Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You are mistaken on this point. The Dow is now down 10% for the short term, it has wiped out all of this years gains. Countrywide mortgage is in real trouble and wait until those 2/28 year loans taken out in 2005 start to re adjust in the next few months. A 400 K home here in the raleigh area can very easily become a 300K house!!!!! A home in our subdivision listed for 354K by the builder sold for 304K they cut 50K from the price of this NEW home yesterday !!
Yes, the DOW is down, and yes, there is another mortgage company having problems from providing questionable sub-prime loans. But I don't see why that would lead me into a state of panic. The Triangle population continues to grow, and many of the new residents are looking to buy homes. People with decent credit will always be able to get a reasonable mortgage.
Quote:
Originally Posted by urbywan
Do you want to be the family that buys that 400K house and 3 months later the builders are now selling inventory for 50K lass than you paid? Its happening in Florida big time, and starting to happen here. Heck even that Kitts Creek place is cutting prices!
Comparing home sales in Florida, with a large number of vacation homes that have been driven high due to speculative buying, to the Triangle is plain silly. And trying to draw any conclusions from a single home sale is impossible. I'm sure there are some places in the Triangle which are not selling well. But there are plenty of places which are doing just fine.
Yes, the DOW is down, and yes, there is another mortgage company having problems from providing questionable sub-prime loans. But I don't see why that would lead me into a state of panic. The Triangle population continues to grow, and many of the new residents are looking to buy homes. People with decent credit will always be able to get a reasonable mortgage.
Comparing home sales in Florida, with a large number of vacation homes that have been driven high due to speculative buying, to the Triangle is plain silly. And trying to draw any conclusions from a single home sale is impossible. I'm sure there are some places in the Triangle which are not selling well. But there are plenty of places which are doing just fine.
The smell is off the rose.
I would be careful that is all I am saying. Hey I want prices to go up I own a place down here. But I would be extremly cautious over the next 6 months, heck I might rent until after the election NEXT year. too many IFs.
I mean a teacher down here makes less than 50K a year even after 20 years of teaching. That puts people into their 40s. Police, Nurses all make in that range, NO way can that salary pay off a 300+ mortgage.
We rent for many reasons, but one is that there is so much new building in all areas (except for Carrboro, etc), just cannot know what it is going to be in five, ten years. When I read things like The Villages and Trinity going up in Apex, that makes me nervous. Or the PrestonDev guys doing stuff in Pittsboro.
Anyway, with all the new building, can't help but drive down prices for existing homes. And what is one buying into anyway? Can one know that much about what will be the place one will leave, what retail will be there, traffic, schools, etc? Seems like a crap shoot in many areas, so much change coming. Don't want to be another one like I read in the Op Ed in Cary newspaper everyweek. 'I moved here in _____ and thought I'd gone to heaven. Now it's just like Long Island/New Jersey/Conneticut/etc...'
I feel like I'm hearing the voices of "doom and gloom". I'm sure you will all bear with me as I repeat this again...
I have lived here for 30 years.
I have never seen a single year without appreciation.
Builders always over build and always offer incentives, sometimes depending on how many homes they have in inventory and sometimes depending on the time of year. Yes, this IS the time of year that home sales slow down. It goes in cycles.
I do not have a crystal ball so I cannot say what will happen in 5 or 10 years.
I do not recommend anyone wait to "see what will happen" as the prices in 5 years at 6% appreciation per year is just money you are throwing away.
However, lets all remember that you buy a HOME to live in. Just becuase its an investment doesn't mean thats ALL it is to it. The investment part is the icing on the cake. Having your own HOME means so much more.
Yes, I know you will say that I'm a Realtor and thats why I say this. I am saying this because it is the TRUTH. I am not asking you for your business so therefore I have nothing to gain but simply telling you the way it is.
I would be careful that is all I am saying. Hey I want prices to go up I own a place down here. But I would be extremly cautious over the next 6 months, heck I might rent until after the election NEXT year. too many IFs.
I mean a teacher down here makes less than 50K a year even after 20 years of teaching. That puts people into their 40s. Police, Nurses all make in that range, NO way can that salary pay off a 300+ mortgage.
Do you think this area is considered established long enough to warrant a serious drop in house prices, or even a flop of damaging consequences so soon?
I'm just not seeing anything in the near future of that magnitude. What I see is still not out of the ordinary so much to rally the troops and say "runaway".
I do think on a national level the economy is going to have a big hiccup as it restructures...but I do not see it as having to sell house and rent, I see it as preparing yourself financially and pulling out the frugal guns if one needs to.
Last edited by autumngal; 08-16-2007 at 01:18 PM..
I do not recommend anyone wait to "see what will happen" as the prices in 5 years at 6% appreciation per year is just money you are throwing away.
Vicki
I hope that's not how people are managing their assets and/or money!!
With rent barely approaching the rate of annual inflation in this geographic area (and that's typical for much of the U.S.), we invest the difference between a mortgage payment and tax deduction. Plus we can afford to be diversified in our investment profile, without a big ol' home weighing us to imbalance.
I've never seen anyone buy more groceries, take more holidays, save more for their child's college education, enjoy a higher quality of life because of home appreciation. At the end of the day, it is on paper. It doesn't translate to anything more than that. Unless one wants to sell and get in the game all over again, but of course as a realtor, you know the cost of cashing out and trying to come out ahead.
And the refis aren't there like they were in the past.
I am relocating to Raleigh from Maryland and was fortunate to have sold in late April. I am from overpriced America and guess what? Prices went up last month. Sales were down and prices were up. People are not going to sell unless they get the price they need to buy. Builders have to sell. I didn't. I got what I would have gotten two years ago and missed the peak. My mutual fund porfolio is down 10% plus. Guess what? I have not lost a cent nay a penny. Why because I have not sold. I have to sell to lose. A builder has already invested money and doesn't live in the house and needs to sell. I didn't. Most of your neighbors don't. Why are they going to sell if they don't need to? The growth in Raleigh was fueled by RTP and us folks up north taking the money and running south. For awhile now it will be RTP and other growth factors. That will result in a contraction of new homes by weaker builders. Hmmmmm KB home sales down wonder why? Who is their major lender? Hmmmm. Homes by Greg Johnson and other quality small builders? Rocking and selling well. Market downturns are great because they get the weak out. I have lost big in the stock market many a time in my life along with others. Guess what I got it all back plus. Thats why it is a correction. The real estate correction in Florida will be greater because of speculators. Here it will slow down til us northerners go back to selling and heading south until then my neighbors will wait til they get their price. I can only tell you that all the new houses I looked at in Raleigh back in the Fall are now 8-10% more. I must admit I limited my search to quality builders with great track records. I knew where to go because I had a REALTOR buyers agent. Hmmmm I think all of my neighbors used em also. My realtor told me she would not represent me to buy from certain big builders (sorry Martha).
I would be careful that is all I am saying. Hey I want prices to go up I own a place down here. But I would be extremly cautious over the next 6 months, heck I might rent until after the election NEXT year. too many IFs.
I mean a teacher down here makes less than 50K a year even after 20 years of teaching. That puts people into their 40s. Police, Nurses all make in that range, NO way can that salary pay off a 300+ mortgage.
Okay, but is that teacher/nurse/cop in there 40's a single first time homeowner?? It is likely they have a spouse who also contributes to the household income and/or they are move-up buyers with equity in a previously owned home?? Do they have good solid credit and twenty years experience in managing there money and making sound financial decisions?? If so that 300K loan sounds quite feasible to me...
On WRAL at 6PM, as they spoke of housing and the morgage issues, they made it very clear that this area of NC is NOT having the same problems that FL is having because we did not have the huge increase in home prices so we have no reason to have a huge decrease. As they stated, overall the entire area has increased 4%. I've seen increases in North Raleigh and Cary being between 6% and 8% over last year.
I hope that's not how people are managing their assets and/or money!!
With rent barely approaching the rate of annual inflation in this geographic area (and that's typical for much of the U.S.), we invest the difference between a mortgage payment and tax deduction. Plus we can afford to be diversified in our investment profile, without a big ol' home weighing us to imbalance.
I've never seen anyone buy more groceries, take more holidays, save more for their child's college education, enjoy a higher quality of life because of home appreciation. At the end of the day, it is on paper. It doesn't translate to anything more than that. Unless one wants to sell and get in the game all over again, but of course as a realtor, you know the cost of cashing out and trying to come out ahead.
And the refis aren't there like they were in the past.
In the last 18 years that I've lived in my home, it has more than doubled in price. Is this on paper? Yep...until I sell it! However, I'd be more likely to keep it, rent it out and just buy something smaller when the time comes. I'd like to know how much rent you've paid in the last 18 years and what you have to show for it? I have a house that is pretty much paid for.
Vicki
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
