Topic: land rich and money poor

[supersport_CB400F]

UK house prices 

http://www.whitegates.co.uk/

No offence Biff, but with those prices I will stay here in the USA, when my Son is out of School, move to another State with cheaper taxes and pocket my ridiculous profits.

I'm selling up and going to live next door to you in the cheap home and bike USA! I may buy a house with a pool that would be a dream   

[quietlikeachurch]

Wow...I can't wait to buy a house!  I'm not bragging or anything, but if I stay at my current job as a line cook I can buy a house like Gordon's in just under 34 years...oh boy!  I might have to get a loan that I can never afford to pay off though.  Ah well...that's what kids are for!

[Bob Wessner]

Ann Arbor, being a Univ. town has developed an interesting phenomenon. Parents buy a house for their kids to live in while at school (Uni to our friends across the pond  then sell it when they graduate. Makes sense in a good housing market, they save on room and board expenses and may even make a profit. There is a small half-cape next to us. Mom and Dad bought for their son while attending grad school at U of M. They paid $249K for a 900 sq ft house three years ago. Back in my day when I had to finance my education.. never mind, won't bore you with the old guy's story. 

[Tim.]

Brazilian women are all the reason in the world to pay taxes.  Someone down there is doing something right.

[Zeke]

Here in Santa Cruz, CA, the median home price is $729,500!!!!   Ahhhhh!!!!!!!

Needless to say, I rent.  I like it here, but if not for my job I probably wouldn't be here.  Being able to ever afford a home here seems like it'll never happen.

I've talked with a friend here at work about buying some land and putting up some Yurts or something cheap.  To build a proper house here with approval can take 5+ years and cost over 50K!  Too many rich people in nearby Silicon Valley (think google).  They had to inflate the building permit costs to slow development.  As a result, there are many unpermitted structures here in the mountains, because us regular folk can't afford it.

Bob W, my brother has a house in Ann Arbor, on Dexter Rd about 7 miles out of town.  He moved to Russia to get language fluency, and debated about selling his house before he left.  Well the house market there is weak right now, so he couldn't get what he paid for it several years ago.  Now he's renting it for a discount rate.

out,

Zeke

[Gordon]

Wow...I can't wait to buy a house!  I'm not bragging or anything, but if I stay at my current job as a line cook I can buy a house like Gordon's in just under 34 years...oh boy!  I might have to get a loan that I can never afford to pay off though.  Ah well...that's what kids are for!

It's not like I walked in and plunked down 300 grand on the table.  Due to our relatively low income and good credit, we were able to get an FHA loan which allows the seller to pay the closing costs and down payment instead of the buyer.  So basically we bought our house with less than $500 out of pocket, and our payments aren't much more than what we had been paying in rent the past few years. 

If you can pay rent and have good credit, chances are you can buy a house.  That is unless you live in California!

[supersport_CB400F]

Wow...I can't wait to buy a house!  I'm not bragging or anything, but if I stay at my current job as a line cook I can buy a house like Gordon's in just under 34 years...oh boy!  I might have to get a loan that I can never afford to pay off though.  Ah well...that's what kids are for!

It's not like I walked in and plunked down 300 grand on the table.  Due to our relatively low income and good credit, we were able to get an FHA loan which allows the seller to pay the closing costs and down payment instead of the buyer.  So basically we bought our house with less than $500 out of pocket, and our payments aren't much more than what we had been paying in rent the past few years. 

If you can pay rent and have good credit, chances are you can buy a house.  That is unless you live in California!

Yep same as the UK if you can pay rent you can buy any house you may never own it, but you can try and buy it

[Gordon]

The worst part about it all is that our loan is owned by the bank we have our checking and savings accounts with, so whenever I log onto my account online, down below where it shows how much money I have, it shows how much we owe on the mortgage!

That's a very depressing thing to have to look at...

[BobbyR]

Wow...I can't wait to buy a house!  I'm not bragging or anything, but if I stay at my current job as a line cook I can buy a house like Gordon's in just under 34 years...oh boy!  I might have to get a loan that I can never afford to pay off though.  Ah well...that's what kids are for!

It's not like I walked in and plunked down 300 grand on the table.  Due to our relatively low income and good credit, we were able to get an FHA loan which allows the seller to pay the closing costs and down payment instead of the buyer.  So basically we bought our house with less than $500 out of pocket, and our payments aren't much more than what we had been paying in rent the past few years. 

If you can pay rent and have good credit, chances are you can buy a house.  That is unless you live in California!

When we bouht our place Mr. Carter was in the White House. The interest rate was 16 1/4 percent. That is with perfect credit and a 25% down payment. The good part was the higher interest rates brought the house prices down. When interest rates dropped we were able to make the same payment we had been making and pay the place off 10 years early. I think houses in some parts of the US are going to come down in price, which is good if you can make the down payment and cover the loan payments.

Yep same as the UK if you can pay rent you can buy any house you may never own it, but you can try and buy it

[Bob Wessner]

Bob W, my brother has a house in Ann Arbor, on Dexter Rd about 7 miles out of town.  He moved to Russia to get language fluency, and debated about selling his house before he left.  Well the house market there is weak right now, so he couldn't get what he paid for it several years ago.  Now he's renting it for a discount rate.

Small world! Yes, things have slowed a bit. Here in town houses still sell pretty much around the asking price, but they are on the market longer for sure. Back a couple of years, sometimes folks got more than they were asking for a house. Those days are gone.

[74cb750]

OK. So the housing market is driven by demand, not actual building costs in most cases.
I do not understand how housing markets can get so overpriced that the majority of
locals can afford to buy.
Wouldn't the result be that most youngsters move to other
areas, like is happening in BOston, Ma? That was the main reason we moved
out of the city.
peace,
michel

[BobbyR]

You are right Mike. Here in the NY suburbs the local kids are not coming back to Town to buy houses, they can't afford to buy in their home town. The price increases are driven by outsiders moving away from the City, where a one bedroom apartment can be $4K a month. It has come to a point that when people's kids graduate from High School, they move. So, the old timers that give a town it's charm and history no longer exist.