Sign of these times ?

uncle Alan

uncle Alan

Joined
Jul 11, 2004
Messages
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In 2004 I bought a 2,000 + squft. home. Brick over block,hot tub/spa,custom kitchen,etc. Paid 220,000$ then. A year before it sold for $156,000.

Three years ago it appraised at $313,000. Wanting a pool,I contacted a mortgage company & it had fallen to a mere $144,00! What a roller coaster ! In this area you can buy a 3/1 block A/C for around the mid 30's.

Uncle Alan:confused::mad:
 
Yeh man, home values have dropped like a rock.

My parents are trying to sell their place and have been steadily dropping the price on it for about a year...no luck.
 
down here in brevard i have seen forclosed houses and fixer uppers for as low as 12-15 depending on the area and condition of house, my friend got a 3 bed 1.5 bath for 20, i mean, it needs some paint but... where talking pennys compared to most modern homes
 
This is no fun but I am confident that things will rebound in the reasonably near future. FL is probably second worst only to CA in the residential real estate bust. Foreclosures and short sales are still killing values in most areas. It will take time to reduce the huge number of surplus dimes on the dollar homes that are available because people and banks have to liquidate. Also if people and/or their realtors don't price homes correctly to begin with and the properties don't sell within a reasonable period of time then they begin to get less and less attention with prospective buyers thinking they would have already sold if they were worth buying. My advice will always be to find a competent residential appraiser and spend the $350 or $400 bucks that a typical residential appraisal will run you whether you are buying or selling. Just going onto Zillow or to your regular mortgage officer for a value can cost you many many times that amount. Of course, I happen to be an appraiser. ;)
 
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People always want to argue that their houses should not be compared to foreclosures or short sales because they are not foreclosures or short sales (perhaps they are just refinancing) but the bottom line is, for example, if buyers can purchase a home that is listed for $100,000 less than yours and spend say $40,000 or $50,000 fixing it up to a point where it's nicer than your place they would be very stupid not to. Until the numbers of foreclosed properties and distressed sales are reduced to much lower levels in many areas, then values will not begin to rebound much if at all. I'm just guessing but this might not happen for a couple few years. Some real estate pros are saying 12-18 months in many areas. It's all about location. Funny thing about real estate is you can't take it with you if you relocate so the market is imperfect in that way.
 
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My in-laws had a place in FLA orginally assessed at 400,000. They had owned the bare land forever, so they didn't have that much into the purchase and build but it was still a really nice place. They lived there 8 years. They just sold it for considerably under $200,000. They didn't have much of a mortgage, so it was fine, but it was amazing to see how much I guess you could call artificial value that it lost.
 
We've hardly seen a change in my area. But I live in one of the fastest growing areas in the nation. One of the more affluent neighborhoods near where we live has one "abandoned" foreclosure, but otherwise, it seems it's business as usual for the most part.
 
Overall, the D.C. area market is in better shape than most nationwide, with values in some areas actually on the rise but there are still pockets of foreclosures in most local counties and in D.C. and Baltimore. I don't do any NoVA stuff but I know Prince William Co. was particularly hard hit. And Prince Georges Co. in MD, where I currently reside, was also pretty bad.
 
The house I'm living in now, my parents' old house, was appraised not too long ago at twice the amount they're trying to sell it for now. It's been on the market for a year and I don't think anyone has even made an offer. It's 105 years old and could use some work, but my folks don't have the money to fix it up.
 
We sold our home in the PRK for $671K* in 2003. About 2 years later it sold for $899K.:eek: Last year it was put on the market for $499K. I am not sure if it sold.

There is a 2000 sq. ft. house on 2 acres that sold for $355K in June 2005. The owner tried to sell it a few times and there were no takers. He eventually just walked away. It sold last year for $205K and the owner put about $50K into a block wall and inside work. It is now on the market for $260K and there are no takers.

We bought our home here for $236K and put another $30K into it. We would be lucky to get $200K for it now. No problem though. We aren't going anywhere.:D


*We paid $59K in 1976.
 
My parents bought their 1 acre, 3 bed/2 bath in 1967 for $25K (northern [Cottonwood] California). They decided to move a few years ago when the housing market started to tank. A realtor had told them to list the house (now a 3 bed/3 bath because they added on and made one room a master suite) for $389K. About 8 months later they sold for $319K and moved to WA where they were able to buy a new home in the $200Ks. It might have been as much as $289k but they were happy as they could cash it out.

I have to laugh at prices where I live. I bought at $114K (3 bed, 2 bath, almost no yard) in 2002. About four years ago I probably could have sold it for $189K. Last year the county valued it in around $137K and this year they now say it's worth $119K. Makes me wonder what I could sell it for. New appraisal rules make it harder for the real estate agents to keep the prices inflated but they don't realize I never intended to do more than break even.
 
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