[nychiefsfan]

Originally Posted by LingLing

I am wondering whether you have children. You probably can find your dream house in your dream price range. But I am not sure it will be in a good neighborhood within a good school district. If not, personally, if you gave me the house for free, I won't take it because I will need to pay tax, insurance and take care of the house in a neighborhood I don't want to go. Well, I don't rely on selling my perfect house to make money. I like to live comfortably while I am still young, alive and healthy.

I have a daughter who turns 13 this summer. The area that I'm looking at has a "B" rated HS. She's also in the gifted class, and so far, that class seems to have less children involved with drugs or gangs (none that I'm aware of).

The recency effect seems to play large in the minds of people trying to sell a home for what they're asking. Just 3 years ago, in 2004, the average price of a home was $129,702 in the Tampa area.
link: GTAR (broken link)

I'm tracking 71 homes on the market on a Excel spreadsheet. ALL of the houses I'm watching were bought for less than $200k.

35/71 were bought between 1999 and 2004.
The average price they bought them for was $167,876
Their average asking price is $301,008

13/71 were bought pre-boom between 2002 & 2004.
Of those 13, the average price they bought their house for was $176,270.
Their average asking price is $293,959
The average days on the market for these 13 houses is 59.38 and counting.

Sellers will eventually realize that this is a buyer's market and with the market LOADED with overpriced homes, sellers will eventually have to either lower their asking price, take their home off the market or rent their home until the market bounces back.

In the meanwhile, the market will continue to be flooded with foreclosures, which the banks will sell at a discounted price. That alone will bring down the "comp" value of what the area homes are selling for. That doesn't include the new home builders adding discounts on their homes and selling a brand new home for less than the existing home owners (while offereing a warranty).

The writing is on the wall. Prices WILL drop significantly, IMO. Time will tell and I'm in no hurry to buy right now.

[kelly3120]

maybe you guys are RIGHT BUT your wrong

so I forgot to mention this about our closing.
its a funny situation
the guy who owns our house was the owner before the owner he bought from ....sounds like a flipper to me.
he asked an outrageous amount abut then lowered because it was outrageous(that's were you are right...people can be dumb). We never looked at the house when the price was high, we just happened to find the house after he lowered the price.
We will not lower, because we are at a reasonable price. BUt we are also decent,honest good people(maybe that is it?)

Anyways before the closing last week they called our realtor saying we might not be able to close because mr. owner dude hadn't paid his prop. taxes in a few years ...bad mr. owner man. The actually had the guts to aks if we would help him pay for it w/ the realtors comission(HA!) ...so I understand why you guys think sellers are crooked but I guess I get mad that I am in the "sellers" catagory and that we are all labeled as that. prices will lower for the homes that are overpriced, but not all of us are overpriced and treat the good guys w/ respect(most of ya do).

And our realtor pulled out all her guns and showed them whos boss. ...which is why we have realtors, so they can deal w/ the crap and we play w/ the house. She had lawyers and what-not on stand-by and was awesome
We closed smoothly for a nice price and are happy owners!

realtors cost a commission BUT they save you the headache.

So i truly understand your anger as buyers, but buyers realize that sellers are buyers as well. So treat us w/ a little respect.

I also believe that you can find a cheap home, but you will subject safety and livestyle and that's not worth it to me. But if all of you rally together and buy homes in the same neighborhood you could have block parties =)

[SKB]

Kelly, you indicated you paid 220,000 what was the list price before he lowered it?

[kelly3120]

@...he had the house on and off the market for 9 months.
it's a 3/2 around 1500 sq ft.
I "think" he started at 259 then 230 when we discovered it.
we began offers around 210 and came to an agreement at 223 I think ...I don't remember numbers well. maybe 223 and some change? ...grrr now this is bothering me that I can't remember.
his prob is he rebought the house for a a good amount. i can't remember that number.

I just picked 15 homes ranging in price between 220-285 that were 3/2s and we checked 15 houses out the first day. This house was the last one we came to and then my husband and I looked at it and decided we wanted it.
We were willing to pay 230, but of course started lower then that.

the house was on the market a while due to bad advertising on their end(no pics, no virtual tours, nothing but a simple pic) and a slightly high price.
Sounds like his realtor wasn't experienced.

my realtor rocks!!!

[SKB]

Wow, 15 houses in one day, that is a lot to keep straight lol.
I hope you enjoy it for years to come

I am still waiting on the pictures!! you can pm me if you like hon.

[nychiefsfan]

Originally Posted by kelly3120

But if all of you rally together and buy homes in the same neighborhood you could have block parties =)

LOL

LET's DO IT!!!!

[kelly3120]

I hated all but the last one so it worked out great.
people are very mistaken if I wanna buy a house that smells of smoke or dog!
I don't mind a kitchen that need to be redone or whatever, but smells and flooring are a big thing for me. I must have hard floors other then bedrooms and I need an open floor plan. I hate walls.

I'll get pics up soon. ...I'm so flustered w/ moving my business over there ...that's why I'm on the net so much lately.
I do have pics from before we moved in ....I'll pm you.

Half the boxes are still at the old house and some more will be moved this weekend.

[kelly3120]

I think everyone needs a break and should watch this
it's beautiful.
I'm not a emotional person, but she stole my heart

YouTube - Britain's Got Talent- Conny

[nychiefsfan]

Originally Posted by kelly3120

I think everyone needs a break and should watch this, it's beautiful. I'm not a emotional person, but she stole my heart

YouTube - Britain's Got Talent- Conny

very sweet

[jmiles80]

I am a fortune 500 builder.
There is no bubble- but a correction. We are seeing the market level-off, where prices are holding- not a 50% decline in prices. The fact that Housing prices have held steady in light of 1) a War 2) Rising Employment in most sectors 3) National Disasters ie Katrina, speaks volumes to the strength of the market. As far a "panic" setting in with sellers and them mailing in their keys- there are generally 2 large categories of consumer products. Elastic and Inelastic. Potato Chips for example is an "elastic" product. If prices on potato chips go up- people will buy less potato chips. Cigarettes- on the other hand - is an inelastic product. If prices go up- demand will not fall. Housing is a strange consumer product- in that - prices and demand can only adjust so far- because unlike milk or cigarettes - we all still need somewhere to live- regardless what the market is doing. Everyone of us is a player in the housing market. The correction we are seeing is this. Housing inflation far surpassed the average persons income. Now that housing prices are flat (not falling)- the market will idle for a bit. Once the average persons income catches up to where the market is now- the market will once again sling-shot into the next cycle of appreciation. If i were a buyer- i would put this current market into a historic context and understand the relationship between housing appreciation and personal income.- i hpoe this helps. There is no bubble !!