Triangle housing market is not "cooling down" anytime soon

[Fiona8484]

Originally Posted by TarHeelNick

Yes; not to mention many owners of those homes are like you (and me) now becoming the newly minted buzzword "accidental landlord".

Even when they do "move up"...the payment on the previous home is so low compared to current rental rates that if they have the savings to cover down-payment of new house....they have a built-in rental income from their old house and it often makes more financial and logistic sense to keep it and rent it out instead of selling.

Incidentally I live in a very-much "starter home" neighborhood in NW Raleigh and only 2 houses of the 175 home neighborhood have come on the market this year. One in February and one this week. Both were listed by heirs when the elderly homeowner passed away. Both were also actually the same exact floorplan built by the same builder as that house in Holly Springs linked in the OP and both were priced a little bit higher than the OP house in Holly Springs closed for (no landfill near here but we do have some moderate airport and 540 noise)

Good term, that’s definitely me. I did landlording twice and cashed out of the first residence turned rental property at the VERY top of the 2022 buying hysteria. Pure luck.

Would like to eventually sell the second rental property and pay off my current home, the new 5.65% interest rate that I have on my primary residence sucks and I don’t want to pay cap gains. Putting down 50% took some of the sting out of my new payment though. I am generally debt averse.

[TarHeelNick]

Originally Posted by Fiona8484

Good term, that’s definitely me. I did landlording twice and cashed out of the first residence turned rental property at the VERY top of the 2022 buying hysteria. Pure luck.

Would like to eventually sell the second rental property and pay off my current home, the new 5.65% interest rate that I have on my primary residence sucks and I don’t want to pay cap gains. Putting down 50% took some of the sting out of my new payment though. I am generally debt averse.

I paid $109k for a condo in a great location in Chapel Hill in 2016 with a 3.5% interest rate...there was no way I was letting that go when I bought this house in 2021.

If I ever get married/move in with someone or just decide I need to move myself; the low payment I have here would be tempting to keep it as a rental. But I must admit to being conflicted as there is such a severe lack of starter homes, especially SFH starters, in this area and I'd just be contributing to that. Not to mention having tenants in a house that requires lawn and exterior maintenance is not quite the same as for a relatively low-maintenance condo.