Realestate

[anhaney]

I thought I would start this thread since there is some mention to it in other threads. What is the real estate markets doing in your area and if anyone know what have the losses been? We are down about 40% right now in Bakersfield California.

Just thought this will be an interesting topic.

[da.bell]

I have made money on my house from the purchase of it last year to refinancing this year.

[mtnsmith]

We're down about 5-10% here in the Tampa Bay Area for normal houses. The highline houses and condos, mostly waterfront, are down about 18-24%. My wife and I briefly looked at waterfront homes but decided to wait incase we endup moving to the Salt Lake City area in a couple years. Speaking of realestate, I'll have to get some of the SLC owners input of places to look. All I know is that the few houses I looked at so far are soooo much nicer than my ghetto shack for about the same money that I started getting all wide eyed browsing them online.

[anhaney]

I have made money on my house from the purchase of it last year to refinancing this year.

We have made money from the purchases we made 8 years ago. We are still positive 200+%. But we are pulling back.

[chpthril]

Our area (about a 50 mile radius of Charlotte NC) is showing a small gain (1.4% I think) in home sales over last year. We aren't sett'n the market on fire by no means, but not seeing the number of foreclosures as others.

[spharis]

Still growing here. Will probably last until the oil boom is over.

Similar, who thinks the rate freeze they are proposing is a good idea?

[dogbert]

Still going strong here, although the upper end of the market has retreated a bit.

[talltigeguy]

Many empty lots here. Slow home sales for pricier homes. Market still pretty strong for reasonably priced, smaller homes 100-200K range. With interest rates going up, single waitresses with 3 kids can no longer afford 500K homes.

[Big Wave]

We are down 10 - 15% here in Oceanside with a ton for sale and almost none selling. It looks like we are in for a prolonged slow market here in San Diego County.

[RID22]

Here's the trends my company is seeing. I'm not inferring that these trends would apply to everyone.

Homes are not moving in the western half of the U.S. The origination of west coast loans has dropped more than 90% with our company. The bulk of my volume is coming out of the South East. Our average loan amount has been 180k to 185k for the past three months. I rarely see loans over the conforming limit right now. Whats been interesting is the dramatic shift in the type of loans we're doing. For the previous 10 years our FHA volume accounted for about 10% of our total annual volume. Over the last 3 months FHA loans accounted for 80% of our total book.

The bulk of our companies worst performing loans have been loan amounts between 500k and 2mil. This segment of the market is getting hammered. Most of the loans in this range were stated doc types and usually non-owner occupied. Early to ripe early to rot, it's the same segment that had the most appreciation. The market will correct and you'll actually have to qualify for your loan. Nobody should be surprised, this didn't sneak up on the consumer.

[Moki]

No depreciation, just modest gains this year. However, rents are going up which is good for our rentals

[Lunchbox]

We paid 265 for ours 3 years ago... Was worth over 400 last summer... This year it's about 350... So we're still up but I think it's going to get worse before it gets better... That's the PHX market for ya...

[Jason B]

We were fortunate to get into a hot area (completely by accident--though I wish I could say it was my incredible foresight) and our house has just about doubled in 5 years. I know in CA double isn't great, but for our area that's pretty decent. Now home sales are very slow.
There is a chain of 9 lakes here and there are 100+ homes for sale on it now. A realtor told me that there has NEVER been more than a dozen for sale at anytime he's seen. I wish I could afford the taxes out there (a minimum of 15k$/yr for a s**thole of a house) I'd buy me a nice fixer-upper. Unfortunately the houses are affordable but the taxes are not and they get pounded with tax increases every single year it seems like.

[sparky216]

I don't know how, but in yestersday paper it was talking about how Portland and Seattle are two of 5 major cities that have seen growth this year. There are so many homes being built and almost all are over $350k, where this money is coming from is lost by me. Over 40% of the workers here in Salem are employed by the Govt, so I know that the incomes are not that high. That being said it does provide a stable employment level, but the prices and taxes are crazy. My wife and I make a good living and I still cringe at the thought of $500-$600 monthly property tax payments. That is a boat payment....................

Which is more fun?

[hoopykat]

In my area prices are still high, with very few dropping much. Homes sit on the market for weeks instead of selling before hitting the MLS, with multiple bids over asking. But, just 30 miles away, Eastern Contra Costa County has 1 in 25 homes in foreclosure. $400K homes built 5 years ago are running around 290-300K now. People are just walking away from their homes and mortgages with the "Well, my credit will take a hit but I can rebuild it" attitude.

Sad.

-Mike