Posted on 05/30/2021 3:36:50 AM PDT by Mr. Mojo
How wild is the U.S. housing market right now? So wild, half of the houses listed nationwide in April went pending in less than a week. So wild, one poll found that most buyers admitted to bidding on homes they’d never seen in person. So wild, a Bethesda, Maryland, resident recently included in her written offer “a pledge to name her first-born child after the seller,” according to the CEO of the realty site Redfin. So wild, she did not get the house.
Pick a housing statistic at random, and it’s probably setting an all-time record. Home prices: record high. Inventory: record low. Percentage of homes selling above asking price: record high. Average time on market: record low.
With prices headed to the moon and listings blinking in and out of existence like quantum particles, nobody seems to know exactly when this is going to stop. “In my time studying housing markets, I’ve seen bubbles and I’ve seen busts,” says Bill McBride, an economics writer who famously predicted the 2007 housing crash. “But I’ve never seen anything quite like this. It’s a perfect storm.
(Snip)
You’ve put in several offers, promised sellers everything short of a shrine to their descendants, but you keep losing out. Do you recommit yourself to the Zillow chase, throw in the offspring shrine, and raise your max price in the expectation that things will only get crazier with time? Or do you wait?
“It’s so hard to say without knowing the city, but generally, if you’re in a market where you consistently have to spend significantly above listing, I wouldn’t buy right now,” McBride said. “I think when you put everything together, the odds are that things get more normal in a year.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
If it was just me I’d cash out now, buy a cheap rural lot, plunk down a cheap used single wide and then probably bank $200k on the deal in 2-3 years. But the wife and little people would throw flaming hissy fits
Many people working solely from home (and will continue to do so) due to the pandemic likely asked themselves, “If I didn’t have to live where I am currently, why would I”?
If you can work from anywhere, you can live anywhere.
After reading some stories here, I checked out Home Depot for 2x4 prices and was shocked to see a basic pine 8ft stud that I could buy months ago for 2.50 was going for $8!!!
If we live in more-less normal time, the market is in bubble, ready for crash, but, if there is a hyperinflation in the future, buying a house now may still be a bargain!
House is the best investment against inflation.
Will see - are we in 1976 or 2006? Or Or Germany 1920? Or ???
I have 4 cedar fence pickets and a PT 4x4 left over from a small project, just sitting on my deck. I’m rich!
Me,
I’m got a “Vacation Home “
In Prescott,,
Just Retired and
First time Buyer.
.
Prices Be Damned
I’m leaving
California!
I bought a brand new house in 1980 with a 13% mortgage after hearing the exact same thing then.
(My next door neighbor there had an 18% mortgage)
My brother told me that new home construction sites now have security guards to guard the lumber.
I have crown molding left over when the house was built years ago, piled against the back wall of my garage. It just dawned on me that will pay for my long desired vacation to the South Pacific...
REITs, gold, and commodities (among others) are also good hedges against inflation.
Just wait till Jimmy Carter like mortgage rates hit this bubble.
“If I sell, where do I invest the proceeds?”
A thought, buy grave sites.
I’d sure like the bank interest rates to go up to levels from that era. If they were anywhere near 10% I’d pull most of my money out of the stock market and would sleep better at night.
Depends on where they are. If they’re in California, specifically the Bat Area or L.A., then they need to get the **** out. Prices are reasonable in a lot of places in the country.
Make damn sure it is Off Shore. The Regime needs the money, doncha know?
The folks next door are selling their house with some company called "Home Sold Speedy". They guarantee a house sold within 24 hours....so far, it's been a week and no "sold" sign is up.
In 1983 my mortgage was 13.5%. I think too many people are getting too alarmed over home prices these days.
As you and I know the 1980s, with interest rates as high as they were, was a poorer time to buy a house than are present times.
:-))
We’re in suburban NC and there’s a house on my block: 70s built, 900 sq ft shoebox, holes in the floor, walls, in obvious disrepair.
Normal market would have it sell at $70k.
It sold at $145k. Buyer went 20k over asking and waved inspection.
Insanity.
“In a large rural lot and a Kadafi size tent. Live their for 2-3 years and then rebuy your home for 40% cheaper... lol”
But where do you put the big bucks for investment. My home was appraised at $1.4 million over ten years ago. Now it’s well over $2 million with about only 1 acre of ground.
How would you invest/hold the funds for a few years?
What good is currency or FDIC insurance if the banks and government tanks?
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