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Thanks Brian, but I have done my research and am outside of the builder/real estate thought patterns. I do not live in a HUD property and am very willing and able to hold onto this townhome. We are not poorly managed nor woefully underfunded and in fact there are 3 townhomes in our neighborhood that have sold in the last few months (not for the unrealistic $200K). It is your thought pattern that helped us get to the real estate boondoogle that we now see. Staus Quo is over!!! Again this is my opinion and I apologize if I hurt your "feelings"
I did not mean to hit a nerve. For your information what I was referring to is the fact that all banks right now are selling every single loan they write, ok 98% of all loans, on the secondary market. In order to do that they must follow the HUD GUIDELINES for LENDING!!!! If you have too high a ratio of investor owners or too high a ratio of units owned by one individual entity, then no dice, among other things. I also was not saying your townhome was not managed properly or underfunded, I was saying in general most are and if you had done your research you would know that your townhome and your community is not an island and that what happens around you can affect your values.
My thought pattern is to know the FACTS that effect my life and that of my clients and to have an open mind. My feelings are perfectly intact and I'm sorry to have upset you. I was simply trying to help give you some more info, again I apologize for ruffling your feathers.
Brian
Just my two cents here. I'm a eastern NC native so even I had a bit of a price shock when I moved to asheville a few years ago. Finding a nice home under 200k was hard, but I managed to luck out and get a brand new one right at that price. I would say that it's easier to find houses these days that are around 200k then they were when I moved here. Many have come down in price. So yes it can be down. It might not be 2000+ sq or have a two car garage, but still it can be done.
As far as the job search goes, I think thats a much larger problem to over come. Sorry I can't offer anything on that. I can say that I love living here but I could just as easily get my "mountain" fix by living an hour or two away and visiting Asheville on the weekends.
To the Original Poster, if you are willing to sacrifice some of the "comfort" in your current home for the lifestyle that Asheville has to offer, it may well be worth the effort. My husband is from Mansfield, OH and loves it down here, although this winter has been more like Ohio than usual... I have some clients who are buying a foreclosure for under $60K. Yes it needs some work, but therein lies the sacrifice. If you can do without those extra 1000 square feet, that spare bedroom, the 2-car garage, or do some handywork yourself, you may be much happier in this area. As for jobs, I agree with the folks who attested that it is very difficult to get a job in engineering in this area. The industry is for the most part leaving, going to China. It's not impossible, just difficult. Many people in industrial fields are looking to Medical, educational, and service jobs to make ends meet. Tourism has been our biggest economy, but that has been hit hard by the recession. I recently read about a homebuyer tax credit that you may be eligible for if you've lived in your current home for at least 5 years.
As for the discussion on Real Estate, our market has taken a hit just like everywhere-whether your Realtor wants to admit it or not. One of our biggest problems was for many years, builders weren't building in the "affordable housing" range, so now we have way too many $500,000+ homes and a market that is way out of balance. All of this stems from greed-the lenders, the builders, the developers, the agents, and the investors, who were getting 10% or more return on their investments until the bubble burst.
Keep your heads up, we'll eventually come out of this funk.
To the Original Poster, if you are willing to sacrifice some of the "comfort" in your current home for the lifestyle that Asheville has to offer, it may well be worth the effort. My husband is from Mansfield, OH and loves it down here, although this winter has been more like Ohio than usual... I have some clients who are buying a foreclosure for under $60K. Yes it needs some work, but therein lies the sacrifice. If you can do without those extra 1000 square feet, that spare bedroom, the 2-car garage, or do some handywork yourself, you may be much happier in this area. As for jobs, I agree with the folks who attested that it is very difficult to get a job in engineering in this area. The industry is for the most part leaving, going to China. It's not impossible, just difficult. Many people in industrial fields are looking to Medical, educational, and service jobs to make ends meet. Tourism has been our biggest economy, but that has been hit hard by the recession. I recently read about a homebuyer tax credit that you may be eligible for if you've lived in your current home for at least 5 years.
As for the discussion on Real Estate, our market has taken a hit just like everywhere-whether your Realtor wants to admit it or not. One of our biggest problems was for many years, builders weren't building in the "affordable housing" range, so now we have way too many $500,000+ homes and a market that is way out of balance. All of this stems from greed-the lenders, the builders, the developers, the agents, and the investors, who were getting 10% or more return on their investments until the bubble burst.
Keep your heads up, we'll eventually come out of this funk.
Better watch your comments. There are those here that believe we aren't in a recession.
"As far as using two visits to be able to deem an entire metro area "very 'earthy, crunchy,'" whatever that means, I don't think that's possible..."
Delurking to say --- is someone arguing that Asheville isn't earthy & crunchy?? That is to laugh. Do I get more credibility for having visited dozens of times?
I think the suggestion of looking for emplyment in SC is a good one. I suppose living halfway in between is a possibility, though if you are crunchy you don't want to use much gas. maybe there are carpools? Or just visit on the weekends. I take day trips from Knoxville from time to time. On the long drive back I remind myself that there are people in CA who face a 2 hour commute every day.
Knoxville is another option if you want a city near the mountains. Not as crunchy as Asheville but more job opportunities (if the economy ever bounces back).
As for the discussion on Real Estate, our market has taken a hit just like everywhere-whether your Realtor wants to admit it or not. One of our biggest problems was for many years, builders weren't building in the "affordable housing" range, so now we have way too many $500,000+ homes and a market that is way out of balance. All of this stems from greed-the lenders, the builders, the developers, the agents, and the investors, who were getting 10% or more return on their investments until the bubble burst.
Keep your heads up, we'll eventually come out of this funk.
Veggigolf is right in that we have a huge glut of large homes and by most accounts it will take YEARS for that inventory to drop. On the positive side the effect will be far reaching. I see my clients headed for more reasonably sized homes with more efficiency upgrades and better quality and not just square footage.
Brian
Last edited by Green Irish Eyes; 02-15-2010 at 07:05 AM..
Reason: Deleted off-topic comments.
Tourism has been our biggest economy, but that has been hit hard by the recession.
Tourism unfortunately creates mostly low paying jobs that wouldn't even pay the rent and utilities for a 1 br apt around here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by veggigolf
One of our biggest problems was for many years, builders weren't building in the "affordable housing" range, so now we have way too many $500,000+ homes and a market that is way out of balance. All of this stems from greed-the lenders, the builders, the developers, the agents, and the investors, who were getting 10% or more return on their investments until the bubble burst.
I have a close friend who very recently got out of the real estate business here. Many of the developers he had contact with wanted to continue to build as if nothing had changed at all. They were continueing to build to an artificial ideal of what they wanted Asheville to be, regardless of the recessio. I think recession isn't in the vocabulary of some in this area.
Seems we are beginning to have a quorum here. I find it quite disturbing that the real estate agents/developers want to continue thinking that they can still operate the same as they have been for the last several years. Look at the real estate office/developers office that was one of the biggest in the area that went under thinking they could continue status quo. I have done lots of research (discounting FOX news/CNN/MSNBC/ and all mainstream news media) and can only come to the conclusion that until we start thinking differently we will continue with the downfall of our economy. We need to stop artificially proping up the real estate values and come to reality.
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