Phoenix32890 wrote:OGIONIK - I can only talk about my area, of which I am familiar. A number of years ago, the market started to get "hot". Proces of houses were appreciating almost monthly. Many people bought houses to "flip", figuring that they could turn a quick profit. Builders starting building like crazy.
There were many mortgage companies who offered sub-prime mortgages to people who would not normally qualify for mortgages. There was a frenzy going on. A couple of years ago, (right after I sold the place where my mom had lived, thank goodness), everything dropped dead. People were defaulting. There were a lot of never used homes on the market which could not sell. In my area, where the developer was constantly building new sections, he stopped, after starting a new section.
As a result, the prices of homes in my area are 20-25% cheaper than they were just a few years ago. One of the problems is that people who want to move to Florida can't, because they are unable to sell their homes up north.
There is a new, ultra luxury section that was started a few miles from me. I understand that they have sold only 17 houses, when they planned to build a few hundred.
In the last few months, I have seen a bit more action, although the home market is still depressed. I have a friend with a lovely home, who has had it on the market for well over a year. She had a few interested customers, but they were unable to sell their homes, so the deals fell through. I don't remember the figures, but apparently it is taking far more months to get rid of the existing home inventory than it was a few years ago.
Check this out:
http://www.realtor.com/?lnksrc=ts1
Then when you have zeroed in on an area, see if your county has a property appraiser's website. Mine does, and I can check to see what houses were selling for, over time, in a particular area. In that way, you can get an idea of the market.
Interesting. I just heard Greenspan last night on 60 Minutes, and he was saying that the housing market (along with the economy in general) is going to be heading down for a while longer. I'm seriously thinking that maybe the timing is just about right for me to sublet my apartment, move down there, buy something at a reasonable price, and then figure out if I really want to come back to NYC or not.
But the thing is, when these guys all talk about the real estate market going into a slump, it always seems like the houses at the lower end of the spectrum price-wise stay pretty much where they are, and the places that are way out of my price range come down to only a little bit out of my price range. It sucks.
Something to think about though.
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