Interest Rates and House Prices

[fun4vnay2]

BG, How do you get so much time to rant?:-)

Anyway, my yearly income is >>150K and have quite a bit of cash for downpayment,
But still paying so much for housing sucks at-least in my perspective.

[fun4vnay2]

@sdrealtor:
I agree different strokes for different people
I have lived in almost all the places ( rochester NY, nyc, chicago, atlanta, dallas etc ) in USA but always find something fun to do almost anywhere

[sdrealtor]

All great places for the right person. Life is too short not to be happy, so only you can weigh the plus/minus points of each to decide what is best for your family.

[Former SD resident]

[quote=sdrealtor][quote=dd123][quote=sdrealtor]Exactly! People in other parts of the country truly get to enjoy playing golf all year, driving to the mountains for great skiing, world class surfing, mountain biking, hiking, weekends in vegas/palm desert/napa etc. We have none of that here to enjoy;)[/quote]

I get your sarcasm:-)
But reality is: People here work to pay off mortgage not to live/enjoy making double income family a necessity[/quote]

That is your reality not everyone’s here. You paint a broad brush….too broad.

Life is about trade offs. Texas has lousy weather, much higher real estate taxes, an under current of prejudice (no just racial but against them damn yankees) and limited access to high quality recreational pursuits. Carolina has much of that and other issues. I have lived other less expensive places and am willing to make the trade offs to live here. If you dont value what you get here, its probably not the right place for you and there are other places you might enjoy more. No wrongs or rights…just different strokes for different folks.[/quote]

I agree sdr and have experince with the Carolina’a. My husband and I grew up in SD and left 4 years ago for a “better” quality of life in North Carolina. At first it was ok but after having 2 kids being so far away from Family, Friends and everything we knew it has gotten to us. There really is no place like SD and we are actively trying to get home. While the homes are cheap, relatively speaking, and there is plenty to do, not nearly as much as SD, the long summers SUCK, tons of bugs, we are so ready to be back in SD. Now that prices are down we look forward to buying a home in SD when we make it back there.

[scaredyclassic]

If life is too short not to be happy would it be acceptable to be miserable if we could extend our lifespan?

[Jazzman]

Many places around the world have always had expensive real estate. The difference is these are no longer isolated enclaves for the super rich, but have spread to middle class areas. You only need to check back over the last 10-20 years to see how much home prices have accelerated. It is frightening! Theories on number of sunshine hours, golf courses, haute cuisine establishments don’t really cut it, as I don’t think you can say SD is twice as good as Charlotte, and therefore should command twice the price. Cheap credit, broke social security, and Wall Street seem a more likely candidate. The importance of RE to the local economy might be another. The truth is we never got over our bubble addiction. Government medication prevented the pain of going ‘cold turkey’, and is it any wonder the tax payer feels aggrieved. It’s a mystery why there haven’t been riots on the streets, frankly.

[moneymaker]

Gold prices are global
Interest rates are national
Real estate is local

[Jazzman]

[quote=threadkiller]Gold prices are global
Interest rates are national
Real estate is local[/quote]
Not so sure about that. I think much of it has gone global.

[moneymaker]

Gold prices are global
Interest rates are national
Real estate is local
Uncertainty is individual

[beselfish]

[quote=sdrealtor]Exactly! People in other parts of the country truly get to enjoy playing golf all year, driving to the mountains for great skiing, world class surfing, mountain biking, hiking, weekends in vegas/palm desert/napa etc. We have none of that here to enjoy;)[/quote]

As for the comments about weather alone you are correct. You are very naive sir to think driving to the San Bernardino mountains constitutes great skiing. It is priced as expensively as truly great (Rockies, Sierras) ski resorts, for overcrowded, inferior quality [manufactured] snow/runs. Now Mammoth at ~8 hrs gets you arguably good quality skiing, but 8 hrs…

[bearishgurl]

[quote=Jazzman]Many places around the world have always had expensive real estate. The difference is these are no longer isolated enclaves for the super rich, but have spread to middle class areas. You only need to check back over the last 10-20 years to see how much home prices have accelerated. It is frightening! Theories on number of sunshine hours, golf courses, haute cuisine establishments don’t really cut it, as I don’t think you can say SD is twice as good as Charlotte, and therefore should command twice the price…[/quote]

Jazzman, I don’t think SD County prices are due to a “bubble addiction.” Obviously, if an asking price is too high, a property will languish on the market and eventually be removed, unsold. TX and the Carolinas have BEAUTIFUL golf courses, sunshine and plenty of “haute cuisine” as does SD.

I’m not sure if SD County commands “twice the price” of Charlotte (NC) but if it does, it is because buyers are willing to pay “twice the price” to live here. As was discussed before, “worth” is subjective and in the eye of the beholder.

The reason SD County is not an “isolated enclave” is due to rampant urban sprawl over the last 20 years, IMO. Now that incoming buyers have all these “buying choices” in “urban-sprawl land,” SD’s best close-in neighborhoods have become “less desireable” to them. If this urban-sprawl was not allowed to take effect to the degree it did, it is VERY likely that new-homeowner money would instead have been used to revitalize SD’s close-in neighborhoods house by house and block by block.

States such as Washington have had strict moratoriums on “urban sprawl” around its cities for at least 20 years. Not only has it kept traffic down, this policy has served to keep its cities best neighborhoods grand, leafy, walkable, safe and full of educated high-earning residents.

This is what the voters wanted in WA so this is what they have. In doing this, their quality of life in the existing areas has remained high.

Due to the eventual decimation of incoming coffers to CA state and local governments in the last 20 years (as a byproduct of enacting Prop 13 and its progeny), cities and counties in CA have gone “hungry” and needed all the tax money new development could bring in for their daily operations, thus they sold out to developers. In doing so, they sold down the river EVERY existing resident’s quality of life.

Those beneficiaries of Prop 13 are using the exact same public services as the rest of the property owners in CA but are paying 1/6 to 1/12 of the taxes for that use. For this reason, Prop 13 needs to be repealed for all property owners but the original owners as of April 1978 who are still themselves residing in those same properties. These owners will eventually die and Prop 13 will become moot. Its premise was well-intentioned at the time but it turned out to be a BIG mistake for this heavily-populated border state.

[end of stump]

[an]

[quote=beselfish]As for the comments about weather alone you are correct. You are very naive sir to think driving to the San Bernardino mountains constitutes great skiing. It is priced as expensively as truly great (Rockies, Sierras) ski resorts, for overcrowded, inferior quality [manufactured] snow/runs. Now Mammoth at ~8 hrs gets you arguably good quality skiing, but 8 hrs…[/quote]
It’s more like 6-7 hrs. not 8, unless you going less than speed limit and hit traffic. But you’re right, Snow Summit/Big Bear is not even close to be in the same league as Vail, Mammoth, Whistler, etc. But that’s the thing, if you love to experience those great resorts, I don’t know if you want to keep on going back to the same mountain. I’ve gone to Mammoth, Vail, Tahoe, etc and I’m making a point to visit all the major resort at least once in my life before I revisit a resort.

[sdrealtor]

I was referring to Mammoth and have made it in well under 6 hours. The drive to Mammoth is very easy and through the desert 90% of the way. Contrast that to driving to Killington, VT from Philly in harsh Winter conditions that can make the drive over 10 miserable hours through NY/NJ bumber to bumper traffic for skiing not even in the same universe. Then when you get there its 10 below with the wind chill for the pleasure of skiing on sheer ice. No thanks.

Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta dont even have driving options for skiing worth the time it would take to get there.

BTW, have you ever been to Mt Baldy? I can get there door to door in about 2 hours and when there is snow there it is outstanding for such a cheap and easy place to get to.

[Jazzman]

Bearishgirl, I am with you all the way on Prop 13. The SD/Charlotte example was just to illustrate a point, that measures of life style, geography, weather etc alone don’t determine home values. RE is the biggest industry in CA. If memory serves me, it is a whopping 17% of GDP. The mortgage/Wall Street fusion was purportedly born in Orange County. CA has one of the largest foreclosure rates in the country. I don’t think this is all coincidence, or that people are simply “prepared” to pay higher home prices. Life-style is sold here big time, and some might argue largely on the back of Hollywood glitz and glamor, so one is “stuck” with the high prices.

[afx114]

[quote=bearishgurl]If this urban-sprawl was not allowed to take effect to the degree it did, it is VERY likely that new-homeowner money would instead have been used to revitalize SD’s close-in neighborhoods house by house and block by block.[/quote]

Have you been to North/South Park, Hillcrest, Normal Heights, Gaslamp, East Village, etc in the past 20 years? They’ve gentrified quite a bit, so I don’t know what your above paragraph even means. Have you expected them to gentrify more than they already have?

[Author]

Posts