The thought occurred to me recently that if today, I was to buy the house we live in, there would be no way I could sanely afford to do so. It would eat up every penny of our paychecks. This is only after having bought the house 6 years ago, back when it was valued at about 50% of what it is now.

This seems to be the case with many of those like me who live in high cost coastal states. Seeing as how we have a lot of folks from CA, NJ, NY, MA, and so on- all expensive places with expensive homes in the current housing bubble I'd bet many of you here are in the same boat.

In many ways its kind of sad and ridiculous: Just because we "got in" when we did is the only reason we're able to comfortably pay the mortgage and still save a decent amount. But those whom are simply younger, were not financially ready a few years ago, or just moved here I guess they're out of luck. People like about half of my friends, my brother and his wife, and a great many of those I work with at the office.

Quite a few people around here bought houses 5-6 years ago for about half what they had been sold to the previous owners just that many years earlier, but lost them through foreclosure when the bottom fell out of the market.

For anyone that's able to, they should pick a place that suits their needs and then stay there permanently. When I moved last time in 1978, the price of this house was 1/3 what it is today but it was higher about 10-12 years ago before the big drop.

Not a problem here in RI where the housing market is so lame it hasn't gotten close to the 2008 pricing. Fortunately I bought low enough that I was never underwater on my loan so the 2008 collapse just left me angry since I had planned on selling at that time to move out of state. I'm planning on leaving next year if we don't have another housing fiasco.

I certainly could not re-buy the house I sold in 2000 when we had the one we live in know was built. We could probably re-build this house, but the old one we purchased for 45,500. We sold it for 220,000 Built in 1889 We moved in to the place in Oct. 1976, sold it in Oct. 1999.
I plan to live where I am now until I die and be buried here too. This house cost less to build than what the older house sold for. Just the right size for the two of us and occasional visits from our offspring.

I don't know if this link will work, but if it does the reader can see the old house. Very unique.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater

There are other photo's there too, but not of interest in this topic.

Mark D.

No they're not, and there's no reason for a defeatist attitude.

In 1930, grandma bought a house for half off from a developer who was going broke in the depression; brand new 3 bdrm in West L.A. for $5000. I remember seeing it advertised for sale in the late '80's for IIRC $600,00 or so. Today, comps show 2 mil easy, but that's not where one starts these days.

You begin with a condo, wait a few years for appreciation to set in, then sell and use the proceeds to move up, eventually to an SFR.

Remember, in 10 years you will be 10 years older, and at least here in Cali, Real Estate prices will be 10 years higher. Except for the great recession period, that's always been the case.

Isn't that what you wanted? I'd take that as good news Over the long term, the price (of anything) always goes back to where the buyers can afford; that's when you bought your house. Then the cycle starts over again.

I sold my folks home in 2015 for $385,000. they bought it for $12,500 in 1958.

Now it is on the market for $650,000 and I'm sure they will get it.

It's in West Seattle, amd it's only a 1250 sq ft rambler on 1/8 acre.

RUBBISH I SAY!
Lived here all my life, family goes back to civil war. There are affordable homes where ever you look that includes mine...

What it amounts to plain & simply, champagne taste on a beer budget...

There are hundreds of homes for a 100k less than mine. It WILL be in the city, for 200k less in the slums. All within a 5 mile radius..

There are at least 3 free publications for real estate published every week locally. My wife constantly brings them home. She is a lapsed Real Estate Agent so house hunting is in her blood. I pick the books up and I am surprised at how nice some of the residences are.

What IS happening is a number of the really run down residences are being bough by either flippers or live-in fixer uppers. Ya, the news blurbs say how grim the market is but hey thats the fake news, no more no less...

A trip to Home Depot or Lowes is evidence enough there is a thriving affordable market.

Chas

My town has become one of the hot ones in NJ. Homes sell in a few days. I'm amazed since the taxes are so high and a mortgage payment is even worse than one can imagine after taxes. We are a 45 minute ferry ride to lower Manhattan so there are a lot of financial people moving in. They have the money so they are less impacted.

I am on the town council and overall we are keeping taxes lower than some others so that may be a small part of it. I wonder how our kids will be able to stay here if they want to some day. Many people get priced out by the high costs and have to leave the state.

I do stay in Alameda on business trips and it is much worse there. Beautiful but expensive.

Somebody mentioned this - mortgage rates are really low.
People command the highest wages ever imagined. That's the new economy.

Nope, if I moved today, I couldn't afford to pay a mortgage on anything worthwhile, not even a travel trailer. But I wouldn't have a mortgage. I'd have a half a million in cash from the sale of this place.
If I was single, I'd go mobile for a few years, and settle in a trailer park with money in my own bank, gold bars buried in the desert.

We paid $88000 for our house in 1991 and that's about all it's worth today.

I have been mulling over stuff like that and came to the conclusion that a mobile home would probably be a great groundplane for antennas. If I was back in the market.

My place just got back to the price I paid for it in 2005 !!

We've been in this house for 30 years and there is no way we
could come close to buying it at market prices now.

The whole concept of housing needs to be re-vamped IMO.
About 10 years ago I built one of those tiny houses. Partly
to see if I could do it and as a place for my folks when they
got to the point where they could not take care of themselves.

While designing and building it I thought to myself, 'this would be
the perfect way for young kids to get started'. Think of the benefits.
Kids, maybe in high school, could buy a small plot of land in
a community of like minded individuals and built their own
house, building up sweat equity in the process. Not only that,
they are learning to use tools and become self sufficient.

BUT, there is of course a catch. Contractors, cities and counties
don't want them cutting into their revenue stream. And the
planning/building rules have minimum sizes of rooms to make
sure no one tries to get started in this business. Too bad.
Steve

Easy, guess I live in a depressed area. Bought it back in 1982 for $32k and it's now worth about $35k. Only reason I never moved was I was never making enough to afford it.

Yup, they are. I was employed by a mortgage broker for two years when my normal line of work was lacking, back about 1993. At that time, my broker exclaimed once, "rates are great!" (they had dropped from 7-1/2% to 7% at par -no points- for a conventional 30 year fixed). Today they are at about 4.25%. Big difference in monthly payment; figure almost $200 a month less for each $100K borrowed, as compared to before.

The thing is, as the economy grows, the fed will raise rates, along with the housing appreciation prominent in the coastal states. This will eventually lead to a halt in Real Estate activity until wages can again catch up.

If the link I left on my first post works, you might find it interesting in what one can purchase in smaller cities for a relatively low price with respect to what it would cost in a large city.
It's a bunch of photo's, inside and out.
Mark D.

The value of our house has increased 240% since we bought it 8 years ago. When we bought it, our mortgage payment was $1100/mo. If we had to buy it today, the payment would be over $3400/mo (assuming we were to make the same downpayment that we made then).

I've known several friends and colleagues looking for houses in the last 3-5 years, who made offers on as many as 10 houses and constantly got outbid. Everybody I knew who was looking finally gave up and just rented. These people were professionals... engineers, architects, and a marketing exec, a C-suite level guy, renting.

The big news in the Seattle housing market this week was that the astronomical growth slowed for June, and there are more houses available on the market than usual. Article below. Don't miss the part where a realtor complains that she's had a house sitting on the market for TWO WHOLE WEEKS and hasn't gotten any bids on it yet. "[T]he change means buyers ... may even be able to bypass some uncomfortable conditions that have become standard in today’s market, like waiving inspections and putting down huge, nonrefundable cash deposits."

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/r ... ce-growth/

-Rodney

Housing values are all regional. I asked the broker who is the property manager for my Las Vegas domicile recently how long it might take for the property to appreciate from it's current $242K to about $310K and he responded, about 18 months. So the upside is still there in a lower priced "Sand State".

What sold here in 1999 for $159,000, is now selling at $95,000. A few have given property back to the bank and moved out. (Connecticut)