The price of housing is going up

10 March 2021, 12:42 PM

quote:
The booming housing market helped stave off economic collapse in 2020. But soaring prices are starting to worry policymakers, who fear the market could lock a generation of would-be buyers out of homeownership.

https://www.politico.com/news/...-policymakers-474433

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We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love… and then we return home. - Australian Aboriginal proverb

Bazootiehead-in-training

10 March 2021, 01:02 PM

Nina

In our neck o' the woods, housing in the suburbs is going bananas. People want to move out of the city and have discovered they no longer need to be close to work in many cases. A lot of companies are rethinking the need to have expensive, large downtown buildings after a year of remote work. Many employees are pressuring their employers to let them work remotely at least part of the time when lockdowns are lifted.

The result is less need to be close to work. The irony is that the move to the suburbs has traditionally been driven, in part, as an escape from high costs of living in "the city," but this portion of the equation is rapidly flipping.

Look also for a glut of commercial properties in traditional "downtown," as companies contract their footprint. Lots of places are considering hotelling, etc. Why pay the square footage on an office that is only used 2 days a week?

10 March 2021, 01:38 PM

pianojuggler

We are looking at houses. Prices are eye-watering and have been shooting up this year. Like doubling over this time last year.

We were in Richland, Washington (near Hanford, the home of the Manhattan Project). A house I would think as a $100K - 200K was listed for $350K and the realtor expected there to be a bidding war.

We looked at one house that was built in 1943 as part of the Manhattan raze-and-build. It was originally a 2 or 3 (small) bedroom house. It had been added on to, but the work was a bit shoddy. It had a tangle of the original electrical system and some rework (no grounded outlets). There was a spot of rot in the roof. All the windows were original single-pane metal frame windows. No garage. The yard had been nice at one time, but it looked like several years of no maintenance. So, really, it was a shell and needed a complete gut and remodel. It was listed for $330K. Jeebus.

Closer to home, a house four blocks from me, a teardown (the listing euphemistically says "value is in the land"), a slightly larger lot than mine, right on the main arterial... just listed for $1.86M. For a teardown.

10 March 2021, 01:42 PM

Axtremus

quote:
Originally posted by pianojuggler:

Closer to home, a house four blocks from me, a teardown (the listing euphemistically says "value is in the land"), a slightly larger lot than mine, right on the main arterial... just listed for $1.86M. For a teardown.

Congratulations, you are RICH!

10 March 2021, 02:04 PM

pianojuggler

...Only if I sell. And then I gotta live somewhere else.

10 March 2021, 04:53 PM

rontuner

Friends of ours are looking and it seems to be common to add some sort of escalation clause, essentially making every offer the start of a bidding war...

10 March 2021, 05:38 PM

CHAS

There is a boom here. Inventory is low. Prices are zooming. Two nearby places are on the market.
One is probably under contract. The other is priced for Midas.

10 March 2021, 05:47 PM

ShiroKuro

Crazy stuff PJ!

I remain incredibly grateful that we bought our house (and this piano) when we did!

Ron,

quote:
it seems to be common to add some sort of escalation clause, essentially making every offer the start of a bidding war

What does that mean? I don't understand what an escalation clause is?

10 March 2021, 05:54 PM

ShiroKuro

quote:
Originally posted by wtg:
https://www.politico.com/news/...-policymakers-474433

from the article:

quote:
Brown, who insists on calling his panel the “Senate Banking and Housing Committee,"

What a funny way to word it! What does the author want it to be called?

Also this:

quote:
The price of lumber is up about 180 percent since April

Yikes!!

10 March 2021, 06:21 PM

Mary Anna

Our realtor says that both the housing and rental markets have been incredibly hot here. He also says that it predates the pandemic, but the pandemic did nothing to slow it down. People are buying houses sight unseen.

The university is hiring, so I guess that's some of it, but he says that it's at all price points.

Things are still a lot cheaper here than elsewhere. The only thing I can figure is that people are getting out of cities.

10 March 2021, 06:36 PM

QuirtEvans

quote:
Originally posted by ShiroKuro:

from the article:
quote:
Brown, who insists on calling his panel the “Senate Banking and Housing Committee,"

What a funny way to word it! What does the author want it to be called?

Apparently, the real name is the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. (And I think securities is still within its mandate, too.)

10 March 2021, 06:44 PM

ShiroKuro

Ah, that makes sense.

I just laughed at the wording "who insists on calling it"

10 March 2021, 08:40 PM

rontuner

quote:
Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
Crazy stuff PJ!

I remain incredibly grateful that we bought our house (and this piano) when we did!

Ron,
quote:
it seems to be common to add some sort of escalation clause, essentially making every offer the start of a bidding war

What does that mean? I don't understand what an escalation clause is?

https://www.fool.com/millionac...-best-practice-tips/

10 March 2021, 08:47 PM

jodi

Prices are crazy here too - not a good time to be looking for a house!

10 March 2021, 08:53 PM

Steve Miller

quote:
Originally posted by jodi:
Prices are crazy here too - not a good time to be looking for a house!

Only if you think prices are likely to drop. Aside from 2008, and areas affected by plant closings snd such, that’s pretty rare.

2008 was kind of a one shot deal and I’m not seeing conditions like that today. Perhaps Jon will correct me if I’m wrong.