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The people who can loan the money have the power and look for big returns.
Prices now are actually cheaper than it was 10 years ago for me here. I'm waiting to close on one of them. If it's not already true in your area, just wait for it... 3% inflation total for 10 years? That sounds a little low. Should be 3% each year so I've read.
FortWayne
2011 Apr 22, 12:19am
Just like you said, the only people advocating the time to buy are the once selling. Bunch of disgusting used-car salesmen thats all they are.
For Realtors it is always the best time to tell you to buy, as long as they can make a killer commission.
bubblesitter
2011 Apr 22, 12:51am
Heard in 2007 - If you don't buy now you will never be able to buy :)
If supply were that short, CNBC wouldn't be advocating the destruction of empty homes.
uffthefluff
2011 Apr 22, 6:31am
To clarify, I meant 3 percent per year would be okay. But only if you start pre-bubble, which looks like around 1998.
The problem for me is that in a Recourse state the sellers that want to ask a fair price cannot unless they bought before the bubble. Banks are extremely reluctant to take a short sale when they can literally sue you if you default.
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/03/28/real-estate-its-time-to-buy-again/
http://modeledbehavior.com/2011/04/19/are-there-too-many-homes-in-america-ctd-3/
I'm starting to hear all this nonsense about how a "housing shortage" is going to cause another real estate boom. Pundits, mostly from within the "industry", are convinced that people buy homes with some magical source of money divorced from income or savings. That mortgage interest rates have nowhere to go but up is never mentioned. That new buyers are burdened with much larger student loans than in the past is never mentioned. That a huge number of potential buyers are already underwater on their current housing is never mentioned. That wages are stagnant, at best, is never mentioned. That the rising costs of other essentials like energy and food are pulled from the same pool of money that will be used to buy housing is never mentioned. That down payment requirements are already higher and that financing is harder to come by is never mentioned.
What really rubs me is that affordable housing makes the lives of the populace better, not worse as all these REAs seem to imply. When I look at the prices people paid a decade ago for housing it makes so much more sense. Even adjusting those prices for three percent inflation would be okay. People could afford quality housing and then have some money left over for the rest of our economy. Instead everyone wants ten or more percent appreciation every year, which is quite a bit better than the stock market, and doesn't fit at all with incomes.
#housing