OT: February home prices see the biggest gain in 15 years

[jtakeda]

Originally Posted by Hilltopperny

Prices have skyrocketed even out here in the sticks! I have sold three properties the first day they were listed over the past year.


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You’re telling me. I saw a house sell in 2 days with offers over asking. Turns out the seller accepted the first offer and got the other higher offers a day later! Also saw a house wayy out that sold for the same prices as a house in the city with almost no acreage. It’s xrazy

[Hilltopperny]

Originally Posted by jtakeda

You’re telling me. I saw a house sell in 2 days with offers over asking. Turns out the seller accepted the first offer and got the other higher offers a day later! Also saw a house wayy out that sold for the same prices as a house in the city with almost no acreage. It’s xrazy

I am pretty much liquidating all my properties with houses now and will likely just reinvest in land as that also seems to be at a premium and would be more useful for me.

I lost a substantial amount of income this year from the rent Moratorium and have no desire to rent ever again since I can be stripped of my income by government mandate any time they see fit with zero retribution to the landlords in counties with lower populations. At least I can write off the losses though...


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[bigbill]

Originally Posted by rallizes

so is 13/hour a living wage in AZ?

It's a progressive plan to $15. Living, it depends on where you live and expenses.

[marsh]

Originally Posted by Hilltopperny

I am pretty much liquidating all my properties with houses now and will likely just reinvest in land as that also seems to be at a premium and would be more useful for me.

I lost a substantial amount of income this year from the rent Moratorium and have no desire to rent ever again since I can be stripped of my income by government mandate any time they see fit with zero retribution to the landlords in counties with lower populations. At least I can write off the losses though...


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So, soooo lucky I don't own rental property in Chicago anymore. Small-time landlords really got screwed in the past year, and property taxes skyrocketed the year before.

[bigbill]

Originally Posted by BobbyJones

Thanks for the answer. Have you seen an increase in material cost for manufacturing? Or just a supply squeeze?

Both. We've also seen a decline in quality from suppliers because they're trying to meet demand. Imagine a loaf of bread with numerous heels where historically there have only been two. We get more from our Mexican plants these days, especially MDF. For a while it was really tough, Mexico went hard over on closing factories in the early Covid days. We stayed open by modifying processes to distance workers and more than doubled the air exchange in the factory. We're all still in masks as well.

Low interest rates, people spending time at home and realizing their kitchens/bathrooms are out of date, and those who worked from home and were able to put some money away are now ready to spend.

[Red Tornado]

Central TX resident here.

We have a friend who is a realtor. She told us if we listed our 3/2/2 (sits on two lots as well) which we bought for $150K in 2006 at $200K, where it's now appraised per the tax office, she could probably sell it for $250K+ as a result of the ensuing bidding war. $250K for the property, and the "plus" comes thanks to a highly desirable school district. Like everywhere else, tons of demand and no inventory.

The wife and I jokingly considered it, but don't want the hassle of moving to temporary housing (I'm not buying someone else's over priced home) putting stuff in temporary storage and the possible capital gains hit.

[72gmc]

Originally Posted by eddief

bubbles pop.

This is what I'm thinking. At some point there will be a bunch of people who realize they really need to be in the metropolis they tried to leave. I hope.

[KarlC]

Originally Posted by el cheapo

Sold my 900 sq ft 2 bedroom 1 bath house that was built in 1983 last week in FIFTEEN minutes. All cash deal and no realtor fees. Gave the buyer a walk thru and disclosed all the bugaboos. To my amazement, he didn't turn anything on. He made an offer and came in low so I showed him the new county tax appraisal that arrived two days earlier and gave him my price. Sold at $ 1,000 less than asking which in my opinion was WAY overpriced for a fixer upper. Closed in TWO days and the cashier's check is in the bank. Never in my wildest dreams! Anybody planning to sell look closely at the comps and go from there.

Here in So Ca comps don't look to be keeping up with the market.

Locally small Condos can sell for $100k - $200k over asking, houses can go for much more over asking and other parts of Ca are more extreme.

We have been closely watching a few areas in Ca, one being Temecula Ca, we like the Wine Country area of Temecula.

A recent House we liked and looked at there sold for $275K over asking.

Another recent House, we did not like as its a track home, but it was close to a friends place so we watched it for kicks. Listed for $1.29K and looks to have sold for $1.425K. For a TRACK home in Temecula Ca

The bidding wars are just crazy right now, with most all homes selling in a matter of days for way over asking.

.

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by 72gmc

At some point there will be a bunch of people who realize they really need to be in the metropolis they tried to leave. I hope.

From your lips to god's ears!

[72gmc]

Originally Posted by Bob Ross

From your lips to god's ears!

I just want 'em to leave some dirt to build on instead of making me deal with their trendy boxy dream getaways.

[Ralph]

So....sell high....then move and buy high? Don't see how you make out unless you find some place not many choose to live. And don't want to do that. If a person wanted to just unburden themselves from home ownership....invest the money and draw 4% off it (whether it makes it or not in any given year) and travel or something.....can see that. You don't really make as much on a house as you probably think....if you added up all those HD trips.

[paredown]

My favorite market timing story was the family who built a sailboat in West Vancouver. Lots of these in back yards all over the PNW, but this guy actually finished his--just as the Vancouver market was hitting one of his periodic peaks (1981). They put their house up for sale, cashed out, loaded the kids on the sailboat--and off they went for more almost two years of adventures.

They came back to a crashed real estate market--and the dad realized that for sailing local waters, he would want a smaller boat, so they sold the boat, took the proceeds and bought a nicer house than the one they previously owned, and had cash left over...

If you can't be smart, it's good to be lucky!

(Mind you--that was the last real low point in the metro Vancouver market, which had defied its past history of peak/crash by climbing steadily and inexorably, driven by cheap domestic money--and boatloads of Asian and other cash. So probably a one-time, not repeatable experience.)

As for us, we would probably break even after transactions costs and renovation costs if we cashed out--not exactly a remunerative way to spend a decade restoring an old house...

[SlowPokePete]

One thing to keep in mind with people bidding these prices way up is the inevitable appraisal.

Cash buyers, to those putting down very large down payments, might be willing to ignore what the appraiser says the house is worth.

But anyone trying to get a decent loan from a bank might have a problem securing the funds.

SPP

[Coffee Rider]

Originally Posted by SlowPokePete

One thing to keep in mind with people bidding these prices way up is the inevitable appraisal.

Cash buyers, to those putting down very large down payments, might be willing to ignore what the appraiser says the house is worth.

But anyone trying to get a decent loan from a bank might have a problem securing the funds.

SPP

FWIW, while I don't know what's going on with purchase loans, refinancing is presently taking a really long time, so if that's any indication, it's one more reason the peasants (myself included) who don't have cash are at a disadvantage.

[texbike]

The Austin market like many others is just stupid right now. We've tried to purchase two houses in the past month - one for investment and the other for an actual house that we wanted to move into. The investment property ended up selling for $150K over the list price (which wasn't low to being with!). Interestingly, a friend of a friend ended up being the buyer for that one. The other property (which we were absolutely in love with) went for $240K over the listing price. It was initially listed at the high end of what we wanted to pay. Our realtor counseled us that she didn't think that our list price offer would be accepted and we went $50K above that. Neither they or we realized that it would sell for the amount that it did. Oh, and both went under contract within 48 hours. Crazy!

So, what's driving this insanity? Is it the lower interest rates? The materials costs for new construction as others point out? A desire to move $$$ into hard assets as a hedge against inflation or something else? Many of the deals that we're seeing locally are often full cash offers. Is there that much cash floating around out there in the hands of consumers, or is it due to cash purchase services like those provided by Orchard?

Regardless, it just seems insane.

Texbike