Whats with the insane increase in appraisal values for homes? I've recently moved back to South Eastern Virginia(Hampton Roads) and I've only been gone a couple years and the housing prices and doubled! The sad thing is that wages haven't really raised nearly enough to keep up, so if your a first time home buyer, like myself, your screwed. Alot of home owners are really trying to ask too much, thats alright, Ive told my realtor Im not above making more realistic offers, about $15-20k less than what they're asking. Anyone else ran into this?

 

Welcome back. For a while houses were going up 5k a MONTH in value about 12-18 months ago! It has gone stupid throughout the Tidewater area.

Have you posted in the regional forum yet?

 

Try the economy here. Last year, house prices rose 38% (in one year!) We sold our little crappy old starter home that we paid 92K for 9 years ago for $250K. We had to pay 340K for a decent 4 level split. A red hot economy and near zero employment has its drawbacks also. I feel sorry for young couples trying to get into their first home here.

 

starter house here is in the suburbs and now over $325, 000 and up. same was under $225,000-$250,00 three years ago.

 

I wish I stayed in Tidewater area and bought a starter home, then sold it for over double what I paid and bought a nice house.

I understand ppl want to make money on their property, but the market has gotten out of hand.

I do like the area though, its nice to be back by the water and to be home. I wonder if plant closings, such as the Norfolk Ford plant, will have any affect on the prices here.

 

Buddy of mine is looking to buy a new place. He said the crazy seller's market here is beginning to relax quite a bit. Many of the prices have dropped just since he started shopping a month or so ago. So maybe if you hold out in a rental for a little longer, things will be more in line with your budget. He also said that if you are willing to cross a bridge (i.e. Gloucester, Isle of Wight, etc.) you can get much more for your money than you can in the more populated areas. Even though a lot of growth and construction have taken place in those more rural outlying areas, they are nowhere near as saturated as the larger cities.

Unfortunately, I doubt our real estate tax burden is going to go back down anytime soon. The appraisals have jumped quite a bit in the last couple years.

 

They're pretty much following the Fed interest rates... as loan rates are down, people can (theoretically) afford more- higher price, similar monthly payments. Great for the people that own investment property, but not so good for people that sold a while ago, and are looking to get back into the market.

 

It has been several factors. 1) The mortgage companies started doing the exotic loans more frequently. 2) The interest rates were very low for a long time. 3) "Flip this house" type TV shows became popular resulting in more people investing and trying to make a big profit. With the combination of the three of these the market had no choice but to rise dramatically. The good news is prices are starting to come down a little. I doubt they will get to the pre-run up point but they are easing. Your best bet was to have a house during the run up and sell to move to a cheaper community.

 

Well at the time right before the prices went up, many people, myself included were not ready to buy a house.

The only thing I have to my advantage right now is that its a buyer's market, and houses are sitting on the market for a while. This area has a high turnover rate for home owners due to millitary and majority of people that arent from the area. My strategy is to find some sellers that need to sell their home yesterday, use that as leverage and make an offer below what they're asking. Wish me luck.

 

i just bought a small 2 bedroom home here on long island for 280,000 so i hear what u are saying.

 

I can't afford to live in my own neighborhood.
Bought a house here 16 years ago for $110,000.
They are asking $529,000 for one around the corner.

 

Brand new starter houses down here in Houston can still be had for somewhere in the mid-90's to low-100's.......

Whenever I travel back home to Minneapolis, I am absolutely staggered by how much more expensive housing is up there -- it would easily cost me over $400k to duplicate what I got down here for far less!

 

The market has gone up here, but not nearly as bad. Building prices are partly to blame for the increase as well. I'm a few months away from finishing my house, and we are well over budget due to the increased costs of lumber, concrete, and copper. Building it ourselves allowed us to get into a home three times the size if we had a contractor do it for us, so I can't complain too much. There are 4-6 year old 2200 square foot homes on the market in our neighborhood going for 390-420K, and my 6000 square foot home is being built for significantly less than that, and it will be valued in the 600-700K range.

Gotta love the sweat equity.

 

I couldn't afford to move into my house a year after I bought it. The market has done its thing and it has slowed down significantly. The invisible hand works and we're seeing it work as we speak.

I'm just pissed that I didn't get a chance to buy the lot two houses over because I would have built one SWEET azzed house there and had a HUJUNGOUS yard to boot. Alas some butthead bought it and is building 4 houses on it instead. It ought to do wonders for my assessment. My property taxes have gone up $40 a MONTH each year. Of course we have the Norfolk Teat Party II here "Cut the rate to 1.08 in 08"

 

Haha, I always find these threads funny.

come to sunny San Diego where the median house price is OVEr $525,000!!!!

you want to live in an area where you don't run the risk of being shot when you get the newspaper? Want 4-5 bedrooms? A 2 car garage?

Hope you have $750,000.

Plenty of 3,200-3,500 sq ft homes with 2-3 car garages over a million bucks...without a view!

It's crazy