Real Estate - Ridiculous Appreciation

[HawkeyeNFO]

So I like to update my spreadsheet these days because everything is doing well, and that includes my home value. I live in very desirable area, but it's getting ridiculous!

If I use Zillow as my tracker for home value, the value has gone up nearly 50% in the past 18 months (since before Covid), which means my equity is up about 87% since then, as of today. I know Zillow isn't fully accurate all the time, but it's in the ball park. No plans to sell anytime soon however, so it's all academic.

 

[tulak]

In my old house, I used the tax assessed value for my net worth calculations. In my current home, I use the purchase price, since it’s higher than the tax assessed value. Once the tax assessed value exceeds the purchase price, I’ll use that value.

I realize it’s lower than the actual value, but as you say, it’s academic. Plus, if I had to sell, there’s fees and such so the amount I get is lower than the sale price.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

Roger that, tulak. What gets me is that every week, Zillow's estimate goes up between $10,000 and $20,000. And I say it's in the ball park, because I see the comps for the sales that close in my neighborhood. Ridiculous!

 

[W2R]

Real estate isn't going up quite as fast here as in your location, HawkeyeNFO, but it's still insane! Both homes for sale and rentals are booming.

Frank and I decided to stay put, because we need to live SOMEWHERE... and we know we like it here, and buying a new home would be really expensive in this crazy real estate environment. So for us, realtor dot com is merely a source of entertainment and laughs right now. Any money we have "made" is purely hypothetical.

 

[ivinsfan]

It's a wash for most of us, now if we've died and our kids sell up.. Woo-hoo..


IMO the biggest issue it RE taxes they will inevitably start rising, that cost us all more money even though we haven't gained any real extra value ATM. You would not believe how high farmland taxes have risen. We haven't sold and we don't make any extra money but the taxes keep rising.

 

[Dtail]

Real estate isn't going up quite as fast here as in your location, HawkeyeNFO, but it's still insane! Both homes for sale and rentals are booming.

Frank and I decided to stay put, because we need to live SOMEWHERE... and we know we like it here, and buying a new home would be really expensive in this crazy real estate environment. So for us, realtor dot com is merely a source of entertainment and laughs right now. Any money we have "made" is purely hypothetical.

I feel that the only time we could/would take advantage of the rising RE, is if down the road we don't wish to take care of a home anymore and downsize to potentially an apartment.

 

[Focus]

I recently sold my house in the midst of this craziness, and I'll never regret it, even if the party keeps going. Smoothest transaction ever (no inspection, no repairs) and winning offer was way above the asking price.

I'm now renting for the first time in about three decades. I won't lie -- it feels strange, but also liberating. The question is whether I'll keep doing this (there's no rent control in this city) or eventually opt for a small condo. Condo HOAs have reached ridiculous heights, though, so not sure I'll go that route in the end.

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

I'm glad I bought rental properties.

And as far as "Zillow isn't fully accurate all the time"...Hahaha

 

[Teacher Terry]

Sold the house and bought a condo in March. We closed the end of April and prices are now higher. I love my condo so it worked out great.

 

[Montecfo]

Hawkeye, I think.prices have peaked here My neighbor says she thinks her house is worth $xmillion because Zillow.

That to me signaled a market top.



And lumber futures have fallen in half recently. Trees and tree prices do not grow to the sky

 

[chassis]

Agree with Montecfo. Lumber price reduction/construction resuming, people back to work/less fussing about their homes, and kids back in school in late summer/fall are reasons I can see a moderation in sales volume and price growth.

 

[1242Vintage]

Six months before the pandemic hit we lost the tenets in our rental. I did most of the repairs myself to get it back into shape for the next renters. Spent many long nights over there on repairs and was very tempted to sell it once it was all fixed up again.

So glad we held on to that home. Like everywhere else, the value is way up. Hoping someday one of our kids will come back to California and will sell it to one of them at a bargain basement price.

 

[ER Eddie]

It's good to have an appreciation for the ridiculous.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

We’ve given up on trying to find a new house in this market. Our agent says it’s nearly impossible to price a house for sale these days and they just throw a high asking price out and see what sticks.

For example, we looked at one a month ago the day it was listed. We passed because it was on a busy street and needed a fair bit of work and updating for what they were asking, but it closed by the end of that week for 20% above the asking price. Not “under contract” but “closed.” Crazy!

 

[Chuckanut]

The guy who mows my lawn recently gave me some hot tips on how to flip homes and earn a few extra 100 Grand over the next year. I think his grandfather used to shine shoes for very wealthy people in NYC so he must know what he's talking about.

 

[4legsgood]

The guy who mows my lawn recently gave me some hot tips on how to flip homes and earn a few extra 100 Grand over the next year. I think his grandfather used to shine shoes for very wealthy people in NYC so he must know what he's talking about.

Good one! I know one person who sold 3 bedroom in Seattle area for 900k and moved to 2 bedroom in 55+ near grand kids for 400k, regular person did well.

P.S., FWIW, lawn care person around here I know makes 6 figures.

 

[RobbieB]

The house next door just sold for $395K. The neighbor bought it for $150K (bank repo) in 2009. Now being improved by the flipper that bought it and I think it will go for $450 to 500

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I recently sold my house in the midst of this craziness, and I'll never regret it, even if the party keeps going. Smoothest transaction ever (no inspection, no repairs) and winning offer was way above the asking price.

I'm now renting for the first time in about three decades. I won't lie -- it feels strange, but also liberating. The question is whether I'll keep doing this (there's no rent control in this city) or eventually opt for a small condo. Condo HOAs have reached ridiculous heights, though, so not sure I'll go that route in the end.

How tough was it to find a rental? My DW is in the rental business in several states and almost universally as soon as a SFH hits the market, there are showings scheduled immediately and there are multiple applications THE SAME day. We have a friend that is moving up from TX and lost out on 4 houses before they called her begging for help. We have played with the idea of listing our house to see if we could get a "make me move" price, but there is NO way we would go under contract without having someplace to go.

 

[Dtail]

The guy who mows my lawn recently gave me some hot tips on how to flip homes and earn a few extra 100 Grand over the next year. I think his grandfather used to shine shoes for very wealthy people in NYC so he must know what he's talking about.

Good stock market reference.

 

[jkern]

Now I think the price of RE is ridiculous. The same model house as mine 4 doors up the street just sold for almost $1.7M.

 

[chassis]

How tough was it to find a rental? My DW is in the rental business in several states and almost universally as soon as a SFH hits the market, there are showings scheduled immediately and there are multiple applications THE SAME day. We have a friend that is moving up from TX and lost out on 4 houses before they called her begging for help. We have played with the idea of listing our house to see if we could get a "make me move" price, but there is NO way we would go under contract without having someplace to go.

We had a tough time finding a SFH in a medium-large Midwest metro. Low inventory for properties that met our minimum requirements. Lots of inventory, just not “good product” in our eyes.

We lost out on two houses and the third was successful. A small lakefront house with beach, dock and quality swimming and all sports boating. 15 minutes from downtown, hard to beat. Price was reasonable.

The search took two weeks with my wife working nearly full time on it searching and communicating with landlords and agents. Once again we found agents to be useless middlemen/women with parasitic interests in the transaction. We are renting from the owner/investor as we have for the last two SFH rentals. We have all of the the highest quality tenant characteristics on the market without question.

 

[gcgang]

My cousin has probably moved 10 times in the last 30 years. Made money every time except one small loss. Doesn’t do huge remodels but cleans them up well before selling.

He bought his current house, before it came on market, for $765k in February. He listed it last week for $1.2mm. He’s ok staying there if it doesn’t sell, and would probably rent for a while if it sells.

It seems to be his j*b.

 

[chassis]

My cousin has probably moved 10 times in the last 30 years. Made money every time except one small loss. Doesn’t do huge remodels but cleans them up well before selling.

He bought his current house, before it came on market, for $765k in February. He listed it last week for $1.2mm. He’s ok staying there if it doesn’t sell, and would probably rent for a while if it sells.

It seems to be his j*b.

@gcgang How old is your cousin, is he married and does he have kids of any age?

 

[tryan]

.... having bought and sold ~30 properties in roughly 30 years .... only 2 involved my primary residence. And twice was one too many.

 

[cyber888]

My neighbor's house, which is about the same as mine in value, just sold for $70K more than what zillow's priced my house. And my house is up 30% in the present Zillow's value. So .... my house is also up 50% if I compare it to the price of my neighbor's house that got sold.
For networth calculation, I price it much lower.