Yowza! Home prices in our area

[DawnM]

Would you consider somewhere like San Luis Obispo? My cousin the eminent retired M.D. lived near there for many years, until very recently.  I remember driving through there, but I do not remember if it is on the ocean, or you need to drive a little to get to the coast. That cousin now lives in TX.  I am assuming (which I try not to do) that the prices there would be lower than in the San Diego area (my favorite),  or the L.A./Orange County area, or up in the Bay area.  

 

The downside of that area would be far fewer job opportunities. Possibly somewhat lower salaries but the (lower?) cost of living would hopefully make up for that.

 

Everywhere you look, compromises will need to be made. 

 

Another cousin lived in Santa Barbara many years ago, but I think that's $$$$$$$$. She lives North of San Francisco now, which is also not inexpensive..  Another cousin lives in Ojai, South of Santa Barbara.  

 

Comparing prices (and what you get for the same money) between NC and CA will be a sticker shock problem.  Evaluate the job offers when they come in. There are web sites that show, if you put in where you live now and what you earn now, what you would need to make in another area, to maintain a similar quality of living.

 

No sticker shock.  We are well aware of what houses will cost in the area.  We know where we want to live, my salary is set, my retirement is set, and Dh is working on a job.  Kids have a specific college they plan to attend.

 

Really, it is nice of you to have some ideas, but we are 100% sure of where we want to live and 100% aware of what we are getting into.

 

Dh has to be in a large city, his job in not in small towns.  

Edited May 21, 2017 by DawnM

[gardenmom5]

I went onto redin . . . in my area <1/3 of those listed are *under* $1M.  and most of those, end up in bidding wars.  several I've watched ended up selling for $130K over list price. and those are the "cheap" houses!  it's insane.  

I'm dying to see what a house up the street sold for - it hit the market, sold in a bidding war in <week, then was back on the market for $100K more.  and sold again in <week.  and it's a tear down! we spoke with a developer who tried to buy it (both times) - and they were outbid.  (the information is on redfin after it closes.)

well - the advantages are we can use that in our fights against the assessor.  our house is a tear down - all the value is in the land. and when we built - the bank told us "you overbuilt for the neighborhood". . . .

[sassenach]

 

I think increasing population generally leads to higher home prices.  Not much new land is being created.   I just looked on Zillow at the home in the L.A. area we lived in when I was a young boy. The home had either been enlarged or torn down and a new house built on that lot since then.  It is not on the market at this time but Zillow shows an estimated value of $1,992,869.  Rent Zestimate®: $9,005 /mo   It is in an extremely desirable section of the San Fernando Valley (Sherman Oaks).   We would not be able to rent that home or pay the taxes on it with my retirement income.

 

We bought this lot in January 2013 and it is probably worth at least 5 times what we paid for it. Possibly more than that.  We are in Cali, Colombia. There is a lot of new construction here, but most of it is apartment buildings or very small homes. When we bought the lot there had been a housing bust here, similar to what happened in the USA and we purchased the lot at almost the perfect time and got an extremely low price on it.  

 

IMO if you are considering, or contemplating, moving to California, you will need a HUGE salary increase to make it there,.  My cousins who live there have lived in the same houses for many years.

 

You wouldn't be able to pay taxes on the current value, but due to prop 13 you wouldn't be taxed at the current value. People that own homes from decades ago (or sell/pass on homes from grandparents or parents on to kids) are paying taxes on scale with their purchase price rather than current value.

[MaeFlowers]

I'm in the Atlanta area. There is a shortage of homes and has been for a while. Building is picking up but the prices are out of whack. The price per sq ft for starter is homes is significantly more than everything else. Many people who could afford a house two years ago have been priced out. I just hope the prices adjust as inventory increases.

[Annie G]

When we moved here 23 years ago our town was booming. Our nearly 3000 sq ft Victorian house was $81,000.  The town is in decline (much like what FaithManor is going through in her town) and the house is now valued at $93k but we'd be lucky to get $85k.  

[tdbates78]

We too are in NC (in a suburb of Charlotte) and home values have really gone up. We've had Realtors call and try to convince us to list! Houses here are receiving multiple offers the day it hits the market.

[mommyx4]

It's nice to see home prices go up because I hope it slows down the growth here in NC. We moved here 14 years ago and the growth has been phenomenal. We have owned 4 homes and each one that we have sold has gone for asking price(or above) in a matter of days(or hours in one case). That includes during the housing crash. NC is one of the most beautiful places to live, imo.

[foxbridgeacademy]

I live in TN, close enough to commute to South Nashville but barely.

I don't know about 10 years ago but the zillow estimate for my rental has gone up $70k in the last year.  We're in a "boomtown" that has more than doubled its population in the last 10-12 years.  We're thinking of buying but to get the size of house we need and NOT pay $2000 a month we're going to have to move another 20 minutes down the road, making DH's commute over 40 miles each way (which is still about 15 miles from Nashville). 

Edited May 22, 2017 by foxbridgeacademy

[Laura Corin]

We have a house in Scotland and a rental flat in London (where we used to live).  Prices in Scotland have been flat since we bought (actually dropped then recovered) but London prices continue to rise.

[TravelingChris]

Housing prices here are rising but nowhere as fast as some of the places other posters mentioned. We don't have the problems many are facing. We have both new and old houses being sold and plenty of land still to build. We are a boom town and current growth projections are that we will be the biggest city in our state within 10 years. One trend here is bulldozing and rebuilding in closer to downtown places like where I live. We moved here in mid 2011 and our house according to Zillow held steady, then dropped a little bit and now has risen. Not sure how much I trust Zillow because I am near the top of the mountain (hill) and prices compare houses with the bottom that don't have garages, on smaller lots, and much more basic houses. For one thing, my house is listed as one story with basement. That doesn't give it full justice because it isn't a basement.The only part that is actually underground is our downstairs gigantic bathroom/exercise room/ storm shelter area and also the laundry room. The second nice size kitchen with dining area, large family room, and fifth bedroom are all above ground or for the bedroom, partially above ground.

[Zinnia]

We are in Atlanta.  The neighborhood we currently live in has very rapidly rising house prices  Most houses have gone up over $100,000 in the last 7 years (time we've lived here).  We rent, looking to buy in 18 months, and we're realizing that we are priced out of our neighborhood. 

 

We moved here after a short sale.  Houses in the old neighborhood (a far suburb 30 minutes out from where we are now) has prices that have not quite come back to what we paid in 2005.  

 

So, for our market at least, prices are still all over the place.  That ring of suburbs 30 minutes out is not nearly as popular as it was 15 years ago.  Everyone wants to live intown (where we are now).

Edited May 22, 2017 by Zinnia

[DawnM]

It's nice to see home prices go up because I hope it slows down the growth here in NC. We moved here 14 years ago and the growth has been phenomenal. We have owned 4 homes and each one that we have sold has gone for asking price(or above) in a matter of days(or hours in one case). That includes during the housing crash. NC is one of the most beautiful places to live, imo.

 

It won't slow down the growth, in fact, the cost of living in NJ and NY are making moving to NC still a very reasonable place to move to.

 

Have you seen all the construction?  It is going in everywhere!  There is a place near me that is going to house 500 new families.  I have no idea what the schools will do with that many new kids as the schools are already overcrowded and in trailers.

[teachermom2834]

Over the last ten years home prices in our area seem to have risen about 10%.

 

Our area is growing so we will see. Housing is still pretty affordable here.

[vonfirmath]

As for my local area, yes, housing prices have increased over the past several years.  What we could buy 15 years ago and what could be bought for the same amount are not the same.  We live in a stable market, thankfully, so the increases have not been as huge as in other areas but yes, the prices have increased quite a bit.  Where my brother lives, in San Antonio, the housing prices have increased much faster.  And my BILs, who live in Austin have seen prices fly through the roof.

 

I'm in the Austin suburbs, and we bought 5 years ago. We would be priced out of the market now. Of course, with rising home prices comes steeply rising property taxes as well!

[amy g.]

We moved from one of the country's most afordable areas to one of the most expensive last year.

 

Dh was able to negotiate a salary that made moving to California an easy decision and he found a dream house for me. We ran into an issue purchasing the house because there were not the comps to support the asking price.

 

We could have gone 2 miles away and bought a house we liked much less for more money with no issues but this particular house was problematic. Since the area is one of the hottest real estate markets, the owner asked if we would rent it with the option to buy at the end of the lease when it would appraise higher.

 

Well, the year is up, and I'm really happy that we didn't buy this house.

 

Although Dh is making a lot of money, the company he went to work for is having some major issues due to proposed legislation and lawsuits. We don't know if he is going to want to continue here or move across the country again.

 

This area is great for some industries but in Houston, Dh could easily get another job down the hall or across the street. Here there are not many options, so if he wants a change, we need to move out of the area. I would not want the albatross of a house I paid $1,000,000 for. It might go up. It might go down. I just don't feel secure enough to take that chance.

 

We were lucky that my neighbor offered us her rent house a block away. They bought it for a building on the site, but can't split them so they are not going to want to sell it.

 

For the first time in our 25 year marriage, continuing to rent seems like a really good choice for our particular situation.

 

Owning a house in Houston felt secure, but buying a house in California seems like a risk due to job options.

 

I wonder if it is an option for you to come to California and rent for a year while everyone adjusts. Sure prices may go even higher. That is the risk.

 

I never would have thought this would be what I chose, but I feel so free having our downpayment in savings and being completely portable to pursue other offers.

 

I guess at 51, I'm still not too old to embrace change.

[prairiewindmomma]

Housing prices are jagged in our old Midwest college town. Higher end homes are down 20%, lower income houses are up slightly.  There aren't as many good-paying jobs as before, and the market is correcting to reflect that.

 

In our current market, my home valuation is supposedly up 35% over the last 5 years. The current valuation is close to market price, so I believe that to be accurate. 

[tammyw]

We are in San Diego and the housing prices have gone berserk. We are so thankful we bought three years ago, and we thought the prices were high then!

[goldberry]

Suburb north of Denver CO here...Our house value has increased 12% this past year. We moved here 6 years ago and our home is valued at 52% more than we paid for it.

 

We live in Colorado but more rural.  Our house we bought in 2005 sold in 2015 for just slightly more, and that was after we made improvements.  That was VERY rural.  Now we live slightly less rural and the housing prices here are increasing at a slow but steady pace.

 

We have friends in Denver that say the market there becoming unaffordable there for middle income folks, even rentals.

[HTRMom]

Ours are weird. Looking back over the last ten years, it seems like there were two periods where housing prices universally tripled for 1-2 years then returned to normal. Larger houses are roughly the same price as 10 year ago. Smaller houses are 20%-50% more.

 

 

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[PeachyDoodle]

We are also in NC, on the outskirts of the Triad area (more rural, becoming suburban) and there's a lot of new construction, as well as activity in the market, but I don't see that prices have gone up here like others are reporting for NC. We sold our last house in 2007 for $143,000, just before the crash. It sold for $138,000 in 2011. I can't imagine it would go for much more than that today. It might go back up to our 2007 price. Maybe.

 

In our immediate area, there is a lot of construction -- and like others have said, it's "McMansion" type construction. It was very disappointing to us when we were looking to buy over the past year because we wanted a small amount of land and not to be in a subdivision. Many of the houses in our area that have land (not huge parcels, but 1-3 acres generally) seem to be over-priced and sitting on the market, while the new construction goes fast.

 

My MIL just sold her house inside the city limits (small town) and had to bring cash to closing to pay off her mortgage. She's lived there for over 15 years.

[DawnM]

We are also in NC, on the outskirts of the Triad area (more rural, becoming suburban) and there's a lot of new construction, as well as activity in the market, but I don't see that prices have gone up here like others are reporting for NC. We sold our last house in 2007 for $143,000, just before the crash. It sold for $138,000 in 2011. I can't imagine it would go for much more than that today. It might go back up to our 2007 price. Maybe.

 

In our immediate area, there is a lot of construction -- and like others have said, it's "McMansion" type construction. It was very disappointing to us when we were looking to buy over the past year because we wanted a small amount of land and not to be in a subdivision. Many of the houses in our area that have land (not huge parcels, but 1-3 acres generally) seem to be over-priced and sitting on the market, while the new construction goes fast.

 

My MIL just sold her house inside the city limits (small town) and had to bring cash to closing to pay off her mortgage. She's lived there for over 15 years.

 

 

I hear you on the new construction.  It stinks.  We have almost 3 acres and no HOA, but it seems people don't want that as much anymore.  Our area does sell, in part because of the schools, but it is harder than the new houses.