Housing in the bay area is f#$%ing terrible

[sweetdiesel]

My wife and I have been shopping for a new home for the last 3 months. We've been looking for a small starter home in a good neighborhood with good schools nearby for our daughter. We finally found a home in our price range and decided to make an offer. Since the housing market is still hot we decided to bid $30K over asking price. Well my realtor called me today and broke the bad news. We weren't even close. There were 25 bids on the house and the top 5 bids were $90K over asking!!! I couldn't freaking believe it, there were 5 people that bid over 600K for a 836 sq ft 2 bedroom, 1 bath fixer upper. It didn't even have a decent lot size.


I need to move out of the area, this is just ridiculous .

 

[PiErow]

Charlotte is nice,lol. J/K it sucks. Good luck in your serch for a home!

 

[akmadmaxx]

That house would be about 80,000 here.

 

[Candyman]

Housing in CA is rediculous. Point blank. PT Barnum would be proud of some of the fools buying shacks out there. 600K for a fixer-upper? Obviously a land where people have more dollars than sense. I'm looking at houses here in upstate NY, and I get my ass in a bunch if someone is trying to sell a house with less than 1500 square feet for more than 100K.

 

[Candyman]

And if my math is right, you were offering somewhere near $500,000? Seriously? That's crazy money...

 

[sweetdiesel]

And if my math is right, you were offering somewhere near $500,000? Seriously? That's crazy money...

Around here you cannot buy a outhouse for less than 450,000 in a decent neighborhood. You can find housing for around 500 thou really easy but you will have bars on the windows. One of my good buddies in Kentucky just bought a custom built home for a mere 177K. You can't even find a mobile home around here for that much!

I know the importance of getting into a house and the power of appreciation but how do you even get your foot in the door when the price of admission is so high?

 

[WoodiE]

sweetdiesel,

I live in Lexington, KY now and you can buy a nice sized lot, and have a brand new house built on it for about $200k here. In fact the manager of my department is doing just that now and it'll be done by June.


-Michael

 

[ZANDOR]

Around here you cannot buy a outhouse for less than 450,000 in a decent neighborhood. You can find housing for around 500 thou really easy but you will have bars on the windows. One of my good buddies in Kentucky just bought a custom built home for a mere 177K. You can't even find a mobile home around here for that much!

I know the importance of getting into a house and the power of appreciation but how do you even get your foot in the door when the price of admission is so high?

move out of cali...
I just sold my town house 2200 sq feet three bed 2 1/2 bath two car garage three story for 194k It was across the boarder in canada...
But my house here is 1600 sq three bed 2 bath single garage On a pretty big lot.It was apprised last summer for 180k

 

[FastEddy]

We have been looking to purchase rental property here in Nor Cal and have run into the same issue.

One property listed for 850k we bid 1.1 million and it went for 1.6.

We moved here and purchased 11 years ago when no one wanted to live in this chicken town. Now its considered Prime. Until you have 600-900k don't even look at any thing over 1200 sf. Its rediculus at best.

There are some 1500sf townhouses being built behind a new Lows going in. The price is 390k now and you pay the going price when they are built. They expect by the time they are done for the price to be 450-475k. These are the absalut lowest price new homes in Sonoma County

 

[sweetdiesel]

I would move if I could, but my wife insists on staying in this area. She wants to be close to her parents (VERY tight knit family). I hear all the stories of my friends from out of state about their home purchases and I just shake my head. How did the housing market get so $%^& up around here? Last weekend I went to an open house that was listed at 590K. I walked in and the place looked like a friggn crack house.... freshly stained carpet, smelled bad, walls were cracked and the backyard looked like hugo came through. The wallpaper was so bad that people who came to the open house started tearing it off in strips. And the sad thing is someone is probably going to bid over for it.

 

[sweetdiesel]

We have been looking to purchase rental property here in Nor Cal and have run into the same issue.

One property listed for 850k we bid 1.1 million and it went for 1.6.

We moved here and purchased 11 years ago when no one wanted to live in this chicken town. Now its considered Prime. Until you have 600-900k don't even look at any thing over 1200 sf. Its rediculus at best.

There are some 1500sf townhouses being built behind a new Lows going in. The price is 390k now and you pay the going price when they are built. They expect by the time they are done for the price to be 450-475k. These are the absalut lowest price new homes in Sonoma County

Thats one of the reasons we wanted to sell our townhome, the market is so hot we will probably get around 450 for it. We paid around half that just 5 years ago. But the problem is when we sell where the hell are we going to go?
There is no way I am moving back in with my parents LOL!!

 

[FastEddy]

How close does your wife need to be?

 

[sweetdiesel]

How close does your wife need to be?

Within driving distance, maybe an hour or two max, her parents are getting to the age where driving could be a problem.

I considered moving either north or south about an hour and a half for some affordable housing but the commute would just about kill any family time I have left.

 

[retarded pilot]

yeah cali's crazy ....i moved to michigan from there for my wifes parents...
we couldnt find anything both of us really liked here.. but we found a 5 acre parcel that sits 600' off the road its an old farmers field.. we bought it for $22,000 and are building a 1600 sq foot house on it the house will end up costing about $110,000 - $120,000 ...3,000 of that being the master bath shower fixtures..its crazy

 

[psunitro]

I bought my place dirt cheap. I can't believe the prices out there!!! I know its nuts....suppy and demand....location location location. When I was a kid I grew up in western PA, everything was fine in the area we owned many rentals and had a trailer court on our 74 acre farm. Then the steel mills went bottoms up and work was nill. When they sold the farm w/ court they got around $1000 per acre. Yep $78,000. They were offered $300,000 2 years before and turned it down. Funny how things can turn. Are salaries that much more out there??? At that rate a fast food worker should be making $20 per hr just to make ends meet!

 

[Plaidfish]

I got 10acres in central florida for 56k cause I just wanted to get property.....now I have no money for down on a home here and I just found a good deal...maybe....I wanted to get a condo at least and the best deal I found so far was 150k......I can swing it but it's a condo...I hate the commandos....I need a place where I can change my oil my self instead of paying some dumbass who forgets to put the oil cap back on 55bucks to give me poopy oil....I Understand not yankin your engine out in a parking lot but oil changes if done correctly are very clean jobs.....Good luck w/ your hunt SD I been searching here for about a year now and I keep getting out bid or the property is just not worth it and the owner is asking more than what it's really worth...unfortunately those are the people that are raising the values as well though.......

 

[Mr T-Maxx]

Wow, God bless good ol' WV.

The whole concept of making an offer over the asking price baffles my mind.

I currently own my own home a couple lots and two pieces of rental property and have made offers on about 6-8 other.

My rule of thumb is....first offer 20-25% below asking price (call me a lowballer)....I wait for the counter offer and then go from there. At that point you have a feel for what they really want.


PSU; $20/hr for McDonalds....That wouldn't cut it....They would have to be making $100K ($50/hr)....to live in that economy :shrug:

 

[nitroking]

My mom and dad just bought a farm house that needs minimuim work that sits on 8 1/2 acres for 26,000,up in Houlton,Maine.We are also looking at 203 acres for 56,000.It would kill us to live in Cali.
Well good luck finding a house

 

[Hypedonrc]

I think I would buy as cheap as possible, and save all that $ for about 10 years, then move to a part of the country that hasn't lost their minds! 500K+ for 900 sq ft!!! Are you insane? Around here 500K will get you this in on of the more prestigious suberbs of Columbus. http://www.herrealtors.com/Property/PropertyDetails.aspx?propid=1834880 Did you notice the taxes are aroung 1K a month. RIIIIGGGHHHHTTTTT! Don't get me wrong. If you like it there, and can afford it, more power to you, but damn I'd move.

 

[Plaidfish]

DAMN that's big....my folks just sold their place for 650k (actually it sold for more, this is what they are getting after the gains and sales taxes and all the IRS raping you go through) and it's 1400...but it's on Deep water canal w/ Ocean Access....they paid 101k for it 19 years ago.......and they owned it outright...no mortgage...they're retiring and moving up to central FL..(next to my lot) and building a house (2 story log style) and barn and the land total cost less than 200k.....I hope I can retire when I'm 55......