Economy not only reason properties linger in listings | The Columbus Dispatch

charles75 wrote:

My wife and I have been looking for over one year for a house. We have looked at well over 100 homes in the Columbus area, and have made offers on a dozen or so, two of which have gone into foreclosure and sold for less than my offer. I'm not going to pay $250,000 for a house that's only worth $150,000. In the mean time we will keep renting.
Besides when you take into account how much a home costs, how much it will cost to live in that home (power, water, ins, etc...), upkeep of the home over time, is it really intended to be an investment with the expectation of a large return? My landlord didn't even make any money this year off me because of all the improvements that updates that had to be made.

I've owned a home for 11 years now. If you add up the mortgage payments, maintenance costs and taxes they far exceed the appreciation (would be hard pressed to sell it today for what I paid for it in 1998). Basically, I am a renter from the bank. However, I do like having a yard, good schools and separation from the neighbors. So that part is OK. But as a financial investment? Not really.

Florida Realtor wrote:

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and my taxes are about 1/4 what the were in Worthingon, and my insurance is about the same. So what are you waiting for?

If you are raising children, moving to Florida is not smart. Schools down there are very poor.

Florida Realtor wrote:

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and my taxes are about 1/4 what the were in Worthingon, and my insurance is about the same. So what are you waiting for?

I prefer proper seasons. It's 42 and sunny. 82 and humid in March sounds more like a sentence than a reward.

excuse me - 84 degrees and humid.

:(

probably Pacific Islander wrote:

excuse me - 84 degrees and humid.
:(

It's not humid there in March. That comes later.

Big Johnson wrote:

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It's not humid there in March. That comes later.

It's still Florida.

Invariant wrote:

I doubt that home prices will increase in the lifetime of any adults in Columbus... For the reason alone, renting makes more financial sense for many people.

Good point. It's hard to say, it will depend partly on what happens to interest rates. So far our politicians are not addressing the problem of excessive entitlements, and if that situation lingers long enough, expect another major financial crisis.

Last year I had the chance to purchase a very modest property that for various reasons I passed on it. I analyzed my situation and came to the realization that such a deal didn't make financial sense. And really, that's kind of how home buying is for most people. If you have a family it's certainly desirable but most homeowners break even at best in the long term on homes. Probably the lenders make out the best, but these days, the real estate bubble has severely depleted the capital of many banks.

Those Florida people may tout the virtues of buying real estate there but I don't buy it. There's too much chance of being moved down by a hurricane.

Invariant wrote:

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Real Estate agents have a saying: "Price fixes everything." As for the macro economic problems that you blame, accept that they are here to stay. Foreclosures will be dragging down home prices for the rest of our adult lives. High unemployment is now a permanent situation in Ohio, and Ohio will continue to lose population over the next 50 years. Housing appreciation is over. Let me repeat that ... homes will no longer appreciate in value.

When you read a post think who is posting this?
Guessing that today the same poster is using numerous handles
And what is his message? Prices are going down, prices will stay down.
Forget that we are in the first down period in 40 years.
Who would do this? An investor, shorting the housing market.
Or maybe someone who wants to move to UA and buy a house on the cheap.
or someone who bailed on a house an wants to drag everyone else down with them.

beets wrote:

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The [most likely] reason is that UA residents are in a better position to weather the downturn.
* Desperate sellers sell at deep discounts because they have no other choice.
* Banks dump houses at deep discounts because they want the houses off the books and they probably don't even have a vested interest in the houses beyond the transaction fees for dumping the house (since the bad mortgage was sold off as a stock long ago)
In UA, sellers have $400K-$4M in retirement savings and not selling today means they might stick around awhile and install a $50K-$100K kitchen.

Amen. The banks loose nothing because the feds have already bailed them out, they made very few bad loans in UA- most were made in the starter home zip codes.

There are a lot of things whose prices have been inflated by the recent housing bubble - the effects are visible even today, and will continue for some time to come.
Until all prices scale down to their pre-bubble levels you can expect further slow downs in the purchases and sales of homes.
Just a reminder that we all need to come together to reign in the Finance Industry that for some time now has been sucking all the blood out of our fragile economy.

Big Johnson wrote:

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Did you not buy the house?

I did and have extremely great neighbors; it actually was the second time this realtor acted similarly; the first was when an African American parked her car down the street and went into a house almost at the end of the block. That time the realtor seemed more curious than bothered but he was obviously agitated the second time.

The money that you save by refinancing every month can be sensibly used to repay your unique loan or to upsurge your savings. Do not forget to search online for "Mortgage Refinance 123" they found 3.17% rate for me. They taught me how to refinance smart.

CollegeProf wrote:

<quoted text>I did and have extremely great neighbors; it actually was the second time this realtor acted similarly; the first was when an African American parked her car down the street and went into a house almost at the end of the block. That time the realtor seemed more curious than bothered but he was obviously agitated the second time.

Let me guess...you don't live in Weinland Park.

brunk wrote:

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Let me guess...you don't live in Weinland Park.

I do not, but I do not live as well in a trailer park in Reynoldsburg, a bungalow on the Hilltop, a bi-level in West Jefferson, a cabin in the Hocking Hills, or a shack along the Ohio River -- what's your point?

CollegeProf wrote:

<quoted text>I do recall when looking at a house on the north side how my real estate agent almost had a coronary when an African American came out of one of the neighboring houses ... my realtor was a nice guy in most respects, but his latent racism was obvious and disgusting.

Fair Housing "checkers" could have a field day in some areas of Columbus.

Invariant wrote:

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If you are raising children, moving to Florida is not smart. Schools down there are very poor.

Schools in the sunbelt are AWFUL. The best school districts are as good as Ohio's mediocre districts. I know quite a few 30-somethings with kids who moved down there, bought houses in the best school districts, and every time I talk to them they mention the super low quality of sunbelt public school districts.

smokeandmirrors wrote:

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When you read a post think who is posting this?
Guessing that today the same poster is using numerous handles
And what is his message? Prices are going down, prices will stay down.
Forget that we are in the first down period in 40 years.
Who would do this? An investor, shorting the housing market.
Or maybe someone who wants to move to UA and buy a house on the cheap.
or someone who bailed on a house an wants to drag everyone else down with them.

Or maybe the person posting negative forecasts for Ohio and Ohio's housing market are just being overly realistic?

Ohio's been losing population for decades while overbuilding in all of it's sprawled out to nowhere cities. It's not unreasonable to surmise that the combination of overbuilding of single family homes combined with population loss will mean a negative price adjustment in ohio housing.

CollegeProf wrote:

<quoted text>I do not, but I do not live as well in a trailer park in Reynoldsburg, a bungalow on the Hilltop, a bi-level in West Jefferson, a cabin in the Hocking Hills, or a shack along the Ohio River -- what's your point?

My point is you're a moron who has never lived in a black neighborhood.

brunk wrote:

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My point is you're a moron who has never lived in a black neighborhood.

And you're a bigoted jackass who fails to see there are plenty of "white" neighborhoods where problems are as bad or worse -- and I grew up in a neighborhood where there were many African Americans. Go spread your un-Christian hate mongering somewhere else, Fritz.

OK - so the folks who three years ago told you buying a home was the best investment you can make are now saying that it's just not going ot stop going down?? Sorry if I'm skeptical on that analysis...
Also, all of this talk about bad mortages and evil banks and people who can't afford their houses in dire straits - where are the stories about realtors who acted like used-car salesmen to convince people they could afford this nonesense - and then earned 6% COMMISSION ON THE SALE. When do they get to see a pay cut if the market is still soft. It used to be location, location location - now if all it comes down to as price, how are they being compensated so highly. If the seller loses $10,000, the realtor only gets $600 less in commission. Sounds like a good gig to me...
Also, if the prices will never go up, why would I want to buy a house - that's why people lease cars - they never go up in value.
The AARP wishes they could lobby as well as the NAR.