How is the housing market in your area?

[Quiver0f10]

A person who lives in my house and will remain nameless thinks the market is fine and the media is hyping it up. I disagree. So, I figured I'd ask you all how things are in your neck of the woods. Thanks.

[TraceyS/FL]

I think we are #2 on the foreclosure list state wise. Orlando is getting ugly....

 

My doctor just bought his 15th foreclosure, and my husbands boss just picked one up to add to their rental income.

 

We are somewhat more stable in some ways up here because a good portion of our population is retired. A lot of them seem to have stable incomes so far.

 

prices have dropped considerably, but they'd gone up to insane levels for the area too. We'd still make more on our house in the 4.5 years we've owned it than we should. It would be about double what we paid, a year ago it might have been triple!

[Kathleen in VA]

The housing market here in Stafford is flat. I've seen "For Sale" signs in front of the same houses for over a year. I know that those that have sold were drastically reduced in price. I have a friend who's house was listed in 2006, was reduced by over $150,000 ($750,000 to $600,000) and has still not sold. Another friend of mine had her house foreclosed on - but fortunately had already bought another one out of state before that happened. (She had been making two mortgage payments).

 

This is very odd because we live near a Marine Base and are a bedroom community for Washington, D.C. It is highly transient here and houses usually sell quickly due to the turnover of residents.

[Michelle in AL]

Coastal AL (resort town) About 1/3 of the houses in our neighborhood are for sale. Some of these are foreclosures but I don't know how many. Our house dropped $73,00 (33%) in value from 2006-2007. This appraisal was done by a bank, so it is legit. I would guess it's probably dropped another $60,000 since then. It's till worth more than we paid for it though in 2003. We had a very sharp increase in real estate values here shortly after we moved.

To us it is real. We've had very few building permits in our town over the past yr. Houses/condos rarely seem to sell.

[TwinMominTX]

but is still really pretty good in Austin, Texas. We are an outlier since we live in a rural area, but our home has appreciated approximately +20% in the past year.

[Paula in MS]

It seems like the market is okay here. The problem I see is that the media has made such a big deal out of the fact that it is a "buyer's market" that buyers expect to get great deals. On the flip side, sellers owe so much that they can't negotiate. My parents just sold their rental house in a so-so neighborhood for their asking price in a week. So, I think we are still okay here.

 

Paula

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

In our small country town things are ok, but no new houses are being built and I haven't seen many for sale. In the nearby city there are whole streets of never-been-owned homes that have real estate signs on half the houses. It was a desireable area and there was a lot of speculating and house flipping a couple of years ago. New York and New Jersey investors were selling their high priced homes and buying up much cheaper places here without quibbling, it drove the market in this area for a while. That has slowed down significantly.

 

My mother's husband is a builder in SC, and my mom is a real estate agent. Things have slowed down there. Builders are working much slower and trying not to get too far ahead of the market. My mom said her agency is going out of business and she'll have to find work with another company.

 

However, according to my Dad, construction has not bottomed out yet in Western NC. Things are starting to slow down, but million dollar retirement homes are still being built. The average person can't even afford a new home there, so I don't know how relevant it is.

 

I know of a couple of people in businesses that are failing because of the price of gas. Their houses are being forclosed because they have lost their source of income, and can't pay the bills for their business.

[TXMomof4]

DFW has a great market right now. The 'hype' hasn't affected us at all yet.

[Aubrey]

DFW has a great market right now. The 'hype' hasn't affected us at all yet.

 

Ugh. I know. I'd *love* to buy a house right now, but we'd need something practically stolen.

 

Fwiw, there are pockets of depreciation, but I don't think that's necessarily because of the housing collapse. The house we sold last yr lost about 30% of its value in 2yrs, due imo to, er, an increase in, um, crime, etc. The city wasn't doing anything to help, though, & we were lucky to sell, because the housing collapse had *just* begun.

 

Also, I think the answer to your question, Jean, depends not just on the part of the country a person is in, but the branch of the housing market. My perspective is based on the cheapest, smallest houses. I know there's a difference here in DFW between those & the more expensive homes. It's like 2 separate markets. (Or more, lol.)

[LizzyBee]

The market here is a little flat, but not terrible.

[G5052]

Our county wasn't overbuilt, but there are foreclosures here and there. Because we're a distant suburb of DC, values aren't as good as the closer-in suburbs because folks aren't willing to move out here and pay for gas to commute in.

 

Thankfully the houses on our road are largely owned by long-term residents, with most working in the area. We haven't had any foreclosures, and only one house is for sale (and it's been for sale for 1 1/2 years and has always been overpriced IMHO). We bought 10 years ago, and it's still worth way more than we paid and we've still got a lot of equity with only one loan on it.

[Sharon in SC]

Our city ranks very well in a nationwide assessment of whether homes are selling for far less, far more, or just about right for actual value. The midlands of SC on that poll is +1% on that assessment scale. It is considered a "buyer's market" because shoppers in our area can be choosy (wanting "like new" versus being willing to take a fixer upper). There is about 16 months worth of inventory on the market right now. However, because of the fact in my opening statement, while homes are sitting on the market longer than average (3+ months) before selling, they are selling for 95% of asking price. Since I am someone with a house on the market in our area right now, I'm overall encouraged by the facts. :-) We actually had a multiple offer situation after only 5 weeks after listing. Unfortunately, the buyer we chose got cold feet!

[Jami]

DFW has a great market right now. The 'hype' hasn't affected us at all yet.

 

I think it must vary by areas. I know new construction has REALLY slowed and that in most neighborhoods I drive through there are houses sitting on the market (have been for 6+ months now). There was a news story a few months ago about foreclosures in the Keller area where there has been tons of new construction in the past couple of years. And we house hunted a bit 2.5 years ago before moving here and prices on the houses we looked at then are certainly down 25-50K from what I can tell. So it may not be a terrible market around me, but I don't think it's great in the middle suburbs.

 

Jami

[BamaTanya]

3 are vacant.

 

I'm glad I'm not trying to sell right now.

[JennW in SoCal]

Y'all probably don't live in an area where there was a real housing bubble which has burst. Housing prices in San Diego have dropped 23% in a year -- the 5th worst in the country. In Las Vegas and Miami prices have dropped 28%. A friend of mine lost her house to foreclosure, a house around the corner is in foreclosure and I suspect a few others around us are as well. I've also watched for sale signs going up and coming back down around the neighborhood -- it is a lousy time to sell as everyone is waiting for the bottom to finally hit.

[Scarlett]

A person who lives in my house and will remain nameless .

 

:D Funny.

 

The housing market here...just down south of you Jean, is ummm....probably a little down. Maybe just flat. I think it is like Aubrey is saying...it really depends on the price point. For instance, the house across the street from us, which is a great house, has been on the market for well over a year. Priced at over $450K initially though.

 

Prices more in the $150K range or less are selling. In fact, my hairdresser had one for sale that sat empty for several years (it was actually her new dh's) and when they decided to sell it sold quickly I think. It sold about 2 months ago. Another friend of mine left town and sold her empty house in about 2 months and I think it was right around 100K.

 

Another friend of mine even further down south builds houses. (Actually her dh does it..:)) And she says their realtor tells them that when times get tough people want to buy lower priced houses in the country a bit. I guess people start thinking about needing a garden and chickens and things like that.

 

So I guess the answer is....it depends. :)

 

I do agree that the media hypes things up. Mostly I agree with Dave Ramsey who says that the people (for the most part) that are in trouble now are the ones who over bought in the first place with a lot of subprime loans.

[bettyandbob]

My house has dropped significantly in value the highs of a few years ago. From 550 K-600K range to 350K. This is not an expensive neighborhood--I'm in N.VA. Houses are not selling. In the last year there have been two houses on my block that sat empty for 8 months or more. In one case the owners had been transferred and had to sell. Their employer ended up buying the house from them through a relocation deal, because the house wouldn't sell. The house went on the market last July or August. A new owner moved in 2 weeks ago. I don't expect the housing market to improve--the paper reports an unemployment rise again in my region.

 

It would be academically interesting to me if I weren't so directly affected. I believe that historically this area, Washington, D.C. metro, has been affected by housing slumps in the past, but not nearly as much as this one.

[JFSinIL]

Bad. Values are going down. There are over a dozen foreclosure houses within a BLOCK of us in every direction! Plus non-foreclosure homes for sale that are not selling. Yes - it is bad. One house across the street is empty and in foreclosure. One two doors down was abandoned a year ago. Two others on our block were on the market - taken off when no offers came in. Others around the corner are simply foreclosure homes -vacant and for sale. I found an on-line site that listed homes in foreclosure and was surprised how many "for Sale" signs are such homes.

 

HGTV has an ad running for a new show - they go to help a family learn how to spiff a house (and provide the $10,000 to do so) and after six months come back and decide with the family whether to sell or ???? These are families that otherwise would be heading into foreclosure. I figure if HGTV is noticing the slump, it must be bad!

[CactusPair]

We live in a small historical town . I love it here, but I'm sure glad I'm not trying to sell right now.

 

In the last 2 years, we've lost 3 large buisnesses and thus tax base and jobs. Houses typically take at least 2 years or more to sell, and these are lovely homes. Some of them are historical beauties and you still can't give them away if you tried. Some houses for sale are priced under market value, but no one's buying.

 

It's so sad.

[hsmamainva]

I'm not considered "Northern Virginia", but close enough! I'm outside Fredericksburg (about an hour south of our nation's capital) and things are grim here!!!

 

If you live near one of the military bases, you're not doing too bad, because folks are always looking for homes that were just transferred in. Otherwise! Ack!

 

We moved into our home 3 years ago and it's assessed value has dropped by $150,000. They estimated in the paper the other day that it would take 24 months to sell all of the houses we currently have on the market in our area.

 

We're seeing homes that were in the $500-$600K price range a year ago, sitting on the market for years in the $300K price range.

 

Our builder's model has been sitting vacant, across the street from our house for 3 years. No one's ever lived in it.

 

If you're a buyer, the market is *fantastic*!! We would LOVE to move. Our oldest takes classes at the community college and she's driving 45 minutes each way to get there -- would love to be closer to Fredericksburg proper -- but we can't sell our house!! At least not for what we want to get for it, which is to at least break even, after we pay off our current mortgage, pay the realtor fees, and closing costs on the new house. To put it in simple terms, we need to sell our current home for $450-$460K to do that. A year and a half / two years ago -- cake! Could've sold it for that or even more! They were selling in the $500's in our neighborhood. Now? We really don't think we could expect to even reach $400K.

 

So...for now, we're sitting and riding it out!

[Quiver0f10]

Thank you everyone. I guess it really does depend on the area you live in and the house type, which I didn't consider. I see alot of empty houses and alot of houses for sale here. I saw on the local news last night they are having this big auction today and 200 houses are being auctioned? I don't know if this is an annual event of a sign of the times, but I was shocked.

[Twinmom]

I sold a home in DFW this time last year in a semi-luxury market. I got full asking price for it with a gain of about 45K from when I bought it new. We were thrilled and so happy to get out from under the big electric bills (how stupid is a two and a half story entryway in the TX heat? Our current summer bills are a full $750 less!). Were we selling today, we would not have done as well. Current homes there are dropping in price, but they are still doing ok. From what I hear, they are taking a while to sell but are doing so at a reasonable price...for slightly less than what they were worth last year, no big appreciation.

 

My current home is more modest and is in a small, semi-historic neighborhood in northwestern NC. Homes here are doing fairly well, selling slightly below asking price. I've seen some sit on the market for a LONG time, but there's generally something wrong with the ones that are sitting. Historic homes seem to be doing better than newer ones, so perhaps that's part of it. We are north of Charlotte, and the foreclosure rate on new homes there is atrocious.

[MJN]

near Greenville, NC. Houses are sitting on the market longer, but they just keep building. We also many new apt. complexes being built to accomodate the college students. So, no slow down in the building, but I do see more houses sitting on the market longer. I guess the builders feel they'll sell eventually. I sure hope so.

[anne1456]

We just sold our house in upstate NY. Housing prices in our area have been stable, but the market is very slow. What we found is that there are just not a lot of buyers. Financing is harder to get, and all the economic news has made buyers nervous, even though foreclosure problems haven't impacted this area at all. The lower end of market is still doing ok for first time buyers, and the high end is ok for people who can pay cash, but the middle of the market is dead. So we've seen that even though our area hasn't seen the price drops and foreclosures all the problems elsewhere have made it harder to sell.

[Michelle T]

That it is NOT hype, it's all true, and the worst is yet to come.

 

My DH is a loan consultant at Countrywide, and believe me, things are MUCH worse than they were year before last. There is a record number of houses sitting on the market in our area, sales are low, and foreclosures are high.

 

The only sales DH sees these days are those people who are buying up foreclosures. And it's MUCH harder to get a loan now, so close to half of his business falls through anyway.

 

We are in southern CA, so a very hard hit area, but most places are bad. It has been a terrible year or two for us and in fact, next week I am going to start working at a part time job. We are in lots of debt, and I've told DH that he needs to start thinking about some other line of work.

 

How bad things are depends a lot on where you live. We now owe more on our house than we could sell it for, and that's common in our area. Well, except for the people doing short sales and foreclosures, and we are surrounded by them. Sorry, with a DH in the loan field, this is a panic-inducing, very sore subject for me!

Michelle T

[Jackie in AR]

The housing prices here are slightly depressed from a year or two ago, and the houses are staying on the market for a little longer period of time. But it isn't a huge decline such as other markets are experiencing.

[RebeccaC]

I live across town from JFS and on my block we have 3 abandoned houses. A couple near by in foreclosure and several for sale, 2+ years, that are just not selling. I have a friend who bought up pre-foreclosured and foreclosed condos and has only been able to rent one. They are having a hard time finding folks with good credit to rent to at the price they need to ask for the condos.

 

We have a string of high end brand new condos in our down town area that have been on the market for 3+ years and not one has sold.

 

We now owe more on our house than what we have it mortgaged for and our mortgage was for 80%.

 

I think it all depends on where you live.

[Laura Corin]

In Fife there are a lot of sellers and not many buyers. The prices have come down, even though in past recessions this area has been one of the most inflation proof. Mortgages are hard to come by - the mortgage providers are only handing them out to really good bets.

 

ETA: saw three houses today: two possibles, one dud. The latter was developed at the top of the market - a remaking of a stone farm building - but the way it was done really doesn't make a lot of sense.

 

Laura

[Parrothead]

The market here never really go into the bubble. There are some that seem to me to be over priced, but that is the way of it - for negotiation. There are quite a few for sale, but I think it is because word has gotten out that we are getting 10 new guys at the station. Once they are all here and housed I think it will die back again.

[5wolfcubs]

I'm AZ and there was a huge upward spike in real estate values shortly after we bought our house about 4 years ago. Last month I saw a little local paper that listed homes sold by zip code -- in mine:

 

Last 4 weeks 2008 average selling price $216,000

Same 4 weeks in 2007 average selling price $314,000

 

Definitely not good.

[CAMom]

We're down in my area of So. CA. Friends in our neighborhood were on the market for about 6 months and had to reduce their price over 100K before it finally sold.

 

My own house would have sold for at least $650 a year and a half ago and would probably only go for about $475 right now. There is a house on my block which is fairly comparable to my own. It was originally listed for $599 and is now down to $499,900.

[Renee in NC]

The market here is a little flat, but not terrible.

 

Since our house won't sell, it seems pretty depressed around here to me!:D However, it is our *immediate* area (outside of Raleigh) that is pretty bad - the local-to-us town has lost more than a 1,000 jobs in the past few months. The population before was 8500 and people are moving our pretty quickly.

[sunshine]

the market here is really slow. Prices are not dropping that much and that is the reason they aren't selling. People still want to buy but everyone wants a deal. So do I!! My house is for sale and I am not willing to lower the price either, so I guess I am a problem too!!:D

[Sharon H in IL]

The market in Peoria is fine. Our suburban town is growing all the time. It's got good access to freeways, good schools and low crime. A magical combination.

 

That said, the housing stock in the poorer parts of town is decaying. Peoria is part of the rust belt and factories are still closing.

[Margo out of lurking]

..

[nakitty]

Snohomish County, Washington here....and housing market is in the dump... I cannot tell you how many houses I have seen just sitting there with For Sale signs in the yard... the house 2 doors down from me has been sitting for almost a year now...with the price going down twice that I know of.... I have noticed a good number of For Sale signs changing to For Rent signs....and still just sitting there. YET, with the market this stagnant...I noticed today that they are about to start some NEW construction down the road from me....Optimistic people confuse me...:lol:

[laylamcb]

Market? WHAT market? It's gone from hothothot to totally dead here (exurbs of DC). In my little neighborhood there have been, I believe, 2 foreclosures already, and I think that one on my very street in headed that way now. :glare:

[Vicki]

I'm in West Texas and our housing market is doing great because of the oil boom.

God bless,

Vicki

[newbie]

San Diego is now one of the worst housing markets in the US.

 

It is so bad here.

 

Jet

[Jenny in Atl]

I would say room temp... neither awful nor great. It really depends on the type of house. The upper-end homes are still selling and being built, though not near as many and as fast as before. Prices have come down, but not as much as I thought they would. Still it's a buyers market! You' all come on down. :D

[Rhonda in TX]

We didn't have the huge jumps in house values, so we are not as affected by the drops, either. While I wouldn't really want to try to sell my house in this market, I believe we could.

[Valerie in Chicago]

Our landlord is a real estate agent: He says that sellers refuse to acknowledge that they bought too high, at the height of prices, and will not bring down their prices. Buyers think they should get something at a Fire Sale price. So things sit for months.

[Scarlett]

Our landlord is a real estate agent: He says that sellers refuse to acknowledge that they bought too high, at the height of prices, and will not bring down their prices. Buyers think they should get something at a Fire Sale price. So things sit for months.

 

I realize that things happen and people find themselves having to sell when they didn't anticipate that...but I can't for the life of me figure out WHY people bought while prices were so inflated. I think people get blinders on when it comes to buying a house...if they sell one and need another, they feel they MUST buy to keep from moving twice. If they relocated, they often feel they MUST buy NOW...:confused:

[Desert Rat]

My dh is in housing construction here in NV. It's aweful! The market is terrible and I'm so grateful that he got a great new job building apartments instead of single family homes. It's not all hype but it can be great time to buy a house if you're in the right spot in life. Bank owned for sale signs are very common in my neighborhood. Very sad.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

A person who lives in my house and will remain nameless thinks the market is fine and the media is hyping it up. I disagree. So, I figured I'd ask you all how things are in your neck of the woods. Thanks.

 

High end houses are sitting. And sitting. $175K and below are selling better. $100K and below are brisk. We're in an anomalous market, according to our papers.

[Liz CA]

A person who lives in my house and will remain nameless thinks the market is fine and the media is hyping it up. I disagree. So, I figured I'd ask you all how things are in your neck of the woods. Thanks.

 

Pretty darn FLAT.

[Sharon in SC]

...but our home has appreciated approximately +20% in the past year.

 

We are asking (and expect to get close to) $30K more than what we would have hoped for 2 years ago, in our area.

[Sharon in SC]

...the media has made such a big deal out of the fact that it is a "buyer's market" that buyers expect to get great deals./QUOTE]

 

That's what we have going on here. Thankfully, sellers are holding out and, while they need to have their home in tip top shape to do it, getting 95% of asking price, on average.

[chaik76]

The housing market in our area is terrible. Houses aren't selling, and those that do are selling at very low prices. Add to that...they reassessed, and all of our houses have gone down at least 12% in value (making us upside down on ours). Definitely not good around here.

[PinkInTheBlue]

Well, I'm basically a bit oblivious but I'm noticing that many of the same houses are staying in the house books for a long time. It seems to especially be the big houses. We are in an area where you can get lots of house for very little money (comparatively). It's also an area with a surprising amount of money incomes so I'm not sure how to tell why some move fine and some are really just sitting.

 

Before we had absolutely decided to move I talked to a lady who put her 3022 sq ft house, 5bd 3 1/2ba with fenced in yard and inground pool on the market for $289,900. It's in a great small neighborhood too. We talked to her about leasing it for a year before making the decision to buy. They needed to move but it had only been on the market a few months. Now, however, they are calling us to see if we'd PLEASE come look at it and reconsider our idea because it's just not selling and they really need out. (they overbought for their income)

 

Anyway, no houses are not moving as well as I would think they should here and we are in a growing town with much commerce and business always coming in. Odd to me.