Focus man! This is specifically a thread about the residential real estate market, not healthcare or any other asset class. A market that went up significantly in Obama's first term as well as his second and pretty much universally across the country. You, again, seem pathologically unable to accept that simple fact and asserted the opposite (you thought residential real estate would go down under Biden because, of course, Obama). Which is certainly your choice to make, but given this is a forum where we talk about trading, it's certainly open game to point out that you're being completely irrational in deciding not to make a trade in an instrument (residential real estate) because you are afraid you'll lose money because Obama, when under Obama that instrument pretty unambiguously went up in value. You're not in your safe space bubble here, or when you trade. People and markets care about facts not your political beliefs. And again, the ability of any President to impact an asset class like real estate is so minimal that allowing an election to determine for you if you're going to own a home or not is not only foolish but in many ways very sad.
i hear ya but you may live longer than you think in less than perfect shape. i lost a very young family member once because they took him to a inadequate medical facility and by the time they decided to take him to a trauma center he died in route. from that day on i have lived less than 30 min from a trauma center. so age has little to do with it sometimes.
To the OP, real estate is about the best inflation edge available to the average Joe. It's way better than gold, for example. It's like a savings account that grows, but you get to live in it, too. One thing I've learned about inflation is once it gets going, it's very hard to limit how high and how long it lasts. And I think we will see some serious inflation over the next few years, but that's another discussion. As far as Zillow goes, I've been a RE appraiser for the past 30 years and their data is all over the place. I wouldn't base a decision on that alone.
I don't have your expertise but I share your skepticism especially on their "forecasts" of what prices will do over the next year. I'm guessing they just extrapolate out what prices did over the previous year, which is next to useless in and of itself, even before you take into account which properties they're using to extrapolate and if they match your property type at all. "Single family home" can cover a pretty broad spectrum of housing types even in a small area. They are super helpful for finding your own comparable sales however, especially when you're looking for something specific like waterfront or view properties. I've found the graphic interface on Zillow allows me to do a better job than many (but certainly not all) in your profession finding comps that are actually comps not just something within a certain distance and number of square feet. Having a monopoly on that data in an easily accessible form for so many years unfortunately made many appraisers just plain lazy. I am curious if you have any tips for how to find a good appraiser versus one who just plugs and chugs with their online comp tool?
I sold a house to a guy who later sold the house for something like 30% less than he paid for it. I sold the house to him before the 2008 crash, and he sold the house a couple years ago. My point being - RE is no longer subject to generalizations about value.
%% NOT near as accurate as a good MLS REALTOR. No, not 0%, in US. BUT assume one is staying in one place for 2/3years; beats rent receipts anytime. And I like the way REALTORS, make nothing unless they produce like a trader/investor. Made plenty buying + selling owner agent properties[thru REALTOR]………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...