How bad is the housing market in your area?

Post by **fuzzysnuggleduck** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:05 am

Eric D wrote:About the only plan Hillary has which we may know jack about is her plan to raise taxes on the middle class. Of course, she will call this a tax increase on the rich so the middle class buys into it blindly. In the end it will just put additional stress on this already shot housing market, while over time lowering the national debt. Wow, I am so excited, I am just itching to get rid of that national debt and turn it all into personal debt!

My only advice to those in the US (and maybe other countries as well), is buy a house as soon as possible, and within your means. I don’t know if my advice is right or wrong, but I am at least basing it on hundreds of years of example. If you wait it out long enough, your home will exceed its current value. It is really just a matter of time. And the longer you wait to get a house, the less ahead you are. This is especially true of renting where you are just filling someone else’s pocket instead of your savings.

The only regret I have buying my house is I did not do it sooner. I have only been there a year and a half and I have about 25% paid off. If I bought it sooner, I would be further ahead. I still have the thought of debt hanging over my head, but at least I am getting somewhere paying it off, and hope to be debt free prior to having children.

Unfortunately, I can't afford to buy a home where I want to live. Buying a home would be living outside of my means.

Post by **Eric D** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 2:09 pm

Are you in the city, or an urban area?

I am out in the middle of nowhere, so there are both cheap and expensive homes. I could have bought a dump for $30,000 then fixed it up and sold it for $60,000. My only fear was it would not sell, and it looks like I feared correct.

Post by **fuzzysnuggleduck** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 3:16 pm

I live right in the core of a big (2M people) city. My balcony has a view of Stanley Park (think Central Park). This is where I want to live for now so my options for shelter are low. Even getting any old apartment for a decent price is difficult.

To buy a place across the street with a better view than my apartment is on the order of $500,000 for less than 1000 sqft. And of course, that's not a house, it's a condo... so you also have to pay condo fees and you don't get a yard or any personal space, just like an apartment.

If I'm going to drop money on a residence, I think I would NEED to at least have a personal garage. I can't even think about paying even $200,000 for something where I don't have somewhere to work on my truck and other projects.

Post by **Rold Gold** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 3:27 pm

I've been selling rock in Portland for the last 6 yrs and have seen a pretty substantial drop in business as far as the "New Build" end of the market is concerned. But on the other side of that, the remodel business has stayed pretty level. I call it a "thining out" of those fly-by-night tile setters and slab fab companies that sprang up during the boom. Guy's that have been around for 10+ yrs and were getting $15 per sqft to set stone had to compete with newbies that were charging half that. Now that things have slowed down abit the established companies are getting back to normal. I bought my house 3 years ago for $125K and remodeled the kitchen myself(I set stone on the side). It appraised for $200K last december in alittle over 2 years. But could I sell it for that? Probly...

I forsee the market AROUND PORTLAND to get better within the next 3 years as we get flooded with Cali-forieners that are selling and moving north.

joyride · Post by **joyride** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:36 pm

Well, this is surely going to help the old hometown economy: http://promo.realestate.yahoo.com/ameri ... ities.html

It seems as though some of you guys need to be greatful your city hasnt been affected yet. Trust me...it sucks.

HoseHead · Post by **HoseHead** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 5:45 pm

Ottawa - Federal government city, so employment is relatively stable. Housing here goes up 6-10% per year. We bought a townhome in the city in 1999 for $134K. Sold it in '04 for $235K. That's rude for a 26' lot. We purchased 25 minutes outside the city. 1 Acre, 3500 Sqft for $260K in 04. Similiar houses in the area are listing around $350K now. Brutal for a family strating out. My kids are leaving the nest soon and I will definitely need to downpayment them for any type of real estate purchase. They would need $100K in savings to even consider buying a regular house in this area. We also have another home in the south end of the Province. We bought that one for $135K in '95. It's now hovering around $300K in value without a nickel in improvements. If I drop $50-60K in renos, it would catch $500K easy. But Tha'ts where we will retire. But having that type of market value equity gets you preferred rates for loans and other mortgages. Selecting my WWW button will take to pix of each property and give you an idea of what your getting for those dollars.

But as Eric mentioned, break your funding into weeks of income and use his preferred method of one week;s pay to cover principle, interest, taxes and utilities and you should be fine. The housing market is cyclical, so there may be a storm now and then, so You need to be able to survive it until the weather clears. It's those who mortgage the max that get busted.