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House hunting.....I'm so depressed :(

I Are Baboon

The Full Dopey
Aug 6, 2001
32,448
9,549
MTB New England
Brian should send his story to Exreme Makeover Home Edition. You know, they fix up houses for broken families in need of help. Maybe they'll help out Brian. :D
 

-BB-

I broke all the rules, but somehow still became mo
Sep 6, 2001
4,254
28
Livin it up in the O.C.
Brian HCM#1 said:
I live in a 4 bed 3 bath 2200 sf house its too small for our family, its a newer house and there is no storage space, but the main reason we want to leave is the place we want to go have better schools.

Save the $$$ on a house and go for private schools
 

-BB-

I broke all the rules, but somehow still became mo
Sep 6, 2001
4,254
28
Livin it up in the O.C.
Ciaran said:
Bam. You hit it right on the head there. This is an awful time to buy. If you can wait a few years you will find that these homes that are going for 800,000 are going to be going for 600,000. And it's because these people are really taking out huge loans that they cannot afford. The banks are going to forclose and then sell the houses much cheaper than they we're bought for. Sadly all that most people see is an expensive house that they think will appreciate in value in 2 years and then they can sell it for more. The sad reality is that the real estate market fluctuates up and down a lot. It's up now, but it's going to go down in a few years.

I do totally understand about the outragous prices though. I live in So Cal and there is no way in hell that the GF and I are going to be able to afford anything that is not in the ghetto. And we are putting away 500.00 a month each too! Sadly, in three years when we want to start looking at houses we'll only have 36 K in the bank. And that's no where even close to a real down payment. We're going to have to rely on parental donations, and we are going to have to get out of California. Of course, geting out of CA is not a bad thing, relying on parentals is a bad thing..

Of course, the Bay Area, and San Diego (Which is where the GF's parents live, and which is where they want us to move to) have some of the highest priced property in the nation. It sucks. I feel for ya.
A few things that you are overlooking...

1) The housing market in CA is not really going to drop too much.
In certain areas, and for homes in a certain range, yes, they might drop a bit, but not that much. Overall, the CA morket will only go from 10% increases / year down to 1 or 2% per year.


2) If the prices of the homes DO drop a bit, that really won't mean much because interest rates are going to go up by then and your monthly payment will still be about the same (although it is better to ahve a higher rate on a home that will increase in value than a low rate on a home that doens't (Negative equity building)


3) If home values DO go down, he still might be priced out of some of these places because HIS home value will go down too, thus giving him less equity to play with.

Granted, this isn't as big of a deal because if both go down 10%, his 600k home will go to 540k and the 900K home will go down to 810k. so what was a 300K difference goes to only a $270k difference... but again, if interest rates go up, he would still be making the same monthly payment, if not more.
 

JohnnyBoyDH

Monkey
Aug 6, 2003
422
0
Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Wow long thread....I'll chime in though with what is in my area (Oakville, Ontario, Canada) in that price range. We are about 1/2 hour west of Toronto. Income per capita here is one of the highest in the country, but still you can get a pretty sweet pad for $800k....factor in the exchange rate and you are laughing. $800k US = $1M CDN.....

Oakville, Ontario, Canada
 

Brian HCM#1

MMMMMMMMM BEER!!!!!!!!!!
Sep 7, 2001
32,119
378
Bay Area, California
JohnnyBoyDH said:
Wow long thread....I'll chime in though with what is in my area (Oakville, Ontario, Canada) in that price range. We are about 1/2 hour west of Toronto. Income per capita here is one of the highest in the country, but still you can get a pretty sweet pad for $800k....factor in the exchange rate and you are laughing. $800k US = $1M CDN.....

Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Its getting worse here as I continue to look.
 

Ian F

Turbo Monkey
Sep 8, 2001
1,016
0
Philadelphia area
I can't believe I read the whole thread... :blah:

Housing prices are high around here as well... so they just keep building... My g/f got really lucky and bought her house about 3 years ago and it's increased in value $70k already. And her house is old (1870) and small - 2.5 BR w/ 1.5 Bath and she's put quite a bit of time and money into it. It also has one unique trait, it has a detached 2.5 car garage and sits on a 1/2 acre. Taxes are also low as the township has a high precentage of office buildings and light industrial. Schools/services are excellent. Go one township over and taxes jump to the $12k/yr range.

I'm curious to find out what my own house is worth: paid $89k for it in '92, although I need to do some work to it. :rolleyes:
 

Brian HCM#1

MMMMMMMMM BEER!!!!!!!!!!
Sep 7, 2001
32,119
378
Bay Area, California
Ian F said:
I can't believe I read the whole thread... :blah:

Housing prices are high around here as well... so they just keep building... My g/f got really lucky and bought her house about 3 years ago and it's increased in value $70k already. And her house is old (1870) and small - 2.5 BR w/ 1.5 Bath and she's put quite a bit of time and money into it. It also has one unique trait, it has a detached 2.5 car garage and sits on a 1/2 acre. Taxes are also low as the township has a high precentage of office buildings and light industrial. Schools/services are excellent. Go one township over and taxes jump to the $12k/yr range.

I'm curious to find out what my own house is worth: paid $89k for it in '92, although I need to do some work to it. :rolleyes:
Its amazing how housing prices continue to climb, I don't think they'll ever drop much in the future.
 

stosh

Darth Bailer
Jul 20, 2001
22,238
393
NY
Brian HCM#1 said:
Its amazing how housing prices continue to climb, I don't think they'll ever drop much in the future.
they don't drop the stagnate.

my bad in the 1930's they dropped yes....
 

towelie

Monkey
May 14, 2003
140
0
Santa Barbara county
I live about an hour northwest of Santa Barbara. In SB, I read that the MEDIAN house is now going for $1.1M in town. That is for like a 1400 sq. ft. house! The hospitals and universitys are actually building campus housing so the doctors and professors can afford to live there! Where I live houses are probably only 1/3 that. I bought my older but in great shape 1770 sq ft house about 9 months ago for $356k (my last house in Ohio I got for $81.5k!). Now, if I asked $420k for the house I could probably sell it in a couple of days! I was actually thinking of doing that and quiting the Air Force, and moving back to Oregon or Washington where houses are quite a bit less in most areas. Now I just have to figure out what to do for a job! Hey Brian...how'd you become a general contractor?
 

Brian HCM#1

MMMMMMMMM BEER!!!!!!!!!!
Sep 7, 2001
32,119
378
Bay Area, California
towelie said:
I live about an hour northwest of Santa Barbara. In SB, I read that the MEDIAN house is now going for $1.1M in town. That is for like a 1400 sq. ft. house! The hospitals and universitys are actually building campus housing so the doctors and professors can afford to live there! Where I live houses are probably only 1/3 that. I bought my older but in great shape 1770 sq ft house about 9 months ago for $356k (my last house in Ohio I got for $81.5k!). Now, if I asked $420k for the house I could probably sell it in a couple of days! I was actually thinking of doing that and quiting the Air Force, and moving back to Oregon or Washington where houses are quite a bit less in most areas. Now I just have to figure out what to do for a job! Hey Brian...how'd you become a general contractor?
My cousin lives in SB (San Roaky)sp off of State St. We totally remodled it a few years ago (he would fly me down for weeks at a time) The place is worth almost 1mil now, he bought it 5 years ago for $450K and it was in very sad shape. I'm been in the construction field for many moons.
 

Ian F

Turbo Monkey
Sep 8, 2001
1,016
0
Philadelphia area
Brian HCM#1 said:
Its amazing how housing prices continue to climb, I don't think they'll ever drop much in the future.
Yeah... I am trying to do maintenance and some upgrades to my house and then I'll try to get an idea of what it's worth. It needs a good cleaning. A new dishwasher. New kitchen flooring. Some paint (inside & out). Landscaping. New carpets (thinking of going with hardwood floors instead). New bathroom. Not to mention a good redecorating so it doesn't look quite so much like a bike mechanic/musician lives there... Given it's size and location (very convienent to Philly commuting), I'm hoping it would go for the mid-100's.
 

SkaredShtles

Michael Bolton
Sep 21, 2003
65,881
12,856
In a van.... down by the river
So let me get this straight. 1/2 million dollar house in Tahoe, 1/2 million dollar plus house in the Bay.

You say you have a 2200 sq. foot house and it isn't enough? Geez. We just moved into a ~2300 sq. foot house and don't know what to do with all the space....... and we have 2+1 kids. :think:

Sounds like you have it rough....... :D

-S.S.-
 

Brian HCM#1

MMMMMMMMM BEER!!!!!!!!!!
Sep 7, 2001
32,119
378
Bay Area, California
SkaredShtles said:
So let me get this straight. 1/2 million dollar house in Tahoe, 1/2 million dollar plus house in the Bay.

You say you have a 2200 sq. foot house and it isn't enough? Geez. We just moved into a ~2300 sq. foot house and don't know what to do with all the space....... and we have 2+1 kids. :think:

Sounds like you have it rough....... :D

-S.S.-
Like I said somewhere before in here, the bedrooms are small and there is NO storage space, all that and I hate my location now because of the traffic.