Housing market

[HFCS]

I don't completely disagree, just sort of I can tell you from first hand experience that the message I received from my guidance counselor and financial aid officer was the exact opposite message and it ****** me for a long time. They sat across the desk from me and told me how I wouldn't be anything without a college degree (I was already dead-set on going so that didn't skew my opinion) but (I can still remember this guys face as he tells me this) "This money is practically free. You should take max loans to get a head start on life. Once you graduate you'll make plenty of money to pay it off in no time." Well after 13 years of making student loan payments higher than my rent/mortgage which gave me little to know discretionary income, I finally paid those loans off. So yeah, as someone who fell into that scam, I would agree with their bias.

Another data-point that supports that is the number of kids who get pushed into university and leave after a year or two without a degree. Now they have a larger debt load and no additional perceived value from an employer. Rationale is that for 2/3's of those kids per your example, it may make more sense for them to "test the waters" at a community college for a fraction of the cost. Average dropout rates at 4 year universities in the US is 56%!!! So statistically speaking, the counselor is more likely to be correct in assuming the kid will drop out than not. To be completely fair, the 2 year data looks even worse. However I'm assuming those rates would go down if more kids went the 2 yr route first vs jumping straight to a 4 yr program.

Source: Drop Out Rates

All the more reason the students who finish their degree with high academic achievement should be able to finance their education interest free. The “no handouts” crowd can rest assured they are still paying their own way 100% while others get totally free college from mom and dad, they just aren’t making banks rich in the process of being exceptional students who aren’t at all a big loan risk anyway.

 

[HFCS]

That’s an average. So for every you that had to fully fund with debt, there is a them that had their parents or grandparents cover 100%.

isn’t it a worthless # if you’re including the students who get free college?

 

[BCClone]

When a seller wants you to waive the inspection that is about as big of a red flag as you can Ask for.

Not necessarily. Seen too much rear covering by inspectors and then things getting hung up for a few months. They will always say dirt needs to be hauled in on older houses (Incase basement leaks it gives them an out). Will talk about plug in not having correct grounding (wasn’t a requirement before a certain period) and things like that. The buyer will always try to negotiate then. Sold my moms 2 years ago and said inspection is fine but house is as it sits and no negotiation will occur. They tried and I just said I have 3 other buyers if they didn’t want it due to the blowout price I already had.

 

[ISpyCy]

I am not referring to historic preservation, but something along the lines of a state project to build new houses in small, dying towns.

I get it. I was talking more about the local leadership itself needing to do something.

In that case, Iowa Finance Authority or the Economic Development Authority has programs in place for new housing development assistance. Regional Councils of Government and County/Regional ED Corporations can bridge that connection as well.

 

[ISpyCy]

They do have programs, but in my direct experience developing housing in Iowa, those programs can be cumbersome, hyper-specific, and not able to pivot to the latest housing challenges. They may provide more help in developing senior housing, or "affordable housing", but almost nothing is available for market-rate housing.

No one wants to subsidize the profits of private developers. And that needs to happen if you want private developers to leave the Ankenys and Waukees of the world and venture into Pella, Marshalltown, and Emmetsburg.

That's why community and county level leadership need to be creating financial tools to buy down the cost of a project for a developer. It's very hard, if not impossible, to get a project in the ground without some sort of monetary incentive if you're not an Ankeny or Waukee-type town. State programs don't incentivize market rate housing because, IMO, it would be viewed as people with good financial standing being cheap and looking for someone else to pay for it.

 

[Tri4Cy]

Much of the issue is infrastructure costs and the inability to build 3 or 4 unit projects. Today everything is a single family house or a 60+ unit apartment building.

At what point do we utilize resources to invest in growing areas rather than prop up dying ones? If you remove emotion from the equation, it's probably a better public investment to put money into areas that will see more growth than areas that will continue to decline.

That's an interesting perspective. I would argue that from what I see, row homes seem to be the "in" thing right now. Everywhere we looked to build seemed to have them going in. My agent is working on a sizable development and was telling me that they really hit two demographics. Those who are retired and looking to downsize to something a bit easier to manage and those who are looking to leap from that "rental" but not quite ready for all the responsibilities of home ownership such as yard/snow maintenance. Thinking about boomers as they age and millennials ready to move out of that downtown loft...made sense to me.

 

[BCClone]

Too many people think "Affordable Housing" and "Low-Income Housing" are the same thing, which couldn't be further from the truth. HFH, NeighborWorks, CHDOs, etc. are all wanting to help, but communities need to actively market themselves with land and infrastructure readiness. Even major employers providing down payment or closing cost assistance for new employees moving to a specific area (with the assistance of local ED professionals, of course)

I have worked in towns with less than 1,000 population that know this process better than some 10,000+ communities. Housing development is economic development. Housing is where jobs go to sleep every night.

ED professionals?? Is that so common now that you get viagra with a house purchase? Think that would be weird to ask a home buyer

 

[wxman1]

For the lack of supply on the market buyers are still very picky. At least that has been our experience.

 

[SCNCY]

For the lack of supply on the market buyers are still very picky. At least that has been our experience.

I'm sure HGTV has something to do with that.

When we were looking at houses, we looked at a wide range of houses, some were move in ready (these had over 15+ offers, some sight unseen), and others with outdated finishings, but still structurally sound (these had fewer offers, maybe between 2-5). But the competitive houses were those move in ready houses that didn't need any work.

 

[drmwevr08]

For the lack of supply on the market buyers are still very picky. At least that has been our experience.

Everything sells for more than its worth so I'm not sure you can even complain as a seller or an agent. As far as a buyer being 'picky' for the most they are paying more than they should, often more than they can afford, so it stands to reason they try to find what minimally works for them. Lots are still buying less or different than they want for FOMO.

 

[wxman1]

Everything sells for more than its worth so I'm not sure you can even complain as a seller or an agent. As far as a buyer being 'picky' for the most they are paying more than they should, often more than they can afford, so it stands to reason they try to find what minimally works for them. Lots are still buying less or different than they want for FOMO.

I think there are a lot of tire kickers out there but significantly fewer serious people. Our home is move-in ready with no updates needed. Plenty of interest but a month in and no offers mostly because there is a hill in the back yard.

 

[drmwevr08]

I think there are a lot of tire kickers out there but significantly fewer serious people. Our home is move-in ready with no updates needed. Plenty of interest but a month in and no offers mostly because there is a hill in the back yard.

I don't know where you live and lots of markets are less crazy than PHX but if you were here and told me that, there would be zero question that you're just asking too much. I'm sure if you are in IA its less clear. Good luck with your sale.
Here I can't get a clean house with a pool for my half a mil freaking budget.

 

[Sousaclone]

For the lack of supply on the market buyers are still very picky. At least that has been our experience.

There might still be a lack of supply, but if I'm going to overpay (not saying this is the case with yours), I'm going to overpay and get something that I like, not overpay and get something that someone thinks they can make an extra $30k on.

That's kind of the situation I'm in right now. I'm looking at stuff in WA and it's crazy the difference in house quality I'm seeing for a $25k difference.

 

[ISpyCy]

ED professionals?? Is that so common now that you get viagra with a house purchase? Think that would be weird to ask a home buyer

That'll get your chimney smoking!

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

Eventually all the boomers and gen xers with money will have what they want. There's going to be a market correction because millennials and gen z cannot afford these prices. At this point all they can do is rent or buy low and hope to invest and make the house better over time. Even that is challenging because large developers and real estate companies are buying up all the foreclosed and lower end homes and flipping them for a premium after restoration. If you got money, now is the time to build.

 

[Gunnerclone]

Eventually all the boomers and gen xers with money will have what they want. There's going to be a market correction because millennials and gen z cannot afford these prices. At this point all they can do is rent or buy low and hope to invest and make the house better over time. Even that is challenging because large developers and real estate companies are buying up all the foreclosed and lower end homes and flipping them for a premium after restoration. If you got money, now is the time to build.

The people that want to build 45 minutes from the core of a city are just people that are coming from rural areas. People from a city want to live in the city, not with a bunch of rural immigrants.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

The people that want to build 45 minutes from the core of a city are just people that are coming from rural areas. People from a city want to live in the city, not with a bunch of rural immigrants.

Cool, go buy a condo. I live in Des Moines so really the market is the suburbs. They can't even fill the condos downtown.

We do higher end houses so we have a lot of doctors, lawyers, architects, people of that nature. I believe you're in Ohio so of course the Dynamics are different there but I kind of feel like everybody in Des Moines is a rural person.

 

[Gunnerclone]

Cool, go buy a condo. I live in Des Moines so really the market is the suburbs. They can't even fill the condos downtown.

We do higher end houses so we have a lot of doctors, lawyers, architects, people of that nature. I believe you're in Ohio so of course the Dynamics are different there but I kind of feel like everybody in Des Moines is a rural person.

DSM is different because you can still build a
New House that is 20 minutes or less to downtown/EV/Ingersoll.

In CBus the classier new build areas are basically half way to Cleveland. The rural
Immigrants build on the south side but that is still basically half way to Cincinnati.

 

[SCNCY]

Eventually all the boomers and gen xers with money will have what they want. There's going to be a market correction because millennials and gen z cannot afford these prices. At this point all they can do is rent or buy low and hope to invest and make the house better over time. Even that is challenging because large developers and real estate companies are buying up all the foreclosed and lower end homes and flipping them for a premium after restoration. If you got money, now is the time to build.

All of the Boomers are beginning to retire now. They will probably hold on to their current houses for maybe a decade or so after retirement. After that, they will probably be downsizing to smaller houses or retirement communities. When that happens, I think you will begin to see more supply on the market and leveling off of housing prices.

I said this in another thread a couple months back, but fear that housing prices will level off or fall once Boomers begin to move in to retirement communities and/or passing away. When that happens, supply will increase and with the lack of population growth in our country, there will be less demand to purchase that supply. I think this will begin come in to play in 15-20 years from now. Will this actually happen, I don't know, but it's something I keeping an eye out for.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

All of the Boomers are beginning to retire now. They will probably hold on to their current houses for maybe a decade or so after retirement. After that, they will probably be downsizing to smaller houses or retirement communities. When that happens, I think you will begin to see more supply on the market and leveling off of housing prices.

I said this in another thread a couple months back, but fear that housing prices will level off or fall once Boomers begin to move in to retirement communities and/or passing away. When that happens, supply will increase and with the lack of population growth in our country, there will be less demand to purchase that supply. I think this will begin come in to play in 15-20 years from now. Will this actually happen, I don't know, but it's something I keeping an eye out for.

There will be a market correction. The boomers have a ton of wealth and a large portion of the population.