Phoenix, the most unaffordable "affordable" place to live (Mesa: new home, minimum wage)

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by hikernut

Zillow says our house is up 3% in the last month. At that rate it will be worth about $50 million in ten years. Woohoo!

Zillow says I am up (+5.8 %) in the past 30 days. My best guess is the value is up around 2%. REDFIN says it's worth $335K more than Zillow. Zillow is at least $50K undervalued. And REDFIN is at least $225K inflated from reality. As in, it would be impossible to fetch that number.

I wonder if my neighbor looked at the earlier REDFIN value on their place and came up with their overpriced value? They tossed some crap at the fence and went fishing for about $200K over the market and I laughed at their stupidity. Then they dropped the price $50K after 45 days. And then another $50K 30 days later. Next, they fired their agent. They raised the price again (as if the listing agent is responsible for their idiotic pricing) and it dropped and dropped and dropped again. Once they priced it UNDER market, people smelled a problem and they couldn't even fetch a below-market price for a great home. Idiots! I saw plenty of traffic (open houses etc) as they are down the street. I bet they had 50 showings over 7 months. But it wasn't ideal enough for someone willing to overpay. Fast forward 7 months after they pulled the house off the market.

That house is ripe for someone to look up the owner's name on public records, and call them (or knock on the door) to make them an offer for 6% (agent fees) below their lowest (below market price). Or maybe wait for the summer for some more headlines to read that the market is softening and over an additional $50K less AND 6% below in an agent saving fee. Because about now, they must feel beaten. It's a great technique to get a better deal. Let's call their loss "tuition" for being so greedy.

[john3232]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Zillow says I am up (+5.8 %) in the past 30 days. My best guess is the value is up around 2%. REDFIN says it's worth $335K more than Zillow. Zillow is at least $50K undervalued. And REDFIN is at least $225K inflated from reality. As in, it would be impossible to fetch that number.

I wonder if my neighbor looked at the earlier REDFIN value on their place and came up with their overpriced value? They tossed some crap at the fence and went fishing for about $200K over the market and I laughed at their stupidity. Then they dropped the price $50K after 45 days. And then another $50K 30 days later. Next, they fired their agent. They raised the price again (as if the listing agent is responsible for their idiotic pricing) and it dropped and dropped and dropped again. Once they priced it UNDER market, people smelled a problem and they couldn't even fetch a below-market price for a great home. Idiots! I saw plenty of traffic (open houses etc) as they are down the street. I bet they had 50 showings over 7 months. But it wasn't ideal enough for someone willing to overpay. Fast forward 7 months after they pulled the house off the market.

That house is ripe for someone to look up the owner's name on public records, and call them (or knock on the door) to make them an offer for 6% (agent fees) below their lowest (below market price). Or maybe wait for the summer for some more headlines to read that the market is softening and over an additional $50K less AND 6% below in an agent saving fee. Because about now, they must feel beaten. It's a great technique to get a better deal. Let's call their loss "tuition" for being so greedy.

Kiss of death in RE including a rental. A rental sits for weeks while everything else is renting within 7 days. Applicants start to wonder... why is it still listed? What's the catch?

[Valley Native]

https://www.mymove.com/cost-of-living/

Here's a cost of living calculator, which can be used to compare one city with another. Just for fun, I compared Phoenix with Wichita, KS, and the overall cost of living there is dramatically cheaper (no surprise). So for those who moved to Phoenix expecting things to be easy & cheap, you're seriously out of luck ... however, there are many other less expensive places to consider. Trouble is: they're most likely going to be smaller cities in the Midwest with more inclement weather & limited amenities (no pro sports teams, fewer dining & shopping choices, etc.). As the old saying goes, beggars can't be choosers.

[wilberry]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

https://www.mymove.com/cost-of-living/

Here's a cost of living calculator, which can be used to compare one city with another. Just for fun, I compared Phoenix with Wichita, KS, and the overall cost of living there is dramatically cheaper (no surprise). So for those who moved to Phoenix expecting things to be easy & cheap, you're seriously out of luck ... however, there are many other less expensive places to consider. Trouble is: they're most likely going to be smaller cities in the Midwest with more inclement weather & limited amenities (no pro sports teams, fewer dining & shopping choices, etc.). As the old saying goes, beggars can't be choosers.

looks like I should be moving to Pittsburg, KS, and take my current Salary with , I could live like a KING !

[hikernut]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Zillow says I am up (+5.8 %) in the past 30 days. My best guess is the value is up around 2%. REDFIN says it's worth $335K more than Zillow. Zillow is at least $50K undervalued. And REDFIN is at least $225K inflated from reality. As in, it would be impossible to fetch that number.

Yeah. My point was these numbers are little more than entertainment value. During the first year after we bought our house here, the "zestimate" ranged from about $500k to $900k. It seems they are constantly tweaking their pricing algorithms, and this changes not only the current estimate but also the historical estimates.

In reality one has to put their house on the market to know what it's worth. Even many people "in the business" who do real estate every day are not that good at setting prices IMO. Long time ago I wanted to get an accurate price on my house before putting it on the market. So I paid an appraiser to get a value. I told him I wanted an accurate number, as it was just for my own information. As it turns out, his price was exactly the same as what I had come up with independently, and we were both off. The house ultimately sold for 12% less.

[hikernut]

Originally Posted by wilberry

looks like I should be moving to Pittsburg, KS, and take my current Salary with , I could live like a KING !

I did a road trip last year that involved driving through SW Kansas and the Oklahoma panhandle. All I can say is wow! There are some sad looking little towns there.

There are places I'd live in the Midwest, although I doubt my wife would go for it. Places with easy access to shopping, good medical care, an international airport, etc. We could do this and cut our housing cost by 25%-50%. The winters suck, but with the money we saved on housing we could afford to snowbird in some decent places.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by wilberry

looks like I should be moving to Pittsburg, KS, and take my current Salary with , I could live like a KING !

If that's what it takes, then get busy & take the advice of your man Shia.

[NearFantastica]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

https://www.mymove.com/cost-of-living/

Here's a cost of living calculator, which can be used to compare one city with another. Just for fun, I compared Phoenix with Wichita, KS, and the overall cost of living there is dramatically cheaper (no surprise). So for those who moved to Phoenix expecting things to be easy & cheap, you're seriously out of luck ... however, there are many other less expensive places to consider. Trouble is: they're most likely going to be smaller cities in the Midwest with more inclement weather & limited amenities (no pro sports teams, fewer dining & shopping choices, etc.). As the old saying goes, beggars can't be choosers.

I would personally choose to pay an arm and a leg to live somewhere like California and experience the great climate, beaches, amenities, diversity and everything else. Yeah sure I can buy a huge house and have a low cost of living in the middle of nowhere Alabama but I'd still be in Alabama... I could never do it.

[john3232]

Originally Posted by NearFantastica

I would personally choose to pay an arm and a leg to live somewhere like California and experience the great climate, beaches, amenities, diversity and everything else. Yeah sure I can buy a huge house and have a low cost of living in the middle of nowhere Alabama but I'd still be in Alabama... I could never do it.

Well, if can afford to live where you want... that's great. Otherwise you usually make do based on affordability.

[Witchz]

For those of you who keep saying just move somewhere else - do you have any idea how much it costs to move? I am an Arizona native that has moved from Phoenix to Tempe then to Scottsdale. After many years there I moved to Gilbert before it was the place to be and after 20 years there - I moved to San Tan Valley. I moved out here because a few years ago - you got a lot more house for less money. Sure you have a drive to go most places but I made the move and to be honest I don't regret it one bit. But the cost of moving out here from just Gilbert was several thousand dollars so I can only imagine what it would be to go to Kansas.

If you are not able to afford the ever increasing cost of everything in Arizona (mostly housing) how are you going to have a few thousand around to cover the cost of moving? Plus it is very hard for someone that is over 40 to move by ones self. Then you have your job - can you leave it? Or relocate it?

As a native I don't think because a bunch of greedy corporations and sheep feel like telling me to leave my home where I have been my entire life because they deem it time to make it totally unaffordable here for most. And quit with the stupid screaming just do it video - its all good for those of you that write in here that are yet to be forced out but if this keeps up you will be next and quickly so I wonder how you will like to be told to relocate and to just do it at age 50 and above?

By the way I have relatives that say they only surrounded themselves with positive people too. They both were given everything in life to put them where they are and didn't even have the decency to be grateful to the person(s) who gave it all to them. You want to know what the rest of the family thinks of them? Narcissist and words a lot worse. I try to surround myself with people who have the same values and that I have a good time with not where they are financially and sometimes they are not in a great place but that is when a good friend understands. As for the rest- you cant pick your relatives so I am stuck with them like it or not.