I'm pretty sure my H thinks I'm crazy (rant ahead)

[monkeybabe]

I'm on a Portland FB group right now, and am reading about houses selling for well above market price, because developers are competing for regular sales, and not just foreclosures now. I have a lot of feels about the affordability of Portland, and how, if we wanted to buy our house now, we'd be completely fucked. I turned to Patrick a minute ago and said that if we ever sell, I want to sell to regular people, and when he asked what that even meant, I just said, "Fuck developers, they'll just turn around and sell it for even more. I want to sell our home to a family, even if it means a lower sell price." He just rubbed his face and said, "Okay, that's fine."

I hate the rapidly rising cost of living and the snails pace of wage increases. It's bullshit. According to a calculator, we can rent our house for about $800 more than our mortgage. I don't know why that pisses me off so much, but it does. There's a garage apartment 4 blocks away that rents for $1700/month. Wtf? I mean, I guess they live two blocks from the park? I could not afford to live anywhere near my neighborhood, as a baker. When I worked at a small bakery near-ish to where I live now, all my coworkers lived in old houses with a ton of other young people. I don't like people. That sounds like shit. Housing costs piss me right off. Renting, buying, it's all bullshit.

[jg183]

The housing market here is crazy!

[ashleydl83]

I totally see where you're coming from. Our COL is lower than yours, but it's still unreasonable, IMO. My dad could rent his house for double his mortgage bc it's a decent area with good schools. We like the area, so we're going to wait and buy instead of rent. It's kind of depressing, but it is what it is. Just because you CAN charge people more doesn't mean you should. My mom and I felt the same way when deciding what we would charge when we had daycare. I would feel like I was ripping someone off if I charged what other DCP charged.

[artgal84]

Wow that sounds crazy. I think it's interesting how housing costs vary so much around the country but wages can say pretty similar. Houses here are decently priced but rentals have doubled since my H and I rented about 9 years ago. Is it like that because so many people want to love there and there aren't a lot of places for sale? Will you guys just stay in your house for a while?

[The Foozzler]

The lack of living wages in many areas is crazy. There is something wrong when someone works hard at a good job but has to commute a long way to afford to live.

[mscatra]

artgal84, I think some of the rental boom has to do with the tightened standards for obtaining a mortgage, post housing boom and financing scandal. Also, the zero down mortgage isn't a big thing, or maybe even a thing at all, since then, so its harder for people to break out of renting. So, more renters, more competitive rental market, higher prices.

[laurack]

It's truly ridiculous how much housing costs now. My parents bought our family home for I think 20,000. Now there's no such thing as a house that costs 20k. Even to get a house for 200k you'd have to live in a terrible neighborhood anywhere close to me. I mean you can get a small condo for 200k.

It's sickening the % of income that has to go to housing these days. People are forced to keep wasting money renting when they could be building equity in a property because they literally cannot afford a down payment and the other costs associated with purchasing a house.

[formerlyllizzyb]

Rentals here are also crazy, not like Portland, but crazy for our area. We could definitely rent out for about $400 over our mortgage, because it's a good neighborhood with solid schools and a SFH.

[claralou]

It's the same here, monkeybabe. When we were deciding whether to renovate or sell our house, we were told it had nearly doubled in value since we bought it. It was only 1800 sq ft- and not all of that was even usable space- and it doubled in 6 years? So we thought about selling, and we're then told "but you still won't be able to buy anything in Denver if you do sell." WTF? Insanity. I get it- the housing market is inflated beyond logic, and it pisses me off too.

[laurensmomma]

Yeah, I hear you. We were lucky we bought when we did. I think if we were looking today, we wouldn't be able to afford our house, and that's only two years later....

[artgal84]

That makes sense mscatra thanks! My sister and her fiancé are looking for a rental right now and simple apartments are almost as much as my mortgage. It's crazy! I can't only imagine what it's like in hcol areas as mine is probably in the middle.

[monkeybabe]

May 29, 2015 7:27:32 GMT -5 claralou said:

It's the same here, monkeybabe. When we were deciding whether to renovate or sell our house, we were told it had nearly doubled in value since we bought it. It was only 1800 sq ft- and not all of that was even usable space- and it doubled in 6 years? So we thought about selling, and we're then told "but you still won't be able to buy anything in Denver if you do sell." WTF? Insanity. I get it- the housing market is inflated beyond logic, and it pisses me off too.

Yeah, our house's value has skyrocketed in the last 4.5 years. It's insane. If we sold it, the only places we could afford to live are in the yet to be gentrified neighborhoods, or the lovely neighborhoods with gravel roads, because the city is telling the communities that they won't maintain the roads until the people that live there pay to have them paved.

[jg183]

there were a bunch of news articles lately about houses by you going for $100k over asking price! And they weren't underpriced to start!
and people offering cash
it's crazy

[nannerl]

May 29, 2015 7:27:32 GMT -5 claralou said:

It's the same here, monkeybabe. When we were deciding whether to renovate or sell our house, we were told it had nearly doubled in value since we bought it. It was only 1800 sq ft- and not all of that was even usable space- and it doubled in 6 years? So we thought about selling, and we're then told "but you still won't be able to buy anything in Denver if you do sell." WTF? Insanity. I get it- the housing market is inflated beyond logic, and it pisses me off too.

Yup. Affordable house in good neighborhood=35-45 minute commute for DH (leaving an hour-ish before the main rush)... We consider ourselves incredibly fortunate.

[bigapple]

We've included cheesy letters to the sellers about how we want to raise our family in their home and snuck in tiny details based on clues in their home to ingratiate ourselves to them. If we can't financially compete with the developers, maybe we can emotionally win

[monkeybabe]

May 30, 2015 11:19:04 GMT -5 bigapple said:

We've included cheesy letters to the sellers about how we want to raise our family in their home and snuck in tiny details based on clues in their home to ingratiate ourselves to them. If we can't financially compete with the developers, maybe we can emotionally win

You'd win with me. This is why I told my mom, back when she wanted me to open a bakery, that she would have to run it and boss me around. I'm too much heart, not enough business.