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And thus closes my home buying experience

SunnyD

SunnyD

Belgian Waffler
Friggin home prices out here are insane... no, rather, innane! Okay, so it's not silicon valley, but I should be able to get a house for $120k in a decent neighborhood north of Orlando. Like Deltona, Deland, etc.

Nope! The few houses that are available around here for the price range are in craptastic neighborhoods, and to make things worse is that as soon as anything shows up on the market, it has got a contract put on it in the span of about 24 hours. Hell! I can't even get out to look at the houses most of the time before they're sold.

Did I mention that things are way overpriced out here?

I quit. Apartment living 4 lyfe! (Yep, just throwing my money out the door).

I miss New York (and their nation-leading state taxes).
 
I can identify... all of the ones I really, really liked were swooped up the day before or the day I went to look at them. So now I'm settling for a lesser house, but I won't be here forever so it's not a big deal. Whatever equity I build will help give me a better payment on the house I really want.
 
Originally posted by: SunnyD
Friggin home prices out here are insane... no, rather, innane! Okay, so it's not silicon valley, but I should be able to get a house for $120k in a decent neighborhood north of Orlando. Like Deltona, Deland, etc.

Nope! The few houses that are available around here for the price range are in craptastic neighborhoods, and to make things worse is that as soon as anything shows up on the market, it has got a contract put on it in the span of about 24 hours. Hell! I can't even get out to look at the houses most of the time before they're sold.

Did I mention that things are way overpriced out here?

I quit. Apartment living 4 lyfe! (Yep, just throwing my money out the door).

I miss New York (and their nation-leading state taxes).
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Howdy former NYer - current NYer (upstate) here!

While the low-priced housing here in the Binghamton area was great when i bought Our house in Endicott for a modest $52000!!!!!, the "nation-leading taxes" part is REALLY starting to hurt! (my village is proposing a 21% tax hike with their budget proposal! :Q
 
Friggin home prices out here are insane... no, rather, innane! Okay, so it's not silicon valley, but I should be able to get a house for $120k in a decent neighborhood north of Orlando. Like Deltona, Deland, etc.
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I cannot agree more. I live a little NE of Orlando and tiny shacks (like my place) are selling for $200K!

A lot of people are ecstatic over the prices of their homes going up. They then take out home equity loans on their places so that they can go buy more things and get further into debt.

What these people don't realize is that they are getting locked into that house for the rest of their lives ... with no chance of parole.
 
my little townhouse was bought for 124K 😱 It's like 1200SF. Personally, I think its nuts. 5 years ago, the same amount of money would have bought a house DOUBLE the size in my area 🙁
 
Houses just hit a median selling price of $400K here in Bellevue (near Seattle).

So I rent a 2 br apartment, and send the $1K more I'd pay for a mortgage off to Schwab instead. I just can't talk myself into attaching a $400K ball and chain to my life.
 
Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Originally posted by: Jzero
Keep plugging away. Eventually you'll find one that works.
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Yeah, we looked at 8-10 houses in the course of a month before picking this one.
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Man, I looked at like 100 in a month, and it still took me several months.
 
You're funny man. A decent 2 bedroom condo in an average neighborhood costs around $250,000 here. So remember, no matter how bad it is, it could be much much worse.
 
My boss decided to setup this business in an area of town thats a ways away from the main city. So I went out looking for apts and was ablt to find something fairly decent (albeit far away) for around $400/mo while i saved up to go towards a house. Well I start looking at houses and there is not one house below $180K being offered in the entire zipcode around my offices, in fact the major housing development close by (where those 180K houses are) is in a flood plain next to a horse ranch AND next door to a traler park. I mean how the heck are those houses 180K??!?! there not even that big...maybe 1800 sqft...kb-cookiecutter-homes...so i'm just having to settle for my apts while i try and manage my way up the ladder to make owning something at the 200K level worthwhile.
 
Originally posted by: Argo
You're funny man. A decent 2 bedroom condo in an average neighborhood costs around $250,000 here. So remember, no matter how bad it is, it could be much much worse.
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Like LA. Min $350k for 2 bed / 2 bath condo in decent part of town.
 
Wow, I am glad that I live in the low cost area of the South. The house I am moving in is about 1900 sf and $180K. It has 4 beds/2 full baths and a huge backyard with privacy wood fence. I will get a pic or two shortly.
 
a single story house is under $300k around here, it used to be around $200k couple yrs ago. that's not the worst. my gf is in silicon valley and she wanted me to move down. we checked out some new town houses, frickin $650k! and they are sold so fast. how the heck do ppl come up with so much money in there.
 
Originally posted by: SearchMaster
Overpriced? Not if there's a seemingly endless supply of buyers at those prices.

Maybe you're just overexpecting...
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I am overexpecting - but keep in mind this is a home we're talking about for my family.
 
Zero down home loans that's how. They do the same thing here in Columbus, OH, except they give you an 80-10-10 loan so you can avoid PMI. You take out 3 loans on the house with the 10%'ers at about 2-4% higher interest rates than the 80%. Its insane how much house some people buy just for social reasons. Then they do a 5-in-1 ARM and sell it in 5 years and end up with ZERO equity in it. Insane.

1500 sq. foot house in north east Columbus, OH. 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, 2.5 car garage and such. In a decent part of town = $119K.
 
what I don't understand is the abundant supply of people able to afford these houses. All of a sudden theres a huge surge of rich people?
 
Originally posted by: Cleaner
Zero down home loans that's how. They do the same thing here in Columbus, OH, except they give you an 80-10-10 loan so you can avoid PMI. You take out 3 loans on the house with the 10%'ers at about 2-4% higher interest rates than the 80%. Its insane how much house some people buy just for social reasons. Then they do a 5-in-1 ARM and sell it in 5 years and end up with ZERO equity in it. Insane.

1500 sq. foot house in north east Columbus, OH. 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, 2.5 car garage and such. In a decent part of town = $119K.
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thats an interesting point, although even with zero down loans, you would think there would still be a income criteria.....I mean, if I only make 60k a year, whos going to approve me for a 300k+ loan? That just doesnt sound right.
 
There's definitely a speculation aspect of it. "I better buy now before prices go up any higher!" My area is growing, there are jobs here, and housing is going up 20% a year. But if it keeps going at that rate, you won't be able to attract people to the area due to the high cost of living. And that will slow the market down somewhat.
 
Originally posted by: shuan24
Originally posted by: Cleaner
Zero down home loans that's how. They do the same thing here in Columbus, OH, except they give you an 80-10-10 loan so you can avoid PMI. You take out 3 loans on the house with the 10%'ers at about 2-4% higher interest rates than the 80%. Its insane how much house some people buy just for social reasons. Then they do a 5-in-1 ARM and sell it in 5 years and end up with ZERO equity in it. Insane.

1500 sq. foot house in north east Columbus, OH. 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, 2.5 car garage and such. In a decent part of town = $119K.
Click to expand...


thats an interesting point, although even with zero down loans, you would think there would still be a income criteria.....I mean, if I only make 60k a year, whos going to approve me for a 300k+ loan? That just doesnt sound right.
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I was approved for a $325k loan. It isn't uncommon around here. On an 80-15-5 loan (because I couldn't come up with $32.5K, only had about $25k for a down payment), my payments on a 30 year fixed would have been ~$2250/month. On an interest only loan, my payments would have been ~$1850. At $60k/year, you gross $5k a month. A general rule of thumb is not to go over 50% of your gross income spent on your house. So the $325k home would have worked, but it's really stretching it.

Because I'm not planning on being here forever, and the fact that a townhouse rents for much less than a mortgage given current prices, I've decided I'm not buying anything around my area.
 
Originally posted by: shuan24
what I don't understand is the abundant supply of people able to afford these houses. All of a sudden theres a huge surge of rich people?
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No, just a huge surge of people willing to be up to their ears in debt. I think we are now far enough removed from the depression that few people realize what happens when the sh!t hits the fan.
 
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