Reminds me of just 5 years ago when everyone was trying to jump into a house and ride the wave to 10-20% yearly gains on their property value, makes me laugh to read something like this today, that if you dont buy today you will be regretting it in 5 years...thats a joke. Housing prices arent going anywhere, yes they may gain in certain markets, but overall there is absolutely no reason to rush out and buy now, rates are staying at 3-4% for the next 5-10 years and housing prices over all will be flat for the next decade....try and go out and buy a house today, its nearly impossible with the banks not lending. Still millions of houses in foreclosure that still need to come to the market and listening to the CEO of Hovanian or any other homebuilder is just like listening to the real estate agents back during the housing boom when they said now is the greatest time to buy, like they were a broken fucking record, anyone who listened to them is now under water trying pay off a house thats worth $350,000 that they paid $587,000 for! You May Regret Not Buying a House: Hovnanian CEO Published: Monday, 17 Dec 2012 | 12:07 PM ET By: Justin Menza Home prices are on the rise and potential buyers may look back and regret not taking advantage of today's low rates and good affordability, Hovnanian CEO Ara Hovnanian told CNBC on Monday. "We're at historic low rates," the home building executive said. "Prices have been adjusted to levels that we haven't seen in six or seven years. It's a perfect combination." But home buyers who can qualify for a mortgage will want to act soon in order to take advantage of this combination of affordability and rock-bottom rates because prices are rising. On its quarterly conference call, Hovnanian announced that it hiked prices in 60 percent of its communities this year. "Prices are finally starting to increase after a long decline," Hovnanian told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "Everyone will look back five years from now, that hasn't bought a house and say, 'What was I thinking?'" he added. "Boomerang buyers" are also helping to support the housing recovery. These are buyers who went through foreclosure but are now looking to get back into the market. "It's not unlike a divorced couple wanting to get remarried again," Hovnanian said. After looking at smaller homes when the housing bubble burst, buyers are also purchasing bigger houses again. "With rates where they are, with prices having come down to where they are, the monthly payments allow them to get more house in a safe range of monthly payments than they were able to do five years ago," he said.
well..like it or not,but fed want's house prices to go up. and they usually get things done their way..you know-don't fight the fed. and fed is screaming now-BUY a HOUSE. i'm going to be honest with you-i have the money to buy whole damn street,but have no balls and idea what to do with it. nor experience and experienced realtor. otherwise i would buy it. imo US housing is cheap,compared to other countries..once again- don't fight the fed. http://www.zillow.com/local-info/
I bought an investment property in October. Primarily to diversify my investment portfolio. I avoided buying a McMansion or any property in one of those cookie cutter HOA ghettoes. I bought a 1955 ranch house with a nice sized yard in a well centralized location in an up and coming neighborhood before the gentrification sets in. (there is already artists moving in several blocks down so I can smell it coming) Its a nice solid turnkey home built like a tank. I got it at 179K Now at least I can get some tax breaks as well.
The problem with U.S. real estate is that most states are broke and have massive entitlements to keep paying out. The only way to do it is to continue to raise property and other taxes. My town tried raising my taxes 50% last year. 50%! I hired an attorney who specializes in those cases and got my taxes back to where they were. Sure enough, I get my tax bill this year, and they tried another 50% raise! Now I have to hire the lawyer again (who keeps 1/3 of what he saves me on the tax bill for the next 3 years). So even though my tax bill won't go up, I still have to lay out thousands of dollars to the lawyer.
A house is two things: shelter and an investment. I see those two confused all the time. Everybody needs shelter, but not everybody needs to own a home. Home ownership is a luxury. It may be a good investment or not depending on a lot of things. But it's good not to confuse the two, and probably best to stay with investments you know. If you know real estate investing, go for it!
The problem is the price of a house is linked to interest rates and the Fed controls rates. What would private money be charging most people for a mortgage if interest rates were allowed to go to market levels.
I bought a house in October. I got it well below market value and then did some remodeling work. I am not counting on housing prices to go up so much as I am just counting on eventually getting market value for it. We did quality stuff I think to add to the value. We will see what happens though, we aren't even finished unpacking yet and havent finished the remodeling so I have quite a few years before I plan on selling unless I got a job in another city. My house payment is $50 less counting insurance and taxes than I paid in rent before so I consider it a good investment.