Housing market

[besserheimerphat]

I'm most likely going to have to buy at my next project site since it's a relatively rural area (Mt Vernon, WA). Not looking forward to being a first time buyer in this market. I've got no issue renting (been doing it for 13+ yrs now) but in a relatively small town there aren't many options (especially when you are used to being in much, much larger markets).

Maybe things will calm down by September?

When we moved out here in 2012, we bought a brand new 1800sqft/4bd/2.5bath house in a 144 house HOA with no community amenities for $235k. Sold it in 2019 for like $335k after 7 days on the market. Made no improvements, and the floors had significant wear-and-tear from 3 dogs and 4 kids. The place we bought has appreciated nearly $100k in the two years we've lived here.

 

[Dr.bannedman]

I've lived in Mt Vernon, WA since 2012 - let me know if you need any info on the area! Can you disclose your project, just for the nosey?

my ultimate goal is western WA so I will see you boys soon (hopefully)

 

[BCClone]

I don't see why it's something to be offended by. People are too thin skinned.

Whoops missed typing one key word and just noticed. The word “don’t”. I don’t understand why people would be offended. I agree with you.

 

[CyArob]

House near me sold for $25k over asking price in a week. Also $150k over the taxed market value.

Their property taxes are probably going to skyrocket next year

 

[Tailg8er]

I don’t see the point of people being offended when asked if they want to sell. At least people are interested in your property and don’t think it’s a pile of crap.

Eh, sometimes it's likely flippers/wholesalers who DO think your house is a pile of crap...

But I agree, nothing I would be offended over.

 

[BCClone]

Eh, sometimes it's likely flippers/wholesalers who DO think your house is a pile of crap...

But I agree, nothing I would be offended over.

Well, at least the pile of crap has a buyer then, lol. We owned an old acreage that we used the machine shed on. couple acres that were truly unfarmable and best to put cattle on. The machine shed was a beast. I had estimated we might get half of what my dad paid for it if we were lucky. Got a call one time and when things were done, we tripled the original price. Was able to pay for a new shed on our home base, not as nice by 10x more convenient, and get rid of something that we thought was going to be like a boat anchor on us.

 

[Tri4Cy]

IIRC estate agent (realtor) fees in the UK and most other countries are in the range of 1-2%. Here they are generally 6%, and as others said, sometimes you get great advice and service, and sometimes not so much. It's a racket, frankly. Luckily all that margin is drawing competition and lower cost alternatives are penetrating the market.

Figuring a fair value, advertising/marketing, closing a sale, and processing the transaction are useful services. But they don't need to be compensated at maybe $500 per hour. Selling your house isn't rocket science. I sold my first home years ago, and it cost me about $750 in legal fees which was about 1%.

My first realtor was not the greatest. I felt like they didn't do the best at really getting to know what I wanted and was just pushing listings that I assume they were selling (so no split commission) or essentially they were looking out for themselves. It wasn't a BIG purchase but had my experience been better I would have quickly called them up for our recent purchase (4x the size). They would complain all the time any time I mentioned the word "Zillow". Clearly because when you provide little to no value, yes you can be replaced by an app.

The second go round I used a different agent. Again, the costs seem crazy but I've dealt with this one professionally and trusted them to do good work. The sale of our current home couldn't have been much easier in this market but she was an amazing resource when building our home. They were insistent on showing up to all of our meetings with contractors/suppliers and giving us guidance on what is worth spending the money on and where we are getting screwed on prices.

 

[BCClone]

I don’t have a choice when it comes to realtors. My wife’s best friend in town is one. We get invited to her clientele parties (and they are nice) whether we have bought or not so I could have sold my moms house on my own but wasn’t really an option if I wanted to stay married.

 

[Tri4Cy]

Thanks for the kind words about boss woman. Definitely a scary year and definitely happy to be on this side of that deal.

And my last sentence wasn’t intended to scare you in your 10-15k to high purchase price. I was more referencing the posts where a house worth $175k 2-3 yrs ago, was listed at $225k and had buyers bid it up to $300k post above. That’s a train wreck in the making.

Honest question; what's the issue if you are upside down in your house? I understand that you wouldn't be able to refinance (but you'd already be at historical lows so I'm not sure WHY you would need/want to). I also understand that you may be limited in your ability to sell. So there could be some short term risk that your life turns upside down and you NEED to move but can't afford to sell but I feel like those risks are a part of every day life. I don't think many people would feel like they would expect to come out ahead on a deal if something happened and were forced to sell unexpectedly in the short term. If you're a long term buyer and locking in crazy low rates I guess I just don't see a huge concern if I was underwater on the loan. Hell, people do it every day when they buy a new car. As long as you a buying a home that you can actually afford I guess I just don't worry about what it's worth on paper.

 

[BCClone]

You didn't answer the question.

Why I think we will have a scale back. First, interest rates are creeping up a little, a 1% move and that will curtail some people. Many of these houses are being sold with 5% down and some less, they would need appreciation in the house to just zero out after realtor fees so they can’t move for a few years. There is kind of a perfect storm with construction right now and materials. Get a few of these bugs worked out and new builds will cheapen up which will help supply.

 

[KnappShack]

Honest question; what's the issue if you are upside down in your house? I understand that you wouldn't be able to refinance (but you'd already be at historical lows so I'm not sure WHY you would need/want to). I also understand that you may be limited in your ability to sell. So there could be some short term risk that your life turns upside down and you NEED to move but can't afford to sell but I feel like those risks are a part of every day life. I don't think many people would feel like they would expect to come out ahead on a deal if something happened and were forced to sell unexpectedly in the short term. If you're a long term buyer and locking in crazy low rates I guess I just don't see a huge concern if I was underwater on the loan. Hell, people do it every day when they buy a new car. As long as you a buying a home that you can actually afford I guess I just don't worry about what it's worth on paper.

Ahhh....living in the payment.

Loved folks like this when I was in sales.

 

[RLD4ISU]

Yes, realtors can make very good money. It's cyclical. Feast or famine. I have friends/family that are/were realtors. I know they invest a lot of their time coordinating showings with other realtors, finding homes to sell/buy, taking phone calls at off hours knowing others may not be able to call them until they're off work and other things being done in the background. They also have people that will look at multiple homes and never buy. One friend spent over a year showing homes to a couple that never purchased a home. So they didn't make any money despite their time, money (gas to get to the showings) and efforts.

When we sold our place to move to our current location, it sold in 3 days. Our realtor returned some of their commission since we took the photos that were used and everything sold very quickly. They said if they didn't have to split the commission with the buyer's agent, they would've given us more.

That said, I do think in some cases a 6% fee split between buyer/seller agents is crazy. More so if the buyer/seller end up with the same agent.

 

[Sousaclone]

I've lived in Mt Vernon, WA since 2012 - let me know if you need any info on the area! Can you disclose your project, just for the nosey?

I'll take any info I can get on the area.

The project is actually at the Lower Baker Dam in Concrete. Going to be grouting behind and below the dam to install a seepage seal. See if we can stop that thing from leaking through the surrounding bedrock. We've got about 3.5 yrs worth of work out there.

 

[motorcy90]

Our appraisal just came in as 164,900 for the house we are selling but based on others in the area might bump it up to 169,900 still and see what we get.

 

[4theCYcle]

IIRC estate agent (realtor) fees in the UK and most other countries are in the range of 1-2%. Here they are generally 6%, and as others said, sometimes you get great advice and service, and sometimes not so much. It's a racket, frankly. Luckily all that margin is drawing competition and lower cost alternatives are penetrating the market.

Figuring a fair value, advertising/marketing, closing a sale, and processing the transaction are useful services. But they don't need to be compensated at maybe $500 per hour. Selling your house isn't rocket science. I sold my first home years ago, and it cost me about $750 in legal fees which was about 1%.

Agree. I did for sale by owner and just printed off flyers, listed it on zillow and the same website that I print the flyers from and had plenty of foot traffic back in 2016. Had a few offers within a week to ten days and then had it sold in a month. I showed the homes as buyers had representative agents, but really the only tough part was negotiating at times and then dealing with the inspector requests. I hired an attorney and the entire process wasn't that tough. So instead of the 6-7%, it ended up being 3% plus a little extra on my end.

I did have to put in a radon mitigation system though at the buyers request.

 

[KnappShack]

I've lived in Mt Vernon, WA since 2012 - let me know if you need any info on the area! Can you disclose your project, just for the nosey?

I used to live off of Arrowhead road before it was named.

Loved Mt Vernon.

 

[Brandon]

My house has shot up lately and my escrow goes up in july.

 

[Cyched]

My house has shot up lately and my escrow goes up in july.

I sent this to Anne

 

[Brandon]

I sent this to Anne

Who is ann?

 

[Cyched]

Who is ann?

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