How are people affording these crazy home prices?

[dirtshooter]

Where I live in a small town Alberta, houses have been selling fast and at good prices. I bought 12 years ago for $348,500 and a house behind me was listed at $499,000 and was sold within a week and another on the sale street sold mid 400s earlier this year. We're going to move to some land that's destined to be willed to me at the farm, just trying to figure out when the best time to list is in relation to interest rates here in Canada.

I bought a desk from a dude in town and his house just sold, he told me all the new people coming to town are remote (camp) job or work from home workers since the international airport is like 25 min away.

I'm glad the prices are going up because the end goal has always been to stay just long enough before taking my money and running to the countryside.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Average home price in King County here is now $870K. I could not afford to buy my house now as it has nearly quadrupled in value since we bought in 1998. It is crazy here. We would have to move back to the Midwest to afford a move.

 

[Sanchez]

Where I'm at on the Oregon coast a stick-built ocean view or proximity home is expensive and difficult to afford.

At the same time away from the ocean you can get land cheap and drag in a used travel trailer. You can have a functional place to live on the cheap. Not high status or luxurious but it will work until you figure out something better.

 

[loganwayne]

Where I'm at on the Oregon coast a stick-built ocean view or proximity home is expensive and difficult to afford.

At the same time away from the ocean you can get land cheap and drag in a used travel trailer. You can have a functional place to live on the cheap. Not high status or luxurious but it will work until you figure out something better.

There is more and more people buying a year or 2 old 5th wheel and setting them up in a year round camp ground here in the southeast. 50k and you can have a nice 40+ft 5th wheel with 2 bedrooms. That's nicer than the inside of my house.

Heck if I find the right property we will probably do that until we build a house

 

[aftriathlete]

Where are you looking? My advice is choose location over everything. Especially as the markets tighten, and potentially in 10-15 years a bunch of boomer croak location will be the difference between having an assets and a liability. Focus on areas with high rental potential or space limited like it’s not feasible for them to build a bunch of tract homes in 10 years and devalue existing properties

Funny you mention the rental potential and space limited — I’m on Oahu, so checks both those boxes.

Divorce just went final, and I got the best divorce agreement any man has ever gotten. So I’m suddenly in a place where I’m looking to buy a house.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Funny you mention the rental potential and space limited — I’m on Oahu, so checks both those boxes.

Divorce just went final, and I got the best divorce agreement any man has ever gotten. So I’m suddenly in a place where I’m looking to buy a house.

Sorry to hear about the divorce, never fun, I’m glad you got a good settlement though seems rare, I’d say you definitely have both boxes checked! Good luck on the hunt. Hawaii is gorgeous

 

[Kpm]

Aside from the price many locked
In stupid low rates. It’s hard to consider moving simply because I’d like to upgraded when I’m locked in at 2.5%. Many strange anomalies is housing right now.


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[Alpine4x4]

There is more and more people buying a year or 2 old 5th wheel and setting them up in a year round camp ground here in the southeast. 50k and you can have a nice 40+ft 5th wheel with 2 bedrooms. That's nicer than the inside of my house.

Heck if I find the right property we will probably do that until we build a house

Trailer living sucks. I'm on year two of full time right now while we build. 38ft triple slide. They're so cheaply made you have to do constant work to keep things working. Humidity is a killer in them.

 

[loganwayne]

Trailer living sucks. I'm on year two of full time right now while we build. 38ft triple slide. They're so cheaply made you have to do constant work to keep things working. Humidity is a killer in them.

im sitting in our camper now.... camping. But in the next month or so will be moving into it for a couple months while i redo our house. should be real fun in a 20ft camper, with 4 dogs and a new born...

 

[MallardSX2]

Trailer living sucks. I'm on year two of full time right now while we build. 38ft triple slide. They're so cheaply made you have to do constant work to keep things working. Humidity is a killer in them.

This 100%

We lived in one while our house was being built. It freaking sucked.

 

[Alpine4x4]

im sitting in our camper now.... camping. But in the next month or so will be moving into it for a couple months while i redo our house. should be real fun in a 20ft camper, with 4 dogs and a new born...

Oh that will be a blast. We started with 2 dogs and a 6mo old and 2yr old. We lost a dog last January, but still have the kids haha...

It's tight for sure. We've done 107* to -8* in it which is trying. I've renovated a lot of it. Biggest thing is that when the cheap RV stuff breaks, don't replace it with RV stuff. Just use residential stuff, it all works the same and lasts way longer. Faucets, shower heads, outlets, fridges, etc, just go residential and be done with it.

 

[ethan]

I think a lot of what we're seeing is all by design! My wife and I recently sold our house and downsized to a small cabin and a shop, with no mortgage. Our youngest daughter is 21, my advice to her was to think outside the box when the time comes. The days of starting out and buying a home are a thing of the past when you factor in the costs of getting started in life, school loans, etc.... At least not if you want to start your life in a financial hole you're likely never going to crawl out of. I heard a friend say it like this, the cost of a home in the 1970's was typically one to two years salary, a new vehicle was roughly 1/4 of a years salary. Most new vehicles cost more than a lot of people make in a year. It's crazy to look at the average square footage of a house in the 70's or 80's compared to now.
I also read recently that something like 33% of the single family homes purchased in 2023 were bought by blackrock, and the vast majority of those are not for resale, just for rent. I don't think the "system" wants us to own much of anything, total dependency and control is what it's all about, in my opinion. Maybe i'm just getting old and cynical thought......

 

[Rich M]

I think a lot of what we're seeing is all by design! My wife and I recently sold our house and downsized to a small cabin and a shop, with no mortgage. Our youngest daughter is 21, my advice to her was to think outside the box when the time comes. The days of starting out and buying a home are a thing of the past when you factor in the costs of getting started in life, school loans, etc.... At least not if you want to start your life in a financial hole you're likely never going to crawl out of. I heard a friend say it like this, the cost of a home in the 1970's was typically one to two years salary, a new vehicle was roughly 1/4 of a years salary. Most new vehicles cost more than a lot of people make in a year. It's crazy to look at the average square footage of a house in the 70's or 80's compared to now.
I also read recently that something like 33% of the single family homes purchased in 2023 were bought by blackrock, and the vast majority of those are not for resale, just for rent. I don't think the "system" wants us to own much of anything, total dependency and control is what it's all about, in my opinion. Maybe i'm just getting old and cynical thought......

There was a phrase: you’ll own nothing and be happy.

The problem is kids buying 4,000 sf houses. Insurance, taxes, inflation..,

Most folks who avoid student loans work thru college and dont try to have the live there at any cost experience. Gotta make wise decisions.

 

[ddd-shooter]

There was a phrase: you’ll own nothing and be happy.

The problem is kids buying 4,000 sf houses. Insurance, taxes, inflation..,

Most folks who avoid student loans work thru college and dont try to have the live there at any cost experience. Gotta make wise decisions.

Yeah I’m not sure most 1500 square foot houses are affordable. Unless you live in some podunk town

 

[missjordan]

It truly sucks. I feel like we’re in the club of we can “never afford to upgrade”. Between having locked in a low interest rate and a crazy affordable payment it’s too good to stay put. So we’ve spent so me serious bucks remodeling and that’s ok too.

I think a way for anyone to try and find an entry point into the housing market is to play the stock market. Invest your way into getting a down payment or more. That’s probably what i would do. Honestly if housing keeps going up it might not be worth trying to buy a house. Depends on the area i suppose.


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[CorbLand]

Trailer living sucks. I'm on year two of full time right now while we build. 38ft triple slide. They're so cheaply made you have to do constant work to keep things working. Humidity is a killer in them.

My in laws, and both brother in laws thought they could beat the “system” by living in trailers. Watching them just makes me shake my head.

Gets to cold, lines freeze up and break. Gotta wait for everything to thaw, buy parts, take a day off work to fix it.

Stove goes out. RV stoves are expensive so we have to eat out because we can’t cook.

Don’t even get me started on the propane costs to keep them warm.

Brother in law came over yesterday to get water because something broke and he doesn’t know when he will have water again.

 

[Alpine4x4]

My in laws, and both brother in laws thought they could beat the “system” by living in trailers. Watching them just makes me shake my head.

Gets to cold, lines freeze up and break. Gotta wait for everything to thaw, buy parts, take a day off work to fix it.

Stove goes out. RV stoves are expensive so we have to eat out because we can’t cook.

Don’t even get me started on the propane costs to keep them warm.

Brother in law came over yesterday to get water because something broke and he doesn’t know when he will have water again.

Sounds like they are woefully unprepared as well. Ours has an outdoor kitchen and we have bbq's and a traeger, all backup plans for if the stove fails. Our fridge froze up (ammonia fridges don't like a week below 0*), but luckily it was cold outside so coolers worked fine until I got a residential fridge in. We skirted and with no supplemental heat the airspace below the trailer stays around 40* consistently. Pirit heated hose, hard plumbed sewer line, etc to keep things moving.

The propane cost is nuts. I am renting a 200gal tank that my local ag supply services. Costs around $550 to fill it and that's around every 45 days in the winter. Thats skirted, extra insulation added all over, windows covered, vents sealed, electric heater supplementing, etc.

The bouncing sucks too. Even with stabilizers down, screw jacks on the frame, wheel chocks, etc it still moves. Walls are paper thing so you hear everything and everyone hears you. 7ft ceilings suck. I can go on and on haha...

 

[Wildone]

This economy is not sustainable. Until people learn to control their spending and just say no to this rediculousness the vultures will keep pecking away at them until they have nothing left to give.

 

[Wrench]

Yeah I’m not sure most 1500 square foot houses are affordable. Unless you live in some podunk town

Knowing how a hammer, saw and speed square can sure help.

 

[aftriathlete]

Sorry to hear about the divorce, never fun, I’m glad you got a good settlement though seems rare, I’d say you definitely have both boxes checked! Good luck on the hunt. Hawaii is gorgeous

No it was not fun, it was totally stupid. But all good now. The market here is crazy -- prices haven't come down at all since covid peak, they just plateau'd even with the high rates. Inventory was already limited just inherent to island life, and fewer sellers due to them being trapped by their good rates. So my very unexpert logic infers that when rates do finally come down, list prices will be gone to the moon. Can't believe the overall dollar figure it takes to get into a house here though...