---------------------------------------------- Hi jasonjm Insurance... Be sure you know and understand your home owners insurance policy. Did you happen to see the TV news of the massive tornato damage in central Florida yesterday? Know your insurance company as well since there are second rate ones. Look around at your large trees. Any almost ready to fall on your house in the first strong storm? Yes, I don't think it will ever happen... is a common thought. It will always happen to that other person? Call it "protection" from major loss... agpilot
=============== Jasonj Helpful answers here, saw a chart on the Schiller index, 7 out of 20 cities are down anyway. a] Pray; before you buy,choices have consequences. Not a substitute for study. b]Make hay , while the sun shines; party cloudy/stormy in many markets. Those who mouth they are helping control the weather by low milage cars are probably setting themselves for a disappointment; i like good milage cars/trucks myself, but thats a personal choice. c] 1 million dollar appraised home you say ; try buy @70-95% of that[700k-950k] Offered an owner agent 70% of the appraised value of his foreclosed home recently .Some one pulled up while we were looking it over; hoped it wasnt the former owner with a shotgun . It wasnt.LOL He did decline; thats fine. d] RE trends also, its late in the up trend cycle in many areas[not all, especially some areas that trended mild/steady] z]So not only pray; pay attention to surroundings.Turkeys or eagles[birds] may be positive/helpful ,turkey type people neighbor hood maybe takes longer to sell.
In Alberta, tax Assesments are revenue neutral. Meaning that when the value of the typical house doubled in the last 2 years, the city REDUCED the mill. rate (tax amount/1K of property value) so that property taxes were basically the same and it's revenues remained at the same level. Overall taxes have increased about 5% a year (I think the average tax bill is about 1700$/year) because of the growth of the economy not because Assesment values have gone up. We're up a lot on our primary home but most importantly we don't have to deal with renting in a really tight market. Rents have doubled in the past 2 years to the point where the typical rent is more than what we pay for our mortgage & interest. (And I am comparing rents on an appartment against our mortgage on a single family home, which is an apples to oranges comparison to begin with)
The only people that a stagnant housing market will hurt are flippers or people who bit off more than they could chew (granted, there are a lot of them). Anybody with 1/2 a brain knows about these expenses of home ownership and should plan for them when deciding how much to spend on their home. They shouldn't be eaten alive, that's for sure. Is that $2K your friend is paying to paint his house going to bankrupt him? If so, he's got bigger issues to worry about.
I don't live in a neighborhood where homes average about a million dollars in value but I have lived next to one (two blocks away) for 4 years and have friends that were raised as children in other million dollar neighborhoods or currently live in such. Thus, based upon what I have seen and heard... Maintain the property on the outside and be involved in encouraging your neighbors to do the same. Maintain the house on the inside and keep it looking like something out of a magazine where visitors will say...wow. Be involved in the local elementaries, high school where you send your kids to school... Fund raisers and helping to ensure the school has the best of things et cetera. Neighborhood hires a security firm that does occasional patrols (foot, bike, car) if its a public neighborhood (not gated). Keep your home and the neighborhood super clean. Thus, there is no one best way. There's probably many little things that's easily affordable by those that purchase +million dollar homes. P.S. I'm talking about million dollar homes prior to the real estate price boom. Mark