Thread: Realestate questions, am I the only one?

Originally Posted by 6Myles

This is for my refinance appraisal (market value), not taxes.

Up to the recent past, (re)finance appraisals were usually on the high side -- the banks want your business!

But I don't know how recent history affects this as that over-appraisal habit is one of the contributors to the banking crises (bank's equity worth less than the amount loaned out). Perhaps the pendulum has swung past the mid-point.

It could also be that given today's market it simply costs more to build a house than it can be sold for. Probably depends on the house. Maybe "custom" houses are harder hit by the real-estate situation than less-expensive houses.

Curious, what did it cost you per foot to build this house? How does that compare with your area?

Rick

Well that's not as good then. My house's (end-unit town-home) appraised value is about $20k below what I paid for it at the end of 2007, *but* my development is still building (and since they don't start construction until after units are sold, that means selling), and units of the same floorplan as mine sell for upwards of $20k more than what I paid. I guess it's all relative?

And how's your location? That would be the biggest variable. When I was in high-school my family bought a 6k sq-ft house, with 13 acres, an in-ground 20'x40' pool, and tennis court for under $300k. Problem is its location (Hazleton, PA a rather depressed former coal mining area). Here in Allentown a very basic single-family home will start around $400k.

I've been trying to sell a 2 bed 1 bath room apt in Puerto Rico for almost 2 years now...
was rented for 8 moths and its been empty since Dec...



paying 800 month for a place i dont live anymore...

We bought a condo here in mid 2006. Whoops! It's now worth maybe 3/4 of what we paid for it, if we're lucky. There are about 400 units in our complex and we bought when it was 80%+ full. We paid less than anyone else there (with our size/style configuration) by an average of about 10%.

What sucks the most now, is that a number of people in my complex are getting foreclosed on and shortselling. The people moving in now are paying 20-25%+ less than what we paid. It's going to make selling a real PITA if we ever can, as there's no way we can compete with these lower prices. When we move, we'll probably end up having to rent it out at a (hopefully small) loss for a looong time.

Oh well, hindsight is 20/20.

It's a PITA that you'll have to pay PMI even though you have a considerable amount of money and time into the house, but at least it's a house and presumably you're dream house. You can live there forever.

I honestly wouldn't care what the market was doing at all if we planned to live in our condo forever as we can afford the payments alright. We always hoped we'd only be there for 5-7 years or so, but now it looks like we'll own it much longer than that, even if we're not actually living there.

I think Scott Adams nailed with this strip



it really annoying actually...in my case its like i'm making $800 less a month!
i cant rent a better place since i'm paying 1900 between two rents right now!

i told the realtor to sell the place no matter what!
i'm willing to take a hit...

I agree, even though it's a bummer for you, you can focus on how you have a great new house to enjoy and a house that you've personally built. Congratulations and kudos on your major accomplishment!

We bought our house in 2004 and it's probably worth 25-30% less than what we paid for it. We also had hoped to be in our house 5-7 years and now we've since decided to be here for at least another five. I would think of myself as delusional if I thought the real estate market in our area (semi-rural) was going to not only gain market value equal to what it was in 2004 but actually exceed that value in less than probably a decade. Seriously. Real estate market turn around in a few years??? I've heard people say that. Not in my area!

There are now half the real estate offices in my area there were in 2004; and, whereas in 2004 real estate agents were naturally trying to sell homes for absolutely positively the highest a home could conceivably be sold at (thereby contributing to the real estate bubble problem IMO), the ones that are left, believe it or not are doing the exact opposite (which puzzles me) and are listing homes surprisingly lower than what I believe the properties could sell for. It's like the opposite extreme approach now.

Chris L

When you design and build to your own personel tastes you may end up with something you love but everyone else hates. That's one more reason market price can differ from construction cost.

Yep, you can buy a car and doll it up with all kinds of expensive aftermarket things but when you go to sell it you won't get anymore for it than the basic model price. So if you upgraded many of the items in the house you might never get back that money.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Yep, you can buy a car and doll it up with all kinds of expensive aftermarket things but when you go to sell it you won't get anymore for it than the basic model price. So if you upgraded many of the items in the house you might never get back that money.

How true on the cars. Not to go off topic, but I found out that even if you buy manufacturer accessories for the vehicle, the accessories don't amount to diddly when you go to sell the car.

Chris L