This insane housing market.

[Turn the Page]

I suppose I don't have anything as crazy as these stories to report but we bought our home 6 years ago and our zillow zestimate is now nearly double what we paid for it. I don't know how accurate that is but we haven't looked at all since we certainly aren't moving anywhere.

DH made a few comments last year that given how housing prices are if we were in a different situation he might consider putting it on the market. I don't know what situation he was talking about because housing is nuts everywhere and we have to live somehwere. I guess maybe if we were ready to downsize or something?

The craziest thing I can think of is my mother recently bought a 700 square foot condo for $194,000 and $425 a month in monthly dues. That is totally insane. And no, it is cute but it certainly isn't upscale in any way. Even the realtor tried to talk her out of it claiming the dues were too high but she insisted. Whatever. Not my monkey not my circus.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Our home in PA, just over the NJ border, has direct busses that run to NYC and there is nothing available, people are buying up whatever is there which is good for the schools who get all their funding this way. All the empty houses, cottages, townhomes, Mcmansions were draining the communities & the students all suffered with slim budgets so this is a blessing for the public school system. I was in the PTA for ages, the losses due to the houses that just sat there after 2008 were felt everywhere but mostly by the schools, no money in budgets for books so just random printouts and a fortune in defaulted school lunch bills, so many towns just died off .... not good

Can't say I'm surprised by the renewed interest, we moved to the area during the first wave in the early 90's precisely because of bus access to Wall St area NYC (my job and FIL used to prefer catching a train about 30 into NJ), easy access to Northern NJ jobs (DH's), lower taxes all the way around for new and existing construction and cheaper insurance all the way around as well. Being here allowed me to be a SAHM so it worked out. There was a second wave around 2006-8 but some of those people got caught up in the flipping so that was sad. Paying attention this doesn't seem to be anything like what is going on here now since all the units as far as I can tell seem to be owner occupied with people who left the city like we did, just wanting a bigger place with a lawn and fields. It's nice to drive through and see young families talking walks and kids everywhere on bicycles, basketball hoops popping up and partners out there fixing up the long neglected houses. People are building their dream homes and it's wonderful. Over Christmas we took drives out into the more rural areas and new smaller starter places are popping up through the region, which is nice because new blood brings diversity to some old school stale places the really do need to change, it's tough to enforce change but when it's a natural sift it's a tidal wave. These families will probably draw in better hospital coverage since the new baby business is a no brainer for medical systems, which is fantastic.

We're looking to sell soon because the kids are older so raising a family with fields for sports is no longer a thing, for us this was always the plan, the suburbs were always going to be a stepping stone for us & it's time to get to steppin'.

My retired fixed income MIL next door is now looking at a retirement sort of spot as well, and when she sells that will open up her home to another family full of life with young working parents paying income taxes and such as well.

This great shift all over the place will be good for most communities, it should be embraced IMO.

 

[butterscotchcollins]

[…]because the friend is looking at a 40% increase in the rent on his current apartment that will take effect when his lease renews in March.

Say what you will about NYC but that’s why we have rent control laws! That’s crazy.

 

[mefordis]

Say what you will about NYC but that’s why we have rent control laws! That’s crazy.

Yeah, NYC rent is really cheap these days.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

First we’re killing the housing market not buying, now we’re being punished for it because we are

I've actually heard that the Boomers are largely responsible for our current housing market issues during the pandemic. Their buying power meant that they could afford the homes AND over ask AND cash offers that Millennials never could do (in large part). They scooped up the available inventory leaving Millennials with little choices and contributed the most to the housing prices being what they were. Older Millennials (the ones closer to 40) having more purchasing power than others in their cohorts though. But you know Millennials should be used to I guess the constant jabs. I think what the PP posted was sorta a bit out of the context (more the "drove much of the housing market in 2021" part of the story). The reason why the home pricing is the way that it is has generally been looked to be more the Boomers due to their purchasing powers. Millennials regretting that they paid more than they feel they should have shouldn't be perceived as if Millennials are at fault but more they were dealt the hand they were dealt and wished they didn't have to pay more just because.

What I have heard is people regretting things like bypassing inspections just to get the home in such a competitive market, that people rushed to find housing to accommodate stay at home orders and remote working but ended up finding that their needs weren't being met completely or what they thought was a good space for the home just isn't working out. I don't think that's related to generational other than I think we can say that a significant amount of older people ended up retiring so the remote working aspect wasn't quite as prevalent as younger generation.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Knew someone who put their house on the market for just under $800k…..they got $850k……NY/CT border

 

[Colleen27]

I've actually heard that the Boomers are largely responsible for our current housing market issues during the pandemic. Their buying power meant that they could afford the homes AND over ask AND cash offers that Millennials never could do (in large part). They scooped up the available inventory leaving Millennials with little choices and contributed the most to the housing prices being what they were. Older Millennials (the ones closer to 40) having more purchasing power than others in their cohorts though. But you know Millennials should be used to I guess the constant jabs. I think what the PP posted was sorta a bit out of the context (more the "drove much of the housing market in 2021" part of the story). The reason why the home pricing is the way that it is has generally been looked to be more the Boomers due to their purchasing powers. Millennials regretting that they paid more than they feel they should have shouldn't be perceived as if Millennials are at fault but more they were dealt the hand they were dealt and wished they didn't have to pay more just because.

What I have heard is people regretting things like bypassing inspections just to get the home in such a competitive market, that people rushed to find housing to accommodate stay at home orders and remote working but ended up finding that their needs weren't being met completely or what they thought was a good space for the home just isn't working out. I don't think that's related to generational other than I think we can say that a significant amount of older people ended up retiring so the remote working aspect wasn't quite as prevalent as younger generation.

I think this generational back and forth misses the bigger problem (which is probably mostly attributable to Boomers, but only to a small minority of the generation as a whole) - it isn't owner-occupants that are driving these prices in most markets. It is investors gobbling up lower-end properties, which then pushes everyone looking to become homeowners up a notch or two on the price scale. Not just individual investors, either, though certainly renting out one's previous home rather than selling is financially attractive right now. Institutional investors are using rental real estate as a way to diversify and hedge against stock market volatility. Business Insider ran an article that cited statistics showing fully 20% of home sales are going into the hands of investors since the start of the pandemic, and that figure is even higher in some markets. Compared to that, the buying power of Boomers looking for a work-from-home friendly space or even those buying second homes away from the city is a drop in the bucket.

I've seen these two memes over and over from my kids' peers, and I think taken together they do a rather good job of summing up the current housing situation for young millennials and older gen zers.

 

[fhtpdw20]

I get a minimum of 2 calls per day and sometimes up to 6 wanting to know if I want to sell my house. They are all the same: will pay cash, close when I want, and bought "as is". I just need to move out. I never answer them. I will not deal with some fly-by-night outfit looking to make a quick buck.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think this generational back and forth misses the bigger problem (which is probably mostly attributable to Boomers, but only to a small minority of the generation as a whole) - it isn't owner-occupants that are driving these prices in most markets. It is investors gobbling up lower-end properties, which then pushes everyone looking to become homeowners up a notch or two on the price scale. Not just individual investors, either, though certainly renting out one's previous home rather than selling is financially attractive right now. Institutional investors are using rental real estate as a way to diversify and hedge against stock market volatility. Business Insider ran an article that cited statistics showing fully 20% of home sales are going into the hands of investors since the start of the pandemic, and that figure is even higher in some markets. Compared to that, the buying power of Boomers looking for a work-from-home friendly space or even those buying second homes away from the city is a drop in the bucket.

I've seen these two memes over and over from my kids' peers, and I think taken together they do a rather good job of summing up the current housing situation for young millennials and older gen zers.
View attachment 643298View attachment 643297

That I def. think is an issue in some places and I do think in my area non-apartment complex homes have had higher rents over the years than realistically people can pay.

But by in large in my housing market it's not the investors buying up homes. It's owner-occupied homes that are just in short supply and have been for a long time just really tightened up during the pandemic. New homes (which help add to the available inventory) typically are not priced low in part to developers just can't built homes for prices they used to (land costs, building material costs, etc) but also restrictions on how many homes (largely due to citizen concerns for population density, traffic concerns, wear and tear on roads, etc). There was just a post on Nextdoor asking if people would be in it to join together to buy land for affordable housing options in the $200-$300K range which is a bit ironic that that is considered affordable. The person was largely wanting 55+ maintenance provided neighborhood and someone rightfully responded "why does it have to be 55+, lots of people want affordable options". Realistically though land has always been expensive in my county, going more to the country used to be better but development has pushed that direction (because it's the only way to get growth) which has led to less affordable options for land but you'll still typically get more bang for your buck being more on the outskirts of the cities.

As far as rents, if we're talking about apartment complexes the issue largely IS developers who only build higher end apartments in my area. I really don't know why our cities in my direct area keep giving developers the go ahead for apartment complexes that will not help one iota the affording housing market because the rent that needs to be charged to make a profit in addition to just normal profit margins will price out the people who typically need them. And in my area NIMBY does tend to be strong so mixed use (detached homes built with townhomes or duplexes built with apartments all in one area) tend to be strongly put down so that doesn't help. Most people want the cities to grant land (and tax breaks that often come with it) to people who will help the housing issues. That means building apartment complexes with rents in a realistic range and homes that are not dumps but also aren't costing an arm and a leg. If you ask me the apartment complexes would be the more realistic path because while I do generally look unfavorably on developers who build these out of reach homes for many their situation tends to be more realistic because of their overall general investment. An apartment complex can buy land, build buildings, add some amenities and be done but a developer of a subdivision has to do things differently.

ETA: in my neighborhood it's still growing, there's still homes being built and people moving around. We just got a real estate recap from one of the main real estate agents in our neighborhood for 2021. The average resale price was $550,458 average on the market 11 days with the average New Construction being $617,332. When we moved in in 2014 resale was under $400K. There are no investors buying the existing homes and new homes are usually spec homes (more common I would say these days) OR like what we were where we picked a builder who bought our lot (priced by the Developer) who then built our house on it.

 

[longboard55]

When you look at zillow, length of listing is often in hours, But they say everyone is leaving California. Feel real bad for the younger workers

 

[gillep]

When you look at zillow, length of listing is often in hours, But they say everyone is leaving California. Feel real bad for the younger workers

We are in the Bay Area, definitely not in the nicer areas either, and houses aren't even making it to market. They go from coming soon to sold. This is for 1,000-1,500 sq ft homes built in the 70s selling for about 1.2 million, it is truly insane.

 

[neverlandsky]

Here's another one Rents are up 40% in some cities, forcing millions to find another place to live (yahoo.com)

 

[longboard55]

We are in the Bay Area, definitely not in the nicer areas either, and houses aren't even making it to market. They go from coming soon to sold. This is for 1,000-1,500 sq ft homes built in the 70s selling for about 1.2 million, it is truly insane.

It is just about as bad in OC. Anything under one million will be pretty bad. The best move seems to buy up, if you can go $1.5 million you get a real nice house

 

[NotUrsula]

My DS is a young renter in the Tampa Bay area, which has one of the highest rent-inflation situations right now, and he lives in fear that his rent will skyrocket when the lease comes due for renewal in August, but even worse than that is the fear that his small, older low-rise building will be sold to a developer who will raze it to build more profitable "luxury" hi-rise housing. Cities have got to protect their wage-earning populations by limiting permission for things like that; it's tempting to go chasing that golden goose, but not if it drives out all the lower-earning people who make your community function -- teachers, cops, sanitation workers, hospital techs, minor bureaucrats, etc. Those people don't make a lot of money or pay a whole lot of taxes, but they tend to do very important jobs that keep our infrastructure running, and we need to keep them in the community and support their quality of life, or the quality of life enjoyed by the entire population will suffer.

Yesterday I was reading an article that talked about an innovative program being run by the building inspector's office in St. Petersburg, FL. They are going after code violations at empty properties to try to force them into foreclosure so that they can be turned over for occupancy. At first they were razing them and selling the lots, but they found that speculators moved in there, too, so they have started donating them to affordable housing charities, such as Habitat for Humanity. The charities take on the cost of demolition so the city doesn't have to pay for that, and then they build affordable small units on the land and get them occupied by homeowners again. I was so impressed by the forethought of that. The article points out that most of the time cities just file a lien against the landlords but don't feel like it makes sense to spend the money to pursue foreclosure in court, but they are finding that it does make sense, because it turns out that it actually WORKS to preserve affordable owner-occupied housing. At this point the City of St. Pete has reduced the number of nuisance properties 700% over what it was 3 years ago.

 

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

First we’re killing the housing market not buying, now we’re being punished for it because we are

Everything is the millennials fault, don’t ya know!

 

[butterscotchcollins]

Yeah, NYC rent is really cheap these days.

I didn’t say it was But it would be illegal to jack up someone’s rent like that in response to market rates. So if you’re paying $2k a month in rent you don’t have to worry about suddenly having to pay $2800 at lease renewal. If you’re looking to sign a new lease, that’s a slightly (but still not as drastic) story.

 

[Avery&Todd]

We're in central NC in a very popular area - and we built our house just under 2 years ago (April 2020) and according to Zillow, our house is priced at DOUBLE what I closed on it less than 2 years ago....



I'm glad we sold/built/bought when we did because there is NO WAY I could afford my house now!

The housing market around here is RI-DIC-U-LOUS....

 

[Kestryl]

East Tennessee. We bought our house three years ago. Allegedly our house is up over 50% from what we paid. I get the flyers asking for us to sell a few times a week. Sell and go where, exactly?

 

[mefordis]

This situation will definitely start changing soon though. As the Fed reverses their “free money” stance, homes will become more unaffordable, and the market will cool (some). There’s a big difference between a $500k mortgage at 3%, and the same mortgage at 6%.

I think another stimulus check is going out for social security and ssi recipients - $1400 is what I hear.

 

[georgina]

All I have read about is that a bunch of people signed a petition requesting a stimulus check for seniors. Nothing proposed in legislation.