@@@ I have friends that have pre-teens and teens who're stuck in apts they're having trouble affording, but can't get in to a house because of the shortage and pricing. It's a nightmare. One friend has a 2 BR apt with 2 kids, and they're just too cramped. To further complicate matters they don't want to re-district their kids who're so involved in activities, scouts etc. unless they absolutely have too, so the search is much smaller.
This is me. We are in a 2 bedroom rented condo with a 17yo and 14yo. There is nothing I can do. It sucks for them and I feel like I let them down. Their friends are all in nice houses with their own rooms.
In case you need to hear this, don't ever feel like you let them down. I spent my entire life in apartments before we bought our current house. I'm 41 and have never had my own room lol. Yes, I noticed other kids had houses and their own rooms, but I understood why too (especially as a teenager) and ultimately never felt like things were missing. You are giving your children a roof over their heads and that's what matters most.
I hate to break it to anyone, but housing prices won't fall to 2008-2010 levels. Houses have increased in value too much over the last 13 years, not just 2020 til now. Things are leveling off here. Some houses that have been on the market for 45-60 days are coming down in price anywhere from 5-15% (15% more on the 500,000+ end). There still isn't anything in my area under $300,000 except for a few older 1200 sq foot town houses and 1-2 BR condos (condos in older but very nice complexes). MCOL in a suburb of a major southern city.
I don't need/want them to go back to 2008-2010 levels. I think that is unreasonable.
But if they could get closer to 2020 prices, that would be great.
I live in a HCOL area where prices for attached townhomes have ballooned from $6-700k to $1.2-1.5 million in those 3 years. Home prices literally doubling in 3 years feels unreasonable/unsustainable.
I get that. My dad updated and sold a 2 BR condo in a VERY HCOL (closer to DC) that was purchased in the 80's. 2019 maybe it sold for $250K or something crazy like that (maybe more I don't remember). He didn't entertain a bidding war and just went with the first offer in less than a week to unload it. I can't imagine how much it would sell for now. Granted the place is a super nice complex with a pool and what not, but that's bananas!
I saw a very small house on the market last night, on a busy street (undesirable) with a big sign "only $2300 a month!" and that blew my mind. People can't afford that, and it's way too much for that "little" house.
Also, I'm 100% guilty for supporting this by watching HGTV, but the renovators are ballooning the prices. They make me batty complaining there's nothing to flip, then way over jack up the prices to make an exorbitant profit. I know you flip to make money, but they're a huge problem with housing prices. I'll save my rant about people buying up houses to flip thinking they can make a living for another thread.
This is me. We are in a 2 bedroom rented condo with a 17yo and 14yo. There is nothing I can do. It sucks for them and I feel like I let them down. Their friends are all in nice houses with their own rooms.
In case you need to hear this, don't ever feel like you let them down. I spent my entire life in apartments before we bought our current house. I'm 41 and have never had my own room lol. Yes, I noticed other kids had houses and their own rooms, but I understood why too (especially as a teenager) and ultimately never felt like things were missing. You are giving your children a roof over their heads and that's what matters most.
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Yeah please know I mean no disrespect to parents who live in apts. My friends are lucky enough to have stayed in the same cramped apt for most of their kids schooling. My DH moved just about every year when he was growing up, so I think to him just staying in one place, an apt, a house, a mansion, is a privilege alone. I'm also glad they're willing to wait for a house in district, rather than uproot friends, activities, life in general, just to have more space. They can't win because it's a rural area with few houses in district, high prices for what little is on sale. I'm sure they explain to their kids that they're trying. Both parents work (often different schedules to be home for the kids) and make financial sacrifices to save up for said house. It's just that every time you get a step ahead with a down payment, the price goes up, and the volume goes down.
And again you're doing everything you can for your kids cjcouple. Assuming you have a condo association you hopefully are saving your kids from lawn mowing, snow removal (if applicable) etc. It sounds little, but none of us enjoyed that as kids.
Sadly someday kids now will be on threads like this complaining that their parents (aka us/our generation) "ruined) housing for them, when it wasn't us at all.
I'm feeling lucky that I let me DH talk me into buying a "forever" home with 4BR when we first were starting our family in 2011.
It was a bit of a stretch back then and I was feeling like it would be safer to buy a less expensive starter home and get something bigger when/if we needed it down the road. Now that we have 3 kids we are still comfortable here and probably couldn't afford our current house today when you take into account the increased value and rates. I would love a shorter commute since DH's work location has changed in the past 12 years (we bought at the former halfway point between our two jobs but now work in the same city) but giving up my 3.25 rate would not make sense.
we are buying right now and our mortgage broker is telling us we will probably refi next year but they are only going to drop into the 5s and we will not ever see the 3% rates again but if we see the mid 5s to refi then. Basically the only way they will go lower is if the government does some kind of stimulus and they wont because that caused this mess
I don't think interest rates will drop much, and I don't think they need to/should go back to the 2-3% range we saw recently. I remember when we first bought at 5.5% that was considered a historically low rate!
It it the house pricing that is out of control and I don't understand how it is sustainable. I just saw 2 houses in my neighborhood come on the market at $1.7M and $2M. Those prices are insane for my town. The $1.7M house is nice, but it is only 3 bedrooms/2300 sqft and the owner bought it in 2019 for $1.2M (which seemed overpriced then!). All the smaller/older houses are being bought by developers, torn down, and replaced with brand new mcmansions that are just insanely priced. Yet they sell!
I can't complain, we were lucky we bought at a good time and now have a super low interest rate. But now with 2 of us full time WFH and the kids getting bigger, I'd love to upgrade to more space. But it is completely unaffordable. I guess this is now our forever home. It sucks feeling trapped by it though. And I can't even imagine being a first time buyer now.
Post by sandandsea on Jul 12, 2023 15:33:45 GMT -5
I don’t think prices are going down. I think the increases and bidding wars may wane but I think prices will stay “high” and that has become the new normal. Interest rates are stagnating too. I think we are out of the crazy inflation period but it will stick here a bit.
It HAS to right? I am thinking about training to be a mortgage broker so I can be ready to pounce when interest rates go down and everyone refinances.
Become a mobile notary instead lol probably faster and less work, but fairly good $$$
I'm a mobile notary and the money was not as good as I would have hoped. Especially picking up jobs from mortgage companies all over, they really started to low ball closings. And most times they wanted double prints. But, it is not a bad side gig.
Post by goldengirlz on Jul 12, 2023 15:48:22 GMT -5
To the point I mentioned about home prices fluctuating like stocks, I think you need to be ready to buy when no one else wants to. Someone mentioned 2020 prices — well, yeah, but there was a pandemic. Most of us were hunkered down, or we wanted to leave hard-hit metros, not invest in them.
I think part of the reason H and I are stuck in our current house is because we can’t move against the grain. I work in the dominant industry here, with the same stock as everyone else, and we’d be buying and selling in the same metro area (which means our home value rises and falls in line with everyone else’s). Prices in San Francisco proper are coming down, but it’s no secret that the city is still struggling post-pandemic. We’re not alone in that either. Want to make a long-term bet on a West Coast city? It’s not a bad time! But again, there’s a reason people are fleeing to the ‘burbs … If you want what everyone else wants, you’re going to pay top dollar for it. Just like stock.
Post by pinkdutchtulips on Jul 12, 2023 16:01:28 GMT -5
Sadly lifelong renter here ..... I pay $2500/month for my 800sf 2/1 rental (that i've had for 10y), J pays roughly $3100 for his 1100sf 2/1 rental. We started looking at rentals in Marin bc due to his job and custody arrangement moving out of county isn't an option. We're looking at $5k-$5500/month to rent a 3/2 1500sf fenced yard bc Ellie woof house and the pickings are SLIM. We can't buy bc the median home price is $1.7M and we don't make nearly enough to afford the down payment for that (see rental payments) let alone get approved for mortgage.
I've resigned myself to the fact that i'll never own, even w a sizeable inheritance from my gpa, I won't come close to being able to afford a home in CA in the next 5-10y (when both kids are out of HS). J was able to buy during the 2008 crash and sold when the market went up again (14) and that's when they (him and ex) bought their home in Marin w a $3300/month mortgage (15). Sadly they divorced and he was forced to sell the house. Not enough equity to purchase anything else bc the equity was split.
Every year I pray that my rent doesn't get past the point I can't afford it. It's probably too much rn but most places charge more than what I'm paying + Miss R and her friends. It's a lose/lose situation.
It's frustrating making $200k/yr (HHI) and being completely shut out from buying a house/townhouse/condo bc you lack the down payment (bc who can save when you're spending $5k/month on rent) and even if you did have the down payment, you couldn't afford the mortgage.