Why are the masses so fcuking dumb?

[OS]

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo
-stuff-

Part of it is because the stock market collapse left people without a good and easy investment to put money. Everything else sucks right now as a place to put money.

As for the ballooning prices, it looks f*cking insane, but affordability actually isn't that bad. Because interest is so damn low, monthly payments by any historical measure, adjusted for inflation, is still ok. I've been told even on a 350K house or so, you can get a mortgage payment of ~1500 a month, which isn't too bad for a professional working in CA. Most people don't buy mansions for their first home, buy a little one first, build equity, use the equity to buy a bigger house later.

That being said, there are still too many people in socal and everyone needs to get the f*ck out. Oh yeah, shoot on sight for illegal immigrants.

 

[Siddhartha]

never mind

 

[Ornery]

How much is the cost of building materials and fixtures over there, compared to the rest of the country? You call a house a POS, yet you could level it and build it again for 20% of its purchase price, let alone simply repairing the few problems it may have, for a few thousand dollars.

I watch these home improvement shows, and see people wringing their hands about spending a few dollars to repair houses worth close to a million. The masses are so fcuking dumb alright.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: OS
The house prices situation in california is f*cking ridiculous. My parents own a 2nd home, it's a small 3 bedroom 1100 sq ft house that's 20 ys/o. I was joking with my dad that I might buy it from him and he's like, you know that piece of sh*t is worth 250k+ now?

The traffic and house pricing makes me want to move out even though I've lived here my whole life. More people need to die.

Take the initiative and go first.

At least California has the weather, here in Boston the cost of Housing is similar!

 

[StageLeft]

Lack of a critical education, which should teach critical thinking and encourages one to think outside the box.

In regards to your issue, the general populous is woefully incapble of looking past the immediate, or now. Basically most people have a horizon of about a month. If it's better within that month, then that's about all they care about, and they'll figure the rest out as they go along. Such thinking drives the actions of a great many people.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: Ornery
How much is the cost of building materials and fixtures over there, compared to the rest of the country? You call a house a POS, yet you could level it and build it again for 20% of its purchase price, let alone simply repairing the few problems it may have, for a few thousand dollars.

I watch these home improvement shows, and see people wringing their hands about spending a few dollars to repair houses worth close to a million. The masses are so fcuking dumb alright.

My folks Spec/Build Homes in Central Ca and the cost of the land is what is fueling the rise in New Home Costs. They by an Acre Plot for 100K in November and by March the same plot is going for 130K. Of course the House is usually sold before they even start on the construction.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: OS
The house prices situation in california is f*cking ridiculous. My parents own a 2nd home, it's a small 3 bedroom 1100 sq ft house that's 20 ys/o. I was joking with my dad that I might buy it from him and he's like, you know that piece of sh*t is worth 250k+ now?

The traffic and house pricing makes me want to move out even though I've lived here my whole life. More people need to die.

Take the initiative and go first.

At least California has the weather, here in Boston the cost of Housing is similar!

Move to Alabama. Housing prices are low around Birmingham, and the weather while not as nice as California, beats the ass off of boston (except for that few months in the summer, where I just want to die).

A 3 bedroom home 1100 square feet 20 year old in birmingham could be bought for 250k, but only in the absolute richest areas. 20-30 min from where people general work around here 250k will get you a _nice_ new 4 bedroom on a healthy plot of land.

 

[XZeroII]

I sure hope you are including yourself in the group you call "the masses". You always buy a house when interest rates are down, if possible. When do home prices ever go down? Are you saying that people should hold off for another 2 years when the prices of houses are $50-$100,000 more and interest rates are 3% higher? Who would be dumb then?

 

[Kremlar]

I've been told even on a 350K house or so, you can get a mortgage payment of ~1500 a month,

With what kind of a downpayment??? You're going to have to put $100K down plus not include taxes and insurance to get your payment down that low.

 

[richardycc]

you are the dumbass for not buying sooner, people that bought early in this "pyramid scheme" have nothing to complaint about, its slowass bagholders like you that are complainting. You snooze, you loose.

 

[vi edit]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but California has had a super inflated housing market for years haven't they? I remember hearing horror stories 5 and 10 years ago about houses in CA costing 2x or 3x as much as what something in other parts of the country would cost. And this was far before the historically low interest rates.

Yes, interest rates are encouraging buyers to pay more than they normally would, but it's not like insane house pricing is anything other than par for the course in parts of CA.

 

[rh71]

Why is CA so attractive ?

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: rh71
Why is CA so attractive ?

Because it offers just about any time of natural land formation and climate a person could want all within the same state.

- Mountains
- Beaches
- Forrests
- Desert
- Grasslands

- Desert Climate
- Temperate Climate
- Medditeranian Climate
- Alpine Climate

 

[JackDawkins]

You do realize that the masses think you're the one who's so fcuking dumb? It's a never-ending cycle.

 

[prontospyder]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
Correct me if I'm wrong, but California has had a super inflated housing market for years haven't they? I remember hearing horror stories 5 and 10 years ago about houses in CA costing 2x or 3x as much as what something in other parts of the country would cost. And this was far before the historically low interest rates.

Yes, interest rates are encouraging buyers to pay more than they normally would, but it's not like insane house pricing is anything other than par for the course in parts of CA.

My dad sold our 4 bedroom home in a nice LA suburb 4 years ago for $217,000. Now it probably worth double that.

 

[alphatarget1]

buying houses in california and make a quick (by quick i mean like in 5 to 10 years) before the big one strikes seem like a good idea.

i have been convincing my parents to move to sacramento instead and they don't fvcking believe me. your house would be worthless once it collapses

 

[LAUST]

.

 

[SackOfAllTrades]

I just find it ironic that the "Why are the masses so fcuking dumb?" thread was created by someone that consistently proves on this board that he is dumber than the masses.

 

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo
OK, may be I'm the dumb ass, but I didn't rant without reasons. I do know that the more I delay, the more I'll have to pay for a POS, which is what every one is doing right now any way.

But wouldn't you agree with me that because of this buy it now attitude, that's the reason for the ballooning prices? It's not so much supply and demand, it's the "well, shiet, every one is buying, I gotta buy too" mentallity that allows the seller to jack their prices up to no limits. Never before have I seen houses that are listed and sold two days later (in some cases 1).

Wouldn't you also agree that because of the "low interest" that entice the masses to buy a house in the first place? And from there, it snow balls. I know I'll have to buy soon, but I really hate buying a house now and paying year 2015 prices for it. The way it's going, every one's gonna own a house with the true values waaayyyy below what they should get for their money, kinda like the "tech bubble", if you know what I mean.

Some one mentioned that they made money on a house, I'm not refuting that fact, I'm just pointing out that if not for the stupidity of most people, you would never have made that much in two years. Taken from your example, this is what I'm talking about:

You said you bought your house for $244K, two years ago, the interest rate was probably around 6.5 % right? = do quick compound interest here.
Today, your house is worth $390K, according to you, and the interest rate (median) is around 4.4- 5.5% right? = do quick compound interest here and compare.

Now, most people would ignore the fact that it's $154K more (and all are thinking the house will gain in value, and it's "market value", once again, I'm not disputing this fact), but they're hypnotized with the "low interest" green light => creating false demand. That and "Oh, I gotta buy now or I won't get the low interest rate" thinking that I have previously mentioned.

Bottom line is, if there were more people that think like I do, you won't see that $154K jump in your house's value in less than two years. But I guess, if I can't beat them, I'll be another dumb ass (as you all chimed in) and buy into this house buying craze, like every one else. Yes, and I do know your house won't lose value, unless some drastic events affecting it.

If there were more people like you, then there would be more land lords lining their pockets with YOUR money. 2015 prices? Do you smoke crack? Do you have any idea of what you are talking about?

You stick around and wait for this magic "real estate bubble" to pop. It's never going to, nor are the prices ever going to magically drop.
Historically real estate has never lost value. So do the math, and mabey rant about something you can actully fully understand?

Move to Alabama. Housing prices are low around Birmingham, and the weather while not as nice as California, beats the ass off of boston (except for that few months in the summer, where I just want to die).

A 3 bedroom home 1100 square feet 20 year old in birmingham could be bought for 250k, but only in the absolute richest areas. 20-30 min from where people general work around here 250k will get you a _nice_ new 4 bedroom on a healthy plot of land.

Who would want to live in Alabama? The costs are low because no one wants to live there.

How much is the cost of building materials and fixtures over there, compared to the rest of the country? You call a house a POS, yet you could level it and build it again for 20% of its purchase price, let alone simply repairing the few problems it may have, for a few thousand dollars.

I watch these home improvement shows, and see people wringing their hands about spending a few dollars to repair houses worth close to a million. The masses are so fcuking dumb alright.

Building costs are up around 60%. Building now is a bad idea. When I write reports now I have to write up a whole addendum explaining why my cost approach to value is astronomically higher than my sales comparison approach or my income approach.

I'm an appraiser btw.

 

[Argo]

This why I'm gonna wait until interest rates go up. It looks like hte rates will start to climb this year. Once this happens the house prices will start falling and this is when all the people who paid $300,000 for their condos realize they're now worth only $200,000.

By then hopefully I should have enough downpayment saved up to negate the higher interest rate

 

[cquark]

You stick around and wait for this magic "real estate bubble" to pop. It's never going to

Never's a strong word. When demand decreases, prices will decline. Population can't monotonically increase forever, and the US has already employed most of the stategies to create more housing demand, like single generational families, breaking up families via divorce, and delaying the age of marriage, out of the existing population that it can. Illegal immigration will probably sustain the US real estate market through the time when the Baby Boomers go into assisted living facilities and die off, but sometime around 2050, world and US population will likely stabilize then decline. Of course, that's a long time to defer buying a house today, so I wouldn't suggest doing so.

 

[alkemyst]

Most major metros and their surrounding suburbs are in an 'artifically inflated' market now (of course there is a ton that dispute this and they are usually mortgage & real estate agents).

The main problem is everyone is shopping for monthly 'cost' much like a car or a home theatre type purchase...on a house this is idiotic...however, those that have been dealing know it's a stressed point...."Imagine you *were* paying $1000 per month in your last house, for only $200 more per month you can have all *this*".....

In my area it seems there is a 'floor' price right now, from 'ghetto' to entry level new home, about $150k is the min you are going to find. Of these, checking county records show the older homes selling at $30-75k 2-4 years ago. Something tells me buying a house at $150k that was shortly worth half that is going to set one up for a reverse equity situation in the near future. The loan rates will increase, noone knows when though.

It's an investors market though....buy and sell, buy and sell, get the money out of the property now and keep a couple of the golden eggs for yourself.

The worst case I saw (and it sold to an investor for an undisclosed price) was a $250k house at 800 sq ft with no ac, termite damage, and no recent improvements. It was about 3 streets from the intercoastal in a neighborhood scheduled to become an historical district, no land to speak of under it though a 1920/30's zero lot line deal for probably a servant's home (Palm Beach is across the intercoastal). In 2000 the property was acquired for $27k, at the time of the recent sale it was listed in the county records as a $30k market value all in the land....).

Another scam is a single investor (or group) coming in and buying up property cheap and flipping them back to themselves for more money, this creates comparables. I was told it was not illegal, but somehow I think there has got to be something against that as it artificially creates a value in the neighborhood.

I waited last year, I really wish I bought again in 2000 when I first looked, I figured graduating college and just living low-maintenace in an apartment would be easier. Two places I had looked at have now gone from about $100-110k all the way to $275-300k of actual sales. There was a house I actually looked at 4 years ago at $105k I think sold at $280k....that's a freaking hell of a gain.

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[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: OS
I've been told even on a 350K house or so, you can get a mortgage payment of ~1500 a month, which isn't too bad for a professional working in CA.

at 3% with nothing down just P&I would be about $1500. Add in taxes + PMI + insurance and you are looking much higher...this would be for an ARM also....which I think is a terrible product to choose now unless you are planning on a less than 3 year stay and even then the chance of extra cost is much much higher than saving. Brokers will use the 'monthly payment' verbage but it's really just the P&I portion.

taxes and insurance are what really make or break the deal....you can have the same $250k property taxed at say $1250 a year and $800 in insurance then locate it on the beach and have $5000 in taxes and $2500 in insurance.

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[Siddhartha]

Originally posted by: SackOfAllTrades
I just find it ironic that the "Why are the masses so fcuking dumb?" thread was created by someone that consistently proves on this board that he is dumber than the masses.

He is complaining about all the people ahead of him in line line he is waiting in.

 

[waggy]

Man i would NOT live in CA. My step-mother's father lives in Ca. He is very wealthy. When the fires started in his area he baught 2 houses. One for $350k and hte other for $289k (both small houses but nice) AFTER the fires (about 2 months later) he sold the $350k one for $500k and the $289k one for $525k!

I was fricken amazed! he made one heck of a profit for very little work. But of course you need the money to buy the house to begine with.

heh im just glad he loves my daughter! They only have 5 grandkids and my daughter is the only one they have seen. heh