Home Values

[Bayless]

Well my house is now worth 10x what I paid for it. Of course that was 50 years ago, inflation maybe? I don't get letters from the mortgage company but I do get a lot from flippers wanting to buy my house. I guess that's what the "round file" is for.

 

[LarryK]

Sticks and bricks wall street, ups and downs, roll with the tide or stay put. Just outside St. Louis on the Illinois side, houses sell in days not weeks, even with the highest taxes, next to D.C.

 

[YakkoWarner]

I have what would by no means be considered high end housing (30 year old manufactured home with some significant issues) but it is paid off in full. Sad thing now is my property taxes (thanks to artifical value enhancement) are almost what the payments were 20 years ago. I was able to pay off in 2008 (right in the height of the whole financial crisis) due to the loss of a family member. I called the mortgage bank and told them I didn't feel like making payments anymore, that I just didn't feel like I was getting good value for my money with only 5% of the payment going toward the loan principal. They immedialy went into "loss prevent" mode and tried to offer me all kinds of temporary forbearances, offered me cash for keys if I wanted out, etc....then I told them I jusrt wanted to make one last big payment and be done with them. They actually made that very hard to do...had to WIRE (only way they would accept it) the payment and only for the exact amount (no over, no under) which changed daily. I eventually ended up sitting in my bank manager's office and calling the mortgage bank from there, and had my branch manager execute the wire transfer while speaking with them directly to make sure it went cleanly.

 

[Basil]

I have what would by no means be considered high end housing (30 year old manufactured home with some significant issues) but it is paid off in full. Sad thing now is my property taxes (thanks to artifical value enhancement) are almost what the payments were 20 years ago. I was able to pay off in 2008 (right in the height of the whole financial crisis) due to the loss of a family member. I called the mortgage bank and told them I didn't feel like making payments anymore, that I just didn't feel like I was getting good value for my money with only 5% of the payment going toward the loan principal. They immedialy went into "loss prevent" mode and tried to offer me all kinds of temporary forbearances, offered me cash for keys if I wanted out, etc....then I told them I jusrt wanted to make one last big payment and be done with them. They actually made that very hard to do...had to WIRE (only way they would accept it) the payment and only for the exact amount (no over, no under) which changed daily. I eventually ended up sitting in my bank manager's office and calling the mortgage bank from there, and had my branch manager execute the wire transfer while speaking with them directly to make sure it went cleanly.

Wow, what a pain in the - (fourth point of contact). Being career military and moving every 2 - to - 4 years, we always just lived in base housing, but when I was a year out from retirement from the Air Force, we started looking for a house that was likely going to be our last residence. Our requirements were: It had to be out of the city with some acreage, 2) it had to be medium size (kids were all but gone and we didn't need a huge house), 3) It had to have at least a two car garage, 4) the price had to be such that we felt comfortable with the payments, even if my Military Retirement pay was all we had.

After looking at a couple dozen homes the realtor out in the east mountains had provided, none of them checked all the boxes for us. After looking at the last place from the realtor's stack, we drove down a country road and past a cute white Spanish style home, sitting up on a slight hill, a corner lot with what looked like a couple acres. It had a sign that said "For Sale By Owner." At first, we thought it looked bigger than it actually was and we assumed it would be out of our agreed-to price range. But as I drove away from it, I kept looking in the rear view mirror and thinking "that's a really nice looking little house up on that little hill." So, we did a U-turn and went back, figuring there was no harm in looking.

We both loved it and, to our surprise, it was well within our budget. We made an offer that was somewhat less than the asking price, but were told a previous couple had made an offer and were just trying to get financing. We were next in line if that deal fell through. A few days later, we got a call from the owners - the other couple were unable to get the financing, so it was ours if we still wanted it. Been here 27 years now!

 

[AngliaGT]

When we moved to Roanoke,we were living in an
apartment building (on the THIRD floor).While it was
nice not having a house payment,living there wasn't
great.
We'd been looking at a lot of houses,& had it
narrowed down to two,when we decided to look at the
one we bought.We had all our financing pre-approved,
so the escrow only took 28 days,& we got it for under
the asking price.
The down side is that we had to start all over,with
a new 30 year mortgage.Upside is we like the house &
property,& live in a really nice neighborhood with almost
no crime.

 

[pdplot]

Overheard at my weekly poker game in Venice, Florida - couple put their condo on for $280K. Just sold it for $470k. And they turned down two higher offers! I don't know what we're going to do next winter. There are no rentals available here and we're not ready to buy - especially at these prices. I'd have to sell my CT home first. It's an older home with an extra buildable acre - but if we sell, where are we going?