Will the prices really go down?

[DCLMP]

The little house our ds25 bought in March would have cost $100,000 less if he had bought it 2 years earlier according to Zillow's chart of the home's value over the years. Of course he was not ready to buy 2 years prior but dang that is ridiculous. He also insists on a 15-year mortgage because it costs so much more in interest to have a 30 year. He says he'd rather suffer now than drag it out until he's "old". He has to work OT to come up with money for fixing up the house so that's coming along slowly.

When he lived at home, he'd buy an annual pass that gives entry to various ski resorts in the Poconos, VT, etc. He says he doesn't have the time or the money for that this year.
When dh and I bought our house, it was also a fixer upper with good bones and he could do the work but he had me to help do the bills, cleaning, cooking and grocery shopping so he could focus on the remodeling projects. For ds, it's all on him and he's trying to work OT. Something's gotta give and I only hope it's not his mind.
Dh forgets all of this when he wants to go work on the house every Saturday & Sunday all day and says, "What do you mean you need to clean? Do that on weekdays." Lol. The kid works 10-hour days and comes home and cooks. How much more should he fit into one day?
He didn't want to wait until "someday when he gets married" because who knows if/when that will ever happen and he didn't want to pay rent which is such a money suck that it makes it even harder to save for a down payment.

I feel bad for young people these days.

On a positive note, if he stays there he'll be mortgage-free at 39.

He's doing better than a lot of young people. The average age of first time homebuyers is around 39 now. People think we have higher incomes that we do because of all the traveling we do. We were just lucky to be young at the right time.

 

[barkley]

He's doing better than a lot of young people. The average age of first time homebuyers is around 39 now. People think we have higher incomes that we do because of all the traveling we do. We were just lucky to be young at the right time.

it sounds like there were also some important decisions made on your part as well-if you bought the home you live in 30 years ago then you did'nt buy into the whole 'keep buying up' mentality that was really pushed in prior decades. I know far too many homeowners in your (also my dh's) age range that really regret not staying put in those first (or second that they really DID need to size up to when the multiple kids came along) homes that they would now be at or near payoff on.

 

[DCLMP]

it sounds like there were also some important decisions made on your part as well-if you bought the home you live in 30 years ago then you did'nt buy into the whole 'keep buying up' mentality that was really pushed in prior decades. I know far too many homeowners in your (also my dh's) age range that really regret not staying put in those first (or second that they really DID need to size up to when the multiple kids came along) homes that they would now be at or near payoff on.

I often wish we would have sold in 2021 and waited for the crash in prices that’s coming. Our house is 2700 sq feet. I never had the desire to size up.Its enough to clean. I would like to eventually size down.

 

[barkley]

I often wish we would have sold in 2021 and waited for the crash in prices that’s coming. Our house is 2700 sq feet. I never had the desire to size up.Its enough to clean. I would like to eventually size down.

I believe there's going to be another crash in prices as well. market is wonky here and reports say sellers need to be more realistic in pricing b/c they won't get the big profits that the people who sold them their homes saw in years past so they need to price them right if they don't want them to just sit. dh and I still thank our lucky stars that we got a gut feeling to sell our former home when we did in '06-i spoke a year later to the realtor who sold it and he told me it was the LAST home in that entire city to sell before the 'bubble burst'. we sold at 3x what we paid in '99, 5 years later our buyers short sold at 45% what they paid us and those homes just in the last 5 years are at the prices people were paying in the early 2000's (new construction).

 

[DCLMP]

I believe there's going to be another crash in prices as well. market is wonky here and reports say sellers need to be more realistic in pricing b/c they won't get the big profits that the people who sold them their homes saw in years past so they need to price them right if they don't want them to just sit. dh and I still thank our lucky stars that we got a gut feeling to sell our former home when we did in '06-i spoke a year later to the realtor who sold it and he told me it was the LAST home in that entire city to sell before the 'bubble burst'. we sold at 3x what we paid in '99, 5 years later our buyers short sold at 45% what they paid us and those homes just in the last 5 years are at the prices people were paying in the early 2000's (new construction).

Did you have to buy a new home in 06 when prices were high? What kept us from selling in 06 was the price to buy a new home. I'm thinking prices will drop back to 2019 2020 levels. Prices have to align with median incomes. The boomers own most of the houses in the country, but they are not going to live forever. Many of them own multiple homes.

They have built an insane amount of apartments in our area. I expect rent prices to go down when people can start buying again. The foreclosure rates are steadily climbing in Florida and California. I read one article that stated foreclosures have increased by 70% in Florida since last October.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I totally understand his mindset on paying off sooner vs later. we considered a 15 year when we bought our current home but we had already experienced one instance in our marriage with a drastic unexpected lowering of income and that left a mark on me mentally budgeting wise. I did'nt want us put into a situation where a drastic income reduction OR a major unexpected expense put up on thin ice (or drowning) so we opted for a 30 year with no prepayment penalty but paid like we were doing a 15 (always applying the extra to principal) and ended up throwing more at it when we could paying it off well before the 15 year mark.



the sales prices of homes in our neighborhood have gone up stupidly high ever since the pandemic had people wanting to live ruraly. I can't imagine the kind of mortgages people have when ours would be considered in the middle price range and would run (with 20% down) over $4500 a month. I just would not feel comfortable knowing I had that kind of financial obligation.

Dh was laid off 3 weeks after we bought our house. We hadn't even made the first payment. I was out of work on maternity leave and the disability payments were much less than my regular pay. Scary doesn't even describe it.

I could not convince him to even consider a 30 year. He still puts away 10% toward retirement too. I suggested maybe lowering to 5% just for a few months to be able to buy carpeting and fully move furniture in. He still has no sofa, bedroom furniture, etc. I feel bad the only place he has to sit is at his kitchen table, his bed or the toilet. No place to really unwind.
He absolutely will not stop contributing the 10%. We bought him a used BR set on FB marketplace for about $300 and stored the pieces in his old BR here but he doesn't want to move it all in until he gets the carpeting. Our family had our Thanksgiving dinner last weekend so he and dh are going to refinish his living room floor over the real TG weekend and once that's done & cured, he can have our old LR set.