that seems like it would be pretty rare for a buyer and a seller having nearly the same income level, debt level, career earning potential, etc.
Housing market
- Thread starter simply1
- Start date
that seems like it would be pretty rare for a buyer and a seller having nearly the same income level, debt level, career earning potential, etc.
Yes, my parents, my in-laws, and 4 neighbors are all empty-nesters who don't want to move out of their 2,500 SF houses. My dad said he'll only move out of his house in a casket.
What does the seller have to do with this? If I am preapproved for a $500,000 mortgage (remember, the bank doens't know what house you'll eventually buy) they are basing that on my income and my credit score. The house is ultimately ireelevant. So if the bank approves ME for the loan, they should continue MY loan regardless if I move hosues or not.
ah, I misunderstood you. I thought you were talking about transferring your loan to the person you sold the house to.
YOUR loan for the house at THIS ADDRESS. This is why the mortgage explicitly says that you cannot transfer it. It is a losing proposition for lenders 100% of the time.
The loan is secured by the home as collateral. You aren't getting a $500k signature loan. The home does matter and will need to meet the lending standards.
Feels like in small town Iowa, we have plenty of us old people dying with houses people don’t want.
We have more new construction in town than I have seen in my ancient boomer existence. People want those houses, with the giant everything - walk-in closets, family rooms, kitchens.
When an old person who wants to stay in their own home dies, it usually gets bought after about a year on the market by an immigrant family.
Friends moved to be closer to grandkids and their beautiful old brick home that was well maintained spent two years on the market. Realtor heard rejections about the garage being too small, no family room, just a nice living room, no open floor plan, closet, bathrooms, and kitchen too small.
So many older homes sit vacant that various entities have tried fixing them up to sell, but they still sit on the market a long time unless they are made substantially larger. When my mother died over 20 years ago, a tactless guy at the funeral did ask my brother if he could buy our childhood home, but there wasn’t nearly as much new construction in town as now.
We have more new construction in town than I have seen in my ancient boomer existence. People want those houses, with the giant everything - walk-in closets, family rooms, kitchens.
When an old person who wants to stay in their own home dies, it usually gets bought after about a year on the market by an immigrant family.
Friends moved to be closer to grandkids and their beautiful old brick home that was well maintained spent two years on the market. Realtor heard rejections about the garage being too small, no family room, just a nice living room, no open floor plan, closet, bathrooms, and kitchen too small.
So many older homes sit vacant that various entities have tried fixing them up to sell, but they still sit on the market a long time unless they are made substantially larger. When my mother died over 20 years ago, a tactless guy at the funeral did ask my brother if he could buy our childhood home, but there wasn’t nearly as much new construction in town as now.
Yes, there will be a glut of homes that were bought for $125k, never remodel since the 90's and the Boomers will want $400k for them.
Just looking at the size of the new houses in the developments stresses me out.
You say well maintained but has it ever been remodeled? That's the issue. Boomers bought home extremely cheap compared to the cost of homes today and never updated them or updated them 20 years ago. No one wants to 2/3 or 3/4 the cost of a new construction home for a place that will need $50k-$70k to update it. They sit because they're asking for too much money given the outdatedness of the home. While it's not as much of an issue in Ankeny I still see this same thing here over and over again. $400k for a 1992 built home without being updated (oh look the only thing they did was granite tops on old freaking cabinets) and wanting the same as new construction. Sure there's more SQ ft in the older home but the cost to update doesn't justify the asking price.
People have to ask, if the house is $400k and needs $60k in updates, is the house worth $475-$500 after all the money put in to update?
I'm not sure if it's just boomers doing this. Anyone with an older house knows they can sell it for as much as the similar house down the street so they do it.
My overall point is that people expect new construction prices for their older homes when they have done little to zero updating. Yes, well maintained is good but that does nothing towards the cost of updating. $10k-$15k for new efficient windows, $30k for a new kitchen and more if you're going to take down a wall. $10k for a new bathroom so probably $20k for two. So many also have unfinished basements so there's another $40k. So can younger people, the ones with incomes that usually require a college loans, afford the $2,500 a month mortgage for the old home plus the additional $70k cash to remodel? No, but they can afford the $2,500 mortgage for the new or newer built home without the updating costs.
This is why we chose a new construction home.
We had a job relocation in 2021. We found some existing homes we liked, but by the time we factored in what we’d have to pay (market was still crazy hot & homes selling way over initial asking) and the $$ we’d spend updating it, we were at the same price or more than new construction. Our top 2 choices were existing home that easily needed 50k dumped into it, had an HOA with rules we didn’t care for or a new construction home in a neighborhood without an HOA. We would’ve ended up with more $$ in the existing home.
Last edited:
I've had older homes described as a baby with colic. They're cute, but they need a lot of attention.
We looked at a home this last weekend. Open house and we went in. Build in the 1800s. Perfect location. No joke perfect location
But 2 of the bedrooms would be considered walk-in closet sized today. Laundry was in the kitchen. Basement was obviously haunted.
Price was in line with newer homes (last 20 years) but with very few of the amenities.
Love the older homes, but there's a tradeoff
In my opinion there are two kinds of people; location people, and house people. So many people I know are all “walkability! It’s the kid and parents not the school! Close to this and that! We love the charm of these older homes in this perfect neighborhood!” Then they end up in the burbs under a high line 45 minutes from their original area they wanted to be in. Then they realize traffic is worse in the burbs, the roads and infrastructure projects are a nightmare, the only sound they hear all day are hammers and lulls for the next 7-10 years and they go over to their neighbors house and comment on how its the exact same house as theirs but the bedrooms are on the opposite side of the house! Cool!
When I see my peers complain about how their parents/grandparents were able to afford a home and raise a family on one income, they always seem to elide/forget the fact that these homes were 2-3 bedrooms and 900 square feet.
My question--is there really a need for all of this stuff if it's functional as is?
I guess newer efficient windows can be a useful thing but the rest sounds like just keeping up with what's new when it doesn't have to happen.