Home prices are unbelievable

Grampa Don

Grampa Don

Yep, that's me
Location
Orange county, Calif.
Al, my neighbor a couple houses down, passed away a while back. His heirs put the house up for sale. It's a small house, 3 bedrooms, living room dining room combination, kitchen and a bath and a half. Built in 1954. They asked $900k. It sold in less than 2 weeks. Al paid $33k for it in 1977.

I guess what it really shows is how little the dollar is worth now.
 
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A complaint running up and down DW's and my family. Nieces/nephews all want houses but are unaffordable or they are really stretching the budget to hold onto them. A house my parents bought in 1955 that cost about $15000 at the time (small bungalow) is going for $350,000 now mainly due to location.
 
Grampa Don said:
Al, my neighbor a couple houses down, passed away a while back. His heirs put the house up for sale. It's a small house, 3 bedrooms, living room dining room combination, kitchen and a bath and a half. Built in 1954. They asked $900k. It sold in less than 2 weeks. Al paid $33k for it in 1977.

I guess what it really shows is how little the dollar is worth now.
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it's the same here.... I've just been talking to a friend who grew up in the house opposite me and we were friends when we were teens ... he now lives in Thailand and said he can't afford to come back to the uk because house prices are so high and will end his life out over in Asia...

i told him his parents house was up for sale currently at 3/4's of a million and he said his father bought it in the 60's for 10k....
 
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Prices are ridiculous in CA, which is one of the reasons we've seen such an influx here in TX. However, now TX prices have also risen by an incredible rate.

The 3/2 house next door to us recently went on the market for $850,000. It was a complete dump. The previous owner never kept up with maintenance. It eventually sold for $750,000 and the new owners are easily pumping $100,000 into renovating it. New roof, new gutters, big trees cut down. Now construction vans are parked in front every day and I hear them tearing everything out inside the house. It will truly be worth $850,000 when they finish.

I rarely see any young couples with kids moving into our neighborhood. They can't afford it. It's either the older couples who've lived here for years or empty-nesters moving in. No smaller houses are being built anywhere near us. In fact, smaller houses are being razed and bigger houses built that barely fit on the lots.

My first house in the 80's was a 2/2 "box" in a modest community, but it worked for us at the time. Even at a 14% ARM we were able to afford it due to the low price. I truly don't know how young people will ever be able to afford their first house.
 
In 2018, I bought a 3/2/2 1500 sf house, small lot, in a small town pop 2000 near here for $215,000. It was in pristine condition. Then, 2020 came along and there was an influx of people coming from the cities. Inventories were low at that time. Sold that house in 2022 for $325,000. Three years later, it was sold again for $395,000.

It appears now, however, people are leaving because there are many houses on the market for sale. Prices may be coming down since inventory is way up. We shall see. I hope those city folks are leaving because it has changed the culture.
 
I checked the inflation calculator. His heirs still made a very healthy profit. A $33,000 purchase in 1977 would cost $177,952 today.
Do you know if they got asking price? My son and new DIL will be looking to purchase a 3bedroom, 2 bath home here in northern N.J. I was checking out some things on Zillow, just out of curiosity. Prices are outrageous. I don't know how they are going to be able to afford to do it.
 
Grampa Don said:
They asked $900k. It sold in less than 2 weeks. Al paid $33k for it in 1977.

I guess what it really shows is how little the dollar is worth now.
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In the early 70s if you had a couple cars, a color television, a thirty thousand dollar house and made $12,000.00/year you were living the American dream.

and the beat goes on…
 
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The new Eicler (flat roof) home my Dad bought in Cupertino for $8,000 in about 1952 now shows up on Zillow for $1,500,000 as do all the homes near it. We citizens need to make our politicians take Wall Street REITs and any foreigners out of most American residential housing. Their killing us and is the major parameter causing unfair inflation. If really rich want to buy USA home that cost more than say $10,000,000, fine. But keep them out of the mass of housing below that as it magnifies its effect via keeping supply and demand above a rising threshold.
 
When our daughter visits us, she always mentions how cheap housing is here. This is not strictly true because there is a large spread of prices depending on location, age of property etc. You can buy an older style house that requires updating for £150k, but a modern house of similar size in the same location might cost £300k. This tends to distort property prices and gives buyers a wrong idea of costs.

I'm in a similar situation with an old, renovated house in a good sized garden, next door to modern houses of similar size but valued at 1 1/2 times my house.
 
hollydolly said:
it's the same here.... I've just been talking to a friend who grew up in the house opposite me and we were friends when we were teens ... he now lives in Thailand and said he can't afford to come back to the uk because house prices are so high and will end his life out over in Asia...

i told him hs parents house was up for sale currently at 3/4's of a million and he said his father bought it in the 60's for 10k....
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We are currently selling, sold actually, property price inflation is beyond extreme. The UK average home price-to-income ratio is 8.2, this follows a peak of 9.5 in 2022, it's still keeping homes relatively unaffordable compared to historical standards. Our first mortgage was two and a half times my proven income, that was back in 1968.
 
Bretrick said:
Prices have become ridiculous.
Perth house prices have now reached the $1 million average price.
Not "worth" that but are valued at that high price.
A lot of it is to do with overseas investors being allowed to buy here.
Something so wrong in my way of thinking.
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We got rid of them. Canadians who wanted to make money. Bye. Move it. They made the taxes insane for if they didn't live in it themselves. They should have stopped this whole nonsense ages ago. Just say a 30.000 euro house may not cost more than whatever max. Everybody was selfish. Oh nice. I get a ton extra. Now the youth moves away to other countries where houses are affordable.
 
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It's too bad. My daughter is ready to buy her first home but they are mostly unaffordable in her area.
Her fiance has children and they want to understandably stay close. Also, she wants to stay near work without a long commute.
If something doesn't happen she'll likely be a renter, maybe, forever.
 
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In Spain my daughter owned a Ranch farm house, solid concrete walls 4 feet thick... a One bed, livingroom & bath separate guest Casita cottage ... Boarding kennels and grooming studios... and 5 acres of land with almond and cherry orchards.....

It took her 3 years to sell because it's a niche market,...but she got a decent price for it eventually

However when she returned in 2021, it wasn't possible for her to afford to buy anywhere near me... and she had to go 2 hours further north and even then she could only afford to buy a detached 2 bed bungalow in a village which she spent the next year having completely renovated ... . She doesn't have any children, and she works full time, in a decent paid position ... but if she had children, and therefore unable to work, or only part-time, there's no possible way she could have afforded to buy anything at all

the house prices here are just ridiculous !
 
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In Spain they have houses for free but only for people with small kids and loads of demands and it's only 40 houses and immediately 200 were interested.

In Italy they sell em for 1 euro but there you have to renovate them within 3 years for 30.000. Still way cheaper than 500.000 though for some random stupid house that isn't even big.

My nephew can easily move to Portugal or something. He works remote for a Canadian company, so it doesn't matter where he lives.
 
House prices in my area were going up at an alarming rate for several consecutive years, but not now, and a number of homes for sale near me have been on the market for months with no takers.

"Texas housing entered 2026 on softer footing, with sales down 8% year-over-year . . . "
FROM NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL
 
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