Seems to depend in large part on whether or not you are on the coast or not... http://query.nytimes.com/search/article-printpage.html?res=9D05EED81F3EF935A3575BC0A9659C8B63
the doom sayers have been saying this since the 80's. the simple truth is that you cant make a broad stroke across the US when it comes to Real estate. Heck you cant even make broad strokes across regions. you have some areas of the Chicago area which are seeing and will continue to see unpresedented growth.. while others are stagnant and prices are dropping. as long as you do your research and buy right , real estate is one of the safest investments you can ever own. I bought my first property when I was 19 and in the Military, My grandfather carried the mortgage on a propertey he had bought in Chicago's Humboldt Park area back in the late 40's. I bought it from him in 1990 for $85,000 , it was a four unit building in a VERY bad nieghborhood at the time.Next to it was a boarded up building that was being used by the latin kings as a club house and crash pad. later that year the city knocked the building down and put the lot up for auction... I bought the lot for $2000!!!I then fenced it off and put motion lights up. when i got out of the Army in 96 I moved into the building and began to work on it. I converted the lot into a very nice garden , built a deck , patio and mini fish pond. over the course of time development began to happen in the areas around that neighborhood, and Humboldt Park began to improve. In 2001 I sold my building for $395,000... The building just sold again this past year for $475K.. and its worth the price and is no way overflated. I would guess in the next couple of years that it will easily fetch close to a million. The problem is that some people think real estate is a get rich quick industry.It can be if your lucky... but the truth is that it takes time for the investment to pay off and it takes knowledge of areas and trends to pick right. the problem I see in Residential real estate isnt so much a bubble... but something fgar less obvious. and thats the card board mini mansion developemnts.I know in the Chicago area they are everywhere and the quality is of construction is extremely poor.People are not buying right and this is where the "bubble" will burst. They are Ghettos waiting to happen.
Okay, I didn't read all that but you're right - it really is a region-by-region thing. But I firmly believe that real estate prices in the DC area can't go much higher and will level out and stay level for a few years. On the other hand, I thought that two years ago but if I'd bought something then, I could probably make some money on it now. But things really have gotten way out of hand.
On the other hand, Rockville's got a really great TRADER JOE'S, if you can stand to drive the Pike...and I love EATZI'S...if you can stand to drive the Pike...so maybe paying out the nose is worth it after all, lol...
Oh good grief. I don't ever go to Maryland if I can help it. We have perfectly nice Trader Joe'ses on this side of the river, thank you very much. Believe me, I am paying out the nose to live in Arlington but I'm renting so I have no danger of getting upside down with a mortgage.
Vince McMahon and the WWF put a down payment on our house for us (don't ask), and we sold that small yet solid 2-bdrm home for enough money to be here, frollicking in the Kingdom. Teaneck, and Bergen County NJ generally, is quite simply stupidly and absurdly priced; yet, while I didnt think we'd find someone as "dumb" when we were selling as I thought we were when we were buying, we did. I keep thinking the bottom's gonna fall out, particularly in and around NYC and SF, but it just isn't.
I know in Michigan things have slowed considerably. The $300K+ market is bearing the brunt of the slowdown. I have relatives that just put a bid on a place for approx. $270K. It's been on the market for over a year. Heck, most of the places they came across have been on the market for quite some time. And I can't help but notice a ton of for sale signs, especially on bigger homes, that have been there longer than six months. Still, new housing construction is thriving. So someone has to be buying. But eventually the market for large expensive homes is going to exhausted. There just isn't enough high wage earners to supports such development. Especially in Michigan where people are making an exodus to other states. On a positive note for people that own starter homes; those are rarely on the market long. A resonably priced ranch goes quick on the market. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that new housing construction rarely includes small starters. This makes me hopeful that we will easily unload our place when we can afford to upgrade to something bigger.
So you don't have an actual job? So when you spend half a day in a futile effort to educate the BigSoccer masses, you're not taking time away from some poor sap of an employer?
Here's where I get all twisted up: My future-ex-father-in-law bought a townhouse in Springfield, VA in 1989 for something in the neighborhood of $125-130k. I married my future-ex-husband and moved into that townhouse in 1996 when townhouses in his complex were going for $125-130k. Seven years and zero appreciation. I live in terror of a repeat of that so no way am I buying real estate in the DC Metro area any time soon.
I'm a doctoral student, and due to the passport/visa/immigration rules here, I can only work 20 hours a week; I do that, as a teacher of undergrads in the dept. They are as...challenging as they are in the States (I think that most of us are told to go to uni well before we have the life experience to know what we want OUT of uni, but I digress)... The wife, on the other hand, is going to work full-time as an Occupational Therapist in the fall; it's taken her seven months to get her paperwork through, but she's looking forward to it. Here, they actually practise OT the theoretical ways she was taught while getting her Master's in Denton/Dallas...that is, you see the patient as many times as you need to see her/him until the problem is solved; 1 time, 5 times, 50 times, whatever. Authentic OT. In the States, as we all know, the insurance companies tell practitioners how long they can help someone; so, for OT's, almost all the time, its figuring things like "How much can I help this guy in the 15 days that his insurance will allot for OT?" OT in practise falls short of its mission, which is in inherent conflict with the priorities of an HMO, for example. She was not likely to practice OT in the States on anyone but our kids, except in very unconventional settings, due to that very fact. But, given my moving us all here, and our discovery that OTs are needed AND have a system that allows them to do it right, she's looking forward to professing in a work environment the framework of OT to which she is committed, and the NHS Trust is looking forward to having her. Hell, let her work full-time for once...lol.
Oh, one of those "If the world goes to hell in a handbasket, you'll be the first one everyone says is a waste of food" endeavours...I spend my time on the relationship between sport and human rights, and focus currently on teaching Sport, Ethnicity, Gender, and Identity, as well as Sport Policy and Contemporary Issues in Sport. My personal focus is on alternatives to current sport governing bodies (FIFA, IOC, CONCACAF, etc.). I'm a Leo who loves long walks on the beach with a glass of Grace Family Vineyards in one hand and your hand in the other... Oops...damn, I'm married.
This is why, above and beyond it being the best Cabarnet Sauvignon on earth - and I've had them all over this planet - I'm such an advocate of Grace Family Vineyards. Sit back and watch these clips when you have a good half-hour free; you'll find it was worth it, I think... To bring this back to real estate, the house in the first video is damn near my dream, except it's in CA, which of course would wait for me to settle there before falling off into the Ocean...
[rant] Agreed. What area within approximately 1 hours from NYC (CT. NJ, LI) isn't absurdly overpriced? It makes me wonder why so many people are so hellbent on living the NYC lifestlye. Of course you can live outside of that and look forward to a 1 1/2 hour commute (each way ) Unless you are one of the few "living it up," having a family with city convenience aint happening. It makes me depressed when I visit friends in other areas, with a cheap cost of living, great nightlife, and great quality of life... [/ rant]
My wife and I are thinking of moving to the DC area in the next couple of months and the housing prices there scare us. I can't believe some of the crap that is selling there for 300k+. Well, honestly, you can't get anything for under that. Still, I imagine there's a bubble somewhere. Wages aren't keeping up with housing inflation, for one.