they don't have a clue about the reality of an environment where trees grow like weeds - NO you can't cut down a tree! And you can't kill a mouse! You must trap it and set it loose in the country (which happens to be your front 40 acres, where you'd just as soon not have any more mice breeding, thank you very much).
They're usually unhappy, entitled types, who are tree huggers and vegetarians, and militant environmentalists who know nothing of managing the environment where they move.
So, they move to a place where Douglas fir seedlings will take over your driveway in one year, but be crazy forceful about their new neighbors cutting down any trees. And they will move next to a dairy farm and start complaining about the smell and harm to the environment - what happens to all that MANURE??!!! And they will be critical of people killing animals (hunting for food, and pests that kill their livestock), and insist that the tiny local grocer start stocking organic produce, even if nobody else in town can afford it.
Heck, I don't like these people while they're still here in CA LOL!
The bottom line is, they're basically unhappy people. They will be unhappy wherever they go. And they are too arrogant to understand that if they tried to fit in, they might be happier.
These people usually end up back in CA, anyway. But, before they do, they usually wreak havoc on the local real estate prices.
I will have to say, that after living in WA for about 15 years, and buying my own property there, the city people from Portland who moved to the small valley in the mountains were the exact same way.
But, wait, maybe they were all originally from CA too! Ha ha! They probably were. Moving again, because they didn't like Portland either.
Can someone help me understand why a lot of people think that immigrants drive up the price of housing to the point where the current residents cannot afford to purchase a house?
First, my use of the word "immigrants" has nothing to do with the movement of people from outside the country into another. I'm referring to state-to-state migration.
So, let's say that I retire and want to move from my awful state that has a "bad reputation". I won't be working, so jobs and schools are not a consideration. I may be escaping high taxes, high crime, lousy weather, high cost-of-living, whatever. Let's just say that I just want to move to a different area because the only reason I'm in my current location is because of my job and I want adventure and to experience a new place in my golden years.
So, I see a house that is advertised at some asking price. I assume the seller obtained input from a realtor to set the price of their house. If I like the house, and am willing to give the seller the asking price . . . how is that driving the market up beyond the reach of local residents?
Is it a supply-and-demand thing? Or is the market so hot in that specific area where there are multiple buyers bidding for the same house? I suspect not the latter because some of the houses I've been looking at have been on the market for months, even close to half a year.
Or, is it just local bias because the people who complain do not have sufficient income to purchase a home in their city and want to blame someone, so they blame outsiders who come in with money and seem to snap up available properties at will?
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Thanks for helping me understand. I'll be leaving one state and moving to another, and don't want to be a "bad neighbor".
I think you've covered most of the reasons.
Something else to consider, is that house builders build houses aimed at a certain part of the market, and if that is the transplant, the retired, the holiday home, then for many, the new houses won't be suitable. Even an area with a naturally growing population, will then have people competing for the houses that are suitable, for example, for a growing family.
I know, it's embarrassing. I think they leave because they want somewhere cheaper, which usually means city people. The entire state of CA is not expensive like LA or SF. So, it's usually city people who want a cheaper lifestyle, and they "think" they want a simpler, calmer lifestyle too, away from the rat race.
And this is not the way ALL Californians are. But, this particular group of Californians, in my experience, are usually people with money who are whiny. To put it very simply. Whiny people with money who usually are the ones who shop at Whole Foods and buy only organic, and belong to the Sierra Club, even if they've never been hiking in their lives, and buy electric cars because it's good for the environment.
And they don't have a clue about the reality of an environment where trees grow like weeds - NO you can't cut down a tree! And you can't kill a mouse! You must trap it and set it loose in the country (which happens to be your front 40 acres, where you'd just as soon not have any more mice breeding, thank you very much).
They're usually unhappy, entitled types, who are tree huggers and vegetarians, and militant environmentalists who know nothing of managing the environment where they move.
So, they move to a place where Douglas fir seedlings will take over your driveway in one year, but be crazy forceful about their new neighbors cutting down any trees. And they will move next to a dairy farm and start complaining about the smell and harm to the environment - what happens to all that MANURE??!!! And they will be critical of people killing animals (hunting for food, and pests that kill their livestock), and insist that the tiny local grocer start stocking organic produce, even if nobody else in town can afford it.
Heck, I don't like these people while they're still here in CA LOL!
The bottom line is, they're basically unhappy people. They will be unhappy wherever they go. And they are too arrogant to understand that if they tried to fit in, they might be happier.
These people usually end up back in CA, anyway. But, before they do, they usually wreak havoc on the local real estate prices.
I will have to say, that after living in WA for about 15 years, and buying my own property there, the city people from Portland who moved to the small valley in the mountains were the exact same way.
But, wait, maybe they were all originally from CA too! Ha ha! They probably were. Moving again, because they didn't like Portland either.
Yep, the upper NW cities of Portland and Seattle are magnets for Californians who think they found nirvana until perceived nirvna isn't exactly what they sought, which is when they start raising awareness (a liberal's calling) about concerns they have about their new digs which don't mesh with their progressive POV. They want state and local governments, if not federal, to step in and straighten out things to suit them. Only then are they happy to pursue their weird liberal causes without feeling resistance from their indigent neighbors.
There are several places in the country in which you can burn yard waste such as leaves and whatnot. Not in the eyes of a progressive liberal elitist. The average person is too stupid to do such, even if they have done so for decades.
No, you must bag your yard waste, in biodegradable brown paper bags, put it to the curb and some collection agency will come get it for you just as they do in CA.
Who pays for the above? Do your taxes increase or is it to be a service provided by a state, county or city entity? You taxes will increase either way. How many permits, licenses, fees and inspections are involved initially and anually thereafter? It's not feasible. Don't sell your vegetables at roadside or some state agent will pay you a visit, if not the local police. The elitist from CA has no idea of the concept and looks down at the notion as the produce doesn't come from a designer grocer who must label/be held liable for what he sells.
Progressive liberal elitists are unhappy when they can't control how others are to live their individual lives. The collective suffers if they stray and become self sufficient.
They already ruined much of Denver and are working on TX, MT, the Dakotas and other states with lower COL. How many venture into the backwoods/unsettled parts of MS, AL, LA, GA, MO, KY or TN?
Not many as the residents there don't want their BS.
Yep, the upper NW cities of Portland and Seattle are magnets for Californians who think they found nirvana until perceived nirvna isn't exactly what they sought, which is when they start raising awareness (a liberal's calling) about concerns they have about their new digs which don't mesh with their progressive POV. They want state and local governments, if not federal, to step in and straighten out things to suit them. Only then are they happy to pursue their weird liberal causes without feeling resistance from their indigent neighbors.
There are several places in the country in which you can burn yard waste such as leaves and whatnot. Not in the eyes of a progressive liberal elitist. The average person is too stupid to do such, even if they have done so for decades.
No, you must bag your yard waste, in biodegradable brown paper bags, put it to the curb and some collection agency will come get it for you just as they do in CA.
Who pays for the above? Do your taxes increase or is it to be a service provided by a state, county or city entity? You taxes will increase either way. How many permits, licenses, fees and inspections are involved initially and anually thereafter? It's not feasible. Don't sell your vegetables at roadside or some state agent will pay you a visit, if not the local police. The elitist from CA has no idea of the concept and looks down at the notion as the produce doesn't come from a designer grocer who must label/be held liable for what he sells.
Progressive liberal elitists are unhappy when they can't control how others are to live their individual lives. The collective suffers if they stray and become self sufficient.
They already ruined much of Denver and are working on TX, MT, the Dakotas and other states with lower COL. How many venture into the backwoods/unsettled parts of MS, AL, LA, GA, MO, KY or TN?
Not many as the residents there don't want their BS.
Burning yard waste is a bad idea. You don't have to take it from me, take it from all the state and city agencies across the country. There's a reason why this practice is banned in many, many places across the nation.
Now, you have every right to say, "F you! I do what I want and I don't care!" But to criticize a group of people who is just trying to do the right thing, speaks more about the person you are than about them.
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. Ha ha ha ha!
I think they leave because they want somewhere cheaper, which usually means city people. The entire state of CA is not expensive like LA or SF. So, it's usually city people who want a cheaper lifestyle, and they "think" they want a simpler, calmer lifestyle too, away from the rat race.
