I also bought my first house in 2003 ( I was 22)
Philly suburbs townhouse 1500 sq ft for 179,900 with a 3.625% mortgage - I was making about 50k at the time. So about 3.5x my salary
Sold it in 2008 for 229,000
Those buyers actually just listed it about 2 weeks ago $350,000 - buyers now need to have a 100k++ salary to have the sample multiple as I did in 2003 - not even factoring in the higher rates today. I doubt that house was sold to a 22 yr old today! Maybe 2 younger kids each making 50k and it works.
If I have to rely on my current salary alone, I will have much less money after paying that same house with the current MV & mortgage rate compare to what it was in 2003. That’s just mess up. I’m fortunate to put some money on real estate & don’t have to rely on my salary alone.
Not sure if that was a subtweet lol, but I was referring more to house vs apartment, rather than owning vs renting. I just think it’s crazy to pay $1.4 million for half of a house, when you can buy land and custom build a whole house for the same price, especially when paying 2.5% property tax at that new assessed value. I much prefer my $450k apartment over than $1.4 million house, especially when I’ve got a pool, garbage service, live-in super, tennis courts, gym, social area, terrace, covered parking, full time concierge/package reception, and my own property taxes for less than what that homeowner pays in property taxes. My location is no worse than theirs, I get access to the same schools, no flooding, termites, well insulated walls, it’s like my own little paradise. Only thing I wish I had was my own EV charging
Younger generations are not spending more than previously- housing prices/mortgage payments are rising much faster than incomes. When interest rates ballooned, property prices didn’t readjust, at least not yet, possibly because NIMBYs refuse to allow additional supply. Also, younger generations own homes at a greater % than before… it’s simply the gap between those with wealthy parents and those with poor parents have widened. However, young people can certainly afford to live in Texas/Sunbelt now, prices have dropped drastically, look at Austin. But it’s always easy to blame the youth for being stupid than fixing the mistakes of ones’ own generation.
As Socrates once said: “The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.”
Made an all cash offer at full asking. They come back to me and say needs to be higher. I said F off. They call back hours later saying they’ll accept now. Do I punish them on price a little now or let their ego have it?
You’re probably right, but it just feels like I’m letting them off the hook from a business perspective. When you gamble and lose, you usually don’t get a rebate.
Then the seller would be like: “Do I punish them or let their ego have it?” and “When you gamble and lose, you usually don’t get a rebate.”
Honestly, my market is a sellers market and most properties are like a bidding war. I wouldn’t personally be comfortable messing with the seller and I was very glad that my offer was accepted.
Onto offering on property #3. I have a showing confirmed for 2PM tomorrow, about 48 hours after it was listed. It’s a tenant occupied property, so they are being difficult about showing. Could work in my favor as it’s destined for multiple offers. Offers don’t seem to work with inspection contingencies, but good news is this property was built in 1985 and had a new septic installed in 2017.
All fair points. We just are in a great house now, so I’m not desperate. I thought their asking price was 20k too high, but I just gave it to them since that’s nothing in RE dollars. Their greed bug kicked in!
