Gamers with Homes?

I'm from Long Island New York. The housing market here has gone through the roof in the last 3 years. A friend of mine bought a house 3 years ago for approx. $280,000.00 and the sold it this year for $480,000.00. (Approx. 50 years old, very small 3br with almost no property, 1 floor)

I'm from Point Lookout (if anyone has ever heard of it). I'm a resident for over 30 years. Because I didn't get in the market 3 years ago living in my home town is almost out of the question now. The rest of the Island is not much better – most properties are $100,000 over priced. The cost of homes on Long Island has gone so high, I've considered moving away.

I just came back from a trip to Las Vegas where you can buy a brand new beautiful house for $200,000 - $360,000 in a gated neighborhood no-less. Of course the job market isn't as good but it's much easier to get in to a house out there.

Anyway, what's it like by you?

Well, my sister just bought a house in Western Kentucky for about 24,000. Its a 2 bedroom 1 story house. A decent starter house. In Kentucky though, everything is much cheaper.

I used to live in California where my 5-bedroom house cost $400,000. I was completely in shock for about a year. When we moved back home to Louisiana, we bought an even larger home for just under $270,000. California is just insane and I''m sure New York is even more so. It would be okay if wages were that much higher but they aren''t.

Sounds like I could trade my car in for a nice home in Kentucky

"Crick" wrote:

Sounds like I could trade my car in for a nice home in Kentucky :wink:

Ah, but cars are only worth about 300 dollars here. That is, if you want to be driving an ""upper-class"" brand new car. If not then you can use spit and $59 to buy an ''88 escort with no paint.

I am just getting ready to buy my first house, hopefully this summer. Housing around Reno is going a little nuts right now though so we''ll see. Things are pretty variable, a cheap condo can be had for under 50k but I expect to spend between 120 and 150 for something about 1000 sq. ft. And of course there are a significant number of homes that are way above 1 mil in certain parts of town. I guess the average 3 bed 2 bath home around here is right around 250k.

I feel ya Crick. Here in Northeast-central Connecticut the housing market is similarly fooked up. Luckilly we were able to get a house on a few acres. We really want to get more land (my wife likes to raise goats and sheep and stuff) but we can''t afford to anymore. I worry about whether or not our two kids will be able to live in New England. We''ll have to help them and even then maybe not. Maybe we should all move to Kentucky.

Maybe we should ALL move to Kentucky, buy a bunch of land and form a gaming commune!

Toronto is pretty nuts, probably starts around 150 - 200 K for a shack or 600-800 sqft Condo. From there the sky is the limit.

It''s why I''m planning to move to Halifax, you can get something nice for like 65K

In South Central PA (Adams County) houses average about 125,000 (thats for say 1800-2000 Sq Ft)

I lucked out and foudn a nice forclosure about 3 years ago and made about $30000 just by buying it. I paid 107000 and its work about 135000. Of course I live in a gated community which adds to the cost. I also live on the road thats as far away from the lake as possible (Lake Meade). Houses on my street average 135000 and on the lake they start at about 400000 and go up to about 1.5 Million. (there is one thats about 800 sq feet that sold for about 300000 last year. Its been torn down and a newer one thats huge is being built

The Boston area is very screwed right now.

I''m literally in the process of securing my loan for a 2 family (duplex). I''m buying in a suburb outside of boston. The average home price in this town is around 365k. It''s disgusting.

The places I''ve looked at, for a 1000 sq. foot 2 bed, 1 bath house in the surrounding suburbs will go for about 300-400K.

If you start looking inside Boston, for condo''s within a few miles of the city, i''ve been seeing things like 850sq ft with 2 beds and 1 bat for 315-375k. Oh, and no parking.

If you want to go larger, your talking in the high 300''s and 400''s.

300 - 400k and no parking

Just moved into my first house. We''ve got a single story ranch with a finished basement which brings it to about 2500 sq ft. The house is 27 years old, and in very good shape. We ended up paying $130,000 for it, and it includes a .5 acre lot.

I simply couldn''t imagine what would be like on the east coast. Seeing prices like $300,000 for a house that is smaller than ours makes my brain hurt.

Edmonton housing costs are certainly rising, but they are reasonable compared to most larger cities (in particular in comparison with Vancouver and Toronto). The market here got pretty hot -- I sold my first house after three years and its value rose by about $70k and it was a fairly small (1200 sq ft) with two bedrooms. My new house (we built) was $225k (CDN) and its about 2000 sq ft. Since we built it a year and a half ago, the same house and lot now is in the vicinity of $260k-$280k. Again, comparatively inexpensive compared to a lot of markets but that still is a rapid increase in price over a relatively short time period.

Big-city housing prices scare me. I paid about $50K for a 1200 sq. ft. 3/2 in north Florida, with some of the most beautiful beaches in the world less than a half-hour away. Payments under $400/month (about 1/2 of what I''d pay to rent here). Our cul-de-sac neighbors make Cletus from ""The Simpsons"" look like the epitome of class and taste, but hey - that''s what fences were made for.

Makes you wonder how much higher they can go. Nice seeing your home increase in value, but it also means you can''t afford to ""upgrade"". I keep saying at some point the bubble will burst, but maybe it won''t.

"belt500" wrote:

The Boston area is very screwed right now.

I''m literally in the process of securing my loan for a 2 family (duplex). I''m buying in a suburb outside of boston. The average home price in this town is around 365k. It''s disgusting.

The places I''ve looked at, for a 1000 sq. foot 2 bed, 1 bath house in the surrounding suburbs will go for about 300-400K.

If you start looking inside Boston, for condo''s within a few miles of the city, i''ve been seeing things like 850sq ft with 2 beds and 1 bat for 315-375k. Oh, and no parking.

If you want to go larger, your talking in the high 300''s and 400''s.

That pretty much sums it up.

I bought my house last June in the metro west area outside of Boston. I own now which is a good feeling, but I''m what you call ""house poor"". Maybe that''s why I''m still playing WC3?

I live in Denver and the housing market is screwed up here to.

Before I married, my wife bought a condo for 30k. She then sold it 2 years later for 90k. Now that exact same condo is $150k...

Same goes for our house. We bought it from my wifes sister for 200k. They bought it 4 years earlier for $120k. We''ve been there exactly one year from Sunday and its approximate appraisal is $250k.

This is all well and good but it:
1) limits those who can get out of the ""renting"" syndrome.
2) inflates the market so that more and more housing goes up when its not needed
3) makes those who can play real-estate richer while leaving the lower/middle class who cannot pay the initial price scrapping to afford a roof over their heads
4) will have to deflate sometime soon (within next 10 years) due to #2 and causes those who spent the outragous money to enter into a home upside down on their mortgage.

This wont be good for anyone if it continues

Then again Im a software engineer... I know nothing about this type of stuff

I must admit that I will take an unholy glee in watching some of these people going bankrupt. The ones that get a few hundred grand from their parents and then brag about the huge 450k house they bought to those of us that have been on their own since the day they turned 18.

Gee, did that sound bitter?

Chicago is done. Stick a fork in it. Crack-houses list for 250k here. Average homes, 350k+.

The suburbs are a little better of course, but then theres the commute,

I am waiting for the closing of me new $445K home in Northern NJ...

"Par" wrote:

I live in Denver and the housing market is screwed up here to.

Before I married, my wife bought a condo for 30k. She then sold it 2 years later for 90k. Now that exact same condo is $150k...

Same goes for our house. We bought it from my wifes sister for 200k. They bought it 4 years earlier for $120k. We''ve been there exactly one year from Sunday and its approximate appraisal is $250k.

This is all well and good but it:
1) limits those who can get out of the ""renting"" syndrome.
2) inflates the market so that more and more housing goes up when its not needed
3) makes those who can play real-estate richer while leaving the lower/middle class who cannot pay the initial price scrapping to afford a roof over their heads
4) will have to deflate sometime soon (within next 10 years) due to #2 and causes those who spent the outragous money to enter into a home upside down on their mortgage.

This wont be good for anyone if it continues

Then again Im a software engineer... I know nothing about this type of stuff

It won''t necessarily go down if your population still increases. I thought you were getting a lot of Californians hungry for mountain air and the company of other Californians moving to Colorado lately. Then again, maybe your market is more volatile - Minnesota''s market has gone up pretty steadily and continuously for a long time now.

Northern Va is not much better -
I bought an 1800 sq ft end unit townhouse for 206,000.00 about a year and half ago. Now I can sell if for 285,000.00, which is good, but I won''t be able to afford a single family house, which is bad. The average house is about 400,000.00 for the basic package, and a decent home in a subdivision could easily run you 600,000.00. The Million Dollar homes in the area are nice, but, for example, a Townhouse on a golf course here can go for as much as 600,000.00! For a stupid townhouse!

"spot778" wrote:

300 - 400k and no parking :shock:

Believe it. Boston is a big public transportation city, so homeowners can get away with it. In fact, you can expect a 15-25k premium for a condo or home WITH a parking space.

I live down the street from Rokk in a different division, but he still hurts my property value. That being said, townhouses just like mine have recently sold for 50k more than what I paid in last JULY for mine! Unreal. Good ol'' Loudoun County, VA -- the USA''s fastest growing county. That evokes pride and dismay at the same time.

I think I feel better now, knowing that I am not alone. Now we all can find solace in the fact that each one of us is being shafted equally all over the nation.

Housing prices are still pretty decent out here (Vancouver, WA) compared to big city real estate markets. We bought our house 12 years ago for only $105k....Three bedroom, 2 bath, 2000 sq ft., decent sized fenced yard, fairly nice neighborhood. It was new at the time and had only been lived in for about a year by the previous owner. Today, houses in our neighborhood are selling for $165k and up, which is still nothing compared to California and East Coast prices.

One bizarre situation in the housing market here is the price of condos. People pay 1.5-2x the price of an equivalent house + maintenance fees to live in a glorified apartment that still requires a car ride to get to the beach and, if history is any judge, will be blown away by the next big hurricane. Smart.

We paid 312K for our condo in Fountain Valley, CA (Orange County) ~11 months ago. Wouldn''t surpise me if we could get 370K now. The neighbors sold their smaller unit (over 100 sq ft and 1 bedroom smaller) with similar amenities for ~360K 2 months ago.

If you''d told me 10 years ago that I''d pay 300+ for a *condo*, I''d have laughed in your face. The sick part is, the 312 we paid was a *bargain*, and we were happy to do it.

I posted this stuff in the Adjustable Mortgages thread but since this is on topic I''ll repost but move stuff around and fill in more background info.

I live on the Kitsap pennisula which is right across the Puget Sound from Seattle. The prices in my county have shot up in just the last 8 months not to mention the long term growth.

My fiance and I bought our house back in August for 150K, we could probably get 190K for it now. The median prices for houses has gone up 11% just this past year.

My friend and his father pointed me toward this MSNBC story about a housing bubble. I hadn''t really heard of it until two weeks before when they brought it up in conversation.

After reading the MSNBC article I found the Washington Monthly story it referenced.

The overall story here is right now it is a sellers market, the rates aren''t going to come down too much and most likely will only be going up from here.

As for buyers, if you buy and you are in a market where there is a bubble and it does pop you could be paying for house not worth what you paid for it. Which could lead to its own issues of trying to refi/heloc or something else down the line.

Baltimore Maryland here.

Bought two years ago for 130k, comp sales in neighborhood at 175k right now....

I live on the Kitsap pennisula which is right across the Puget Sound from Seattle

Thats kind of neat...we just bought a house in gig harbor(across the sound from tacoma instead of seattle for those who are not washington geography experts).
Talk about a small world.