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I see what you mean. So what exactly caused the artificial inflation of prices? "Irrational exuberance," as Greenspan would put it?
Investors, for the most part drove the market up. It got insane after the 2004 hurricane season. The demand for undamaged homes was huge. Investors bought up many of the damaged ones to flip.
I feel for anyone trying to sell right now. Here we also have astronomical insurance prices coupled with an appalling lack of companies willing to underwrite. I won't even mention the property tax issues. Those two things are are also driving away many buyers.
autiemom, in what part of the country are you trying to sell?
Southernlady--I know the market in Michigan is awful. My best friend lives in Canton. She had a realtor come in to appraise the house because she wanted to move. The price the realtor gave to list at, would have made them upside down on the mortgage, so the realtor told my friend to wait a few years and hope things change. It's a terrible market there, i hope you get out ok.
We, too had to do some creative financing in order to get into our house down here so that my husband could begin work. Plus, I'm about to give birth at any moment and I needed to get into this house and get settled before the baby. We listed the house up north in early Feb., bought here in mid FEb., closed and moved here March 9, and luckily we went under contract up north at the end of March, and are closing next week up there. So luckily for us we really only carried the 2 houses for most of March and April. It's never easy, is it? Best of luck to you!! I hope you sell your house up there soon-- it seems just like when you think it will never sell, suddenly a buyer comes along.
Anonymous--if where you are now is a buyers market and you can afford a small home alone on one income, now is the time to do it. The market is cyclical, and the best time to buy is when the market is down. Typically real estate is a very safe investment, and why throw money away on rent?
This is exactly why I can't understand the "buy the next one before mine sells" mentality. It can be emotionally and financially devastating. We live in a society where buying things you can't afford is so commonplace. Basically, you couldn't afford this new house. I think selling your current one before making plans elsewhere is much wiser.
I understand there are situations that leave you no choice but to do it in this order.
Good luck with the sale. Hope it all works out for you.
Tony-- Clearly you're not a parent so let me explain. When you are the parents of young children and your husband is transferred 800 miles away for a new job, what else would you do? You can't keep uprooting and moving little kids, to a rental until your house sells and then to the new house. It's physically exhausting for everyone (especially a pregnant lady), the instability is not good for the kids and to top it all off, you'd pay nearly as much in rent anyway as you would a mortgage. If the husband decides to move alone and rent until the house sells, he's throwing away all that money on rent and has to commute home at his expense in order to visit his wife and kids a couple of times a month, and who wants that??? Particularly in this slow housing market it makes sense for people who can afford to do so to carry 2 houses if necessary for many reasons: Keeping the family together, so that a spouse can start a new job (do you think the job is going to be held for 6 months until he sells his house and moves the family?), so kids can get into a new school at t he right time, etc... I think it's better to deal with the move and get settled into a new place as swiftly as possible for the sake of the kids and the sanity of the parents. Nobody WANTS to carry two properties, waiting for one to sell. We all do the best we can.
Our house in Michigan has not yet sold either. It's been on the market since October 2006. I'm hoping with the arrival of spring, a buyer will soon follow. The economy in southeastern Michigan is sooooo bad right now and house just aren't selling as fast or for as much $$ as they used to. I'm glad we got out when we did. We can afford the 2 mortgage payments, but it will be much easier once the MI house sells.
Fair enough. I agree with all of your comments. For me, personally, the stresses of two properties are higher.
I am a parent (twin two year olds). I'm a work at home father. I bust my *** watching kids and still managing to do my job and help support the family.
Last year we decided we were going to build. We put our house on the market. It sold in 25 days. We had 3 weeks to vacate the house. We moved all our belongings into storage units and moved the family into the first rental we could get our hands on. We've now been through the stress of this apartment for 7 months with two more to go before the house is ready.
Has it been easy? no, and for all the reasons you state above.
Would we make the decision again? yes.
I am living and struggling with my opinion on this topic right now. I believe this to be the easier struggle.
Best wishes to the OP. I'm not saying these decisions are easy, and I'm not saying my way is the right way. I'm just saying that, for me, the other way is not an option unless forced into it. And many people are.
Anonymous--if where you are now is a buyers market and you can afford a small home alone on one income, now is the time to do it. The market is cyclical, and the best time to buy is when the market is down. Typically real estate is a very safe investment, and why throw money away on rent?
Well, I'm not willing to live in a high-crime neighborhood, which is the only place I could afford to buy a home. I could probably take out a $125,000 mortgage, tops.. with all the various costs, what would that leave to spend on a house? Also, wouldn't it make sense to reserve some of it ($5k, $10k) for fixing any unforeseen problems?
Anonymous--I don't think you or anyone else should buy in a high crime area. If you can afford a decent home in a decent area, getting your foot in the real estate market might be a good idea, considering you are paying $750. a month on rent. Imagine knowing that instead of throwing away that money each month on rent, you are putting it toward your home which you own, and will get back when you sell. If you can afford the down payment, now is a good time if your area is experiencing a buyers market. You may want to look into first time buyers incentives, usually sponsored by the government. You may be able to get approved for a loan with a very small % down. I did this with my first house, I put 5% down because I qualified as a first time buyer, and I ended up making $181,000 when I sold the property. I bought in a slow market. Yes, you should always have money in reserve as a homeowner as an emergency fund. It is probably worth your while to look into and begin planning for these things, as you are so young. It all takes time to learn about. Research is key. Once you own a home, you can use the equity to finance a whole host of things you'd otherwise probably never qualify for.
I saw that one of you wanted to know where I am moving from.
I'm in a very "expensive" area where most (single family) home are going for AT LEAST 450K. I have a Ranch with a basement (fully finished). Asking
389K (at this point).
This whole process is going to drive me nutso
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I'm moving from Montgomery County, Maryland
