Buying a Home & Not Rich - options? (Denver, Lakewood: rent, mortgage)

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by smdensbcs

Sorry but the answer is you can't fight gravity even if you don't like it. Houses cost what they cost, and where. I grew up in Santa Monica CA and by the time I turned 18 in 1987 junked-out 900 square foot houses that had cost $150K in the 1970's were being snapped up for 1.2M, sometimes 1.5M, scraped off the tiny lot and replaced with 5,000 sq. ft. monstrosities with no yard. "Fine, but how is that relevant to Denver circa 2017?" you might ask. It's relevant because no matter how much "change" irritates us and makes us wish it wasn't happening, we can't just pretend reality is "fake news" and live in a world of wishes. I've moved away from four cities in my adult life, including Denver, to escape from traffic, to escape from high prices, stubbornly seeking some form of sanity somewhere. One cannot change the time in which they live, nor the real estate bubbles. One CAN change physical locations. I now live in a Colorado city that is lovely. Took me five years to find a job here. Once I did, I paid my house entirely off in 4 years. 3,500 square feet, nice sparkly city view. Do I wish I could afford a house in my hometown? I don't even think about it as it was and remains impossible. Rather than moan and complain about reality, the answer is to control what you can, not kvetch about what you can't.

Winner!!!

[MN_Ski]

Originally Posted by emm74

It's supply and demand. Sellers are going to want the most they can get for their house and don't really care that someone who doesn't have enough money/earn enough can't afford to buy it. And I can't really blame them - the person who wants to buy a house who earns 60K per year is still going to want to maximize their own profit on it too, after all.

What gets frustrating on a forum like this is the attitude that it's ok for some places (New York, Boston, LA, SF, etc) to have very expensive housing but not ok for Denver, and that it's somehow "not worth it" here, just because 20 years ago, things were much cheaper.

To try to stay in the middle of the argument, I would say it is bad to compare stats city to city in any case. There are different market forces and potential risks unique to every city.

For example, if say...Georgia got 1" of snow that caused the state to completely shut down, no power, state of emergency, etc, you would be like "You guys are so lucky, at least it's not as bad as Alaska"!

I agree that it's foolish to ignore the realities of the housing market in response to getting priced out, or to always be calling the market a bubble. But just because the median home price in SF, LA, NYC is 1 Million, doesn't mean that it is healthy to have the same thing in Denver. Those are prestigious, coastal, massive, international hubs of the world. The ratio of renters to owners is also insanely high compared to most other cities. They have the incomes, and foreign interest, to support an expensive market.

Denver is nowhere near that status currently. The run up in prices is completely due to low supply, high demand, and strong purchasing power (transplants with equity). What happens when we hit a recession? What if the in migration slows down while builders catch up to the demand?

It's easy to look at the major coastal cities and predict that prices will remain high, because prices there have always been high. But in cities like Denver, Portland, and Austin this run up is recent, and isolated to only the last few years. I don't think anyone really knows what will happen to the market in the future. So both "It will all crash down" AND "We are fine, it's not as bad as LA, SF, NYC" are bad mindsets to have.

[himain]

Originally Posted by Scot5

You mean downtown Denver or the metro in general? I get RedFin alerts for every property listed west of Sheridan and between ~1st Ave and ~64th.

Here's a few sub-400 posted in the last 2 days (all in the lakewood area):

https://www.redfin.com/CO/Lakewood/8...home/34432381?

https://www.redfin.com/CO/Lakewood/4...home/34479112?

https://www.redfin.com/CO/Lakewood/1...home/34484720?

https://www.redfin.com/CO/Golden/136...home/34472795?

To me these seems pretty reasonable for the price..

[emm74]

Originally Posted by MN_Ski

To try to stay in the middle of the argument, I would say it is bad to compare stats city to city in any case. There are different market forces and potential risks unique to every city.

For example, if say...Georgia got 1" of snow that caused the state to completely shut down, no power, state of emergency, etc, you would be like "You guys are so lucky, at least it's not as bad as Alaska"!

I agree that it's foolish to ignore the realities of the housing market in response to getting priced out, or to always be calling the market a bubble. But just because the median home price in SF, LA, NYC is 1 Million, doesn't mean that it is healthy to have the same thing in Denver. Those are prestigious, coastal, massive, international hubs of the world. The ratio of renters to owners is also insanely high compared to most other cities. They have the incomes, and foreign interest, to support an expensive market.

Denver is nowhere near that status currently. The run up in prices is completely due to low supply, high demand, and strong purchasing power (transplants with equity). What happens when we hit a recession? What if the in migration slows down while builders catch up to the demand?

It's easy to look at the major coastal cities and predict that prices will remain high, because prices there have always been high. But in cities like Denver, Portland, and Austin this run up is recent, and isolated to only the last few years. I don't think anyone really knows what will happen to the market in the future. So both "It will all crash down" AND "We are fine, it's not as bad as LA, SF, NYC" are bad mindsets to have.

Except that I didn't argue any of the things you are saying after quoting my post. I said that housing prices right now are what the market will bear - right now. No predictions about the future, no claim that Denver is equivalent to NY, SF, etc.

Just that complaints that Denver prices *should* be lower seem foolish to me, because people will sell houses for the most they can get for them, regardless of where they are located. If someone is willing to pay 400K, why should a seller be told that's too much and selling for 250K is more reasonable? My point about mentioning other locations is that I never see someone suggesting that properties in SF "should" be lower.

[Coloradomom22]

Originally Posted by himain

To me these seems pretty reasonable for the price..

And all properties listed in that post are already under contract. That's another problem, houses in that price range will get bid up and under contract in a flash. There is a lot of competition and you will lose out if you don't jump.

[himain]

Originally Posted by Coloradomom22

And all properties listed in that post are already under contract. That's another problem, houses in that price range will get bid up and under contract in a flash. There is a lot of competition and you will lose out if you don't jump.

Oh I'm very aware of that but when bf and I were looking houses weren't in that price range-they were much higher. We're signing another 15 month apt lease as I can't do anything (house purchase wise) until 2019.

[ITNerd]

This post has intrigued me.... Anyone know what the average mortgage payment is for a first time home buyer in the Denver metro area?

[2bindenver]

There is no such thing as average.

28% of your gross monthly income can be counted towards your total housing payment. Payment, Interest, Taxes, Insurance & HOA fees. Easier to think of one week's total pay.

FHA loans come with a 3.5% down payment (you can also put down more) Conventional loans start at 3% down. Figure 1-2% for closing costs.

Costs before Closing:
Earnest money payment due at time of accepted contract (1-3%)
Home Inspection
Credit Report (paid to lender)
Appraisal Fee (paid to lender)

[MsBall]

Originally Posted by ITNerd

This post has intrigued me.... Anyone know what the average mortgage payment is for a first time home buyer in the Denver metro area?

Zillow has a mortgage rate calculator for each individual listing.
For example, using this listing

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...13783346_zpid/

$359,000 asking price
30 year fixed, 10% down $35,000
$1,540 monthly
30 year fixed, 0% down
$1711 monthly.

[ITNerd]

Originally Posted by MsBall

Zillow has a mortgage rate calculator for each individual listing.
For example, using this listing

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...13783346_zpid/

$359,000 asking price
30 year fixed, 10% down $35,000
$1,540 monthly
30 year fixed, 0% down
$1711 monthly.

I honestly cannot put much faith into Zillow.