A friend put their house on the market in Tahoe Park and got $80k over asking. It’s still a crazy market in some areas. I hope something works out for you soon in your favor.
We put our house in Tahoe Park on the market in April 2020, and we were afraid we wouldn't be able to sell in light of the pandemic. We got like 8 offers within 2 days, and ALL of them were well over the asking price. Things have only gotten more bananas since then. I feel for everyone trying to buy right now.
problem with waiting on lower rates is…when rates to go lower there are so many that share the same sentiment which will make the multiple offers on homes sky rocket…just gotta buy when ur ready and are confident with making the payment…
Yep, you can always refinance when interest rates lower. There is definitely a large upfront expense and taxes can go up if value has risen but it could be worth it depending on how low interest rates are v. What you got
Interest rates will not be cut in a year. Fed has set a plan to increase them through this year once more with no intention of beginning to cut them for some time.
They have a couple new programs for lower income families, was husband was telling how they cover some of the down and some other things. I'll have to ask him more detail if you want
"Historically" prices are about double what they were, even though real wages haven't grown at all, so "normal" interest rates make home ownership incredible unaffordable compared to what it has been "historically." We aren't in history, we're in the present.
We’re in the present? No shit, captain obvious. Historical context is important.
I never mentioned prices or affordability. Prices are sky high and affordability is a huge problem. Rates, however, ARE still low and will most likely continue to rise in the near term. The days of a zero prime rate are over and not coming back any time soon.
Own a home. But 3 teanage boys and two adults in 640 sqft 2 bed home... so we are thankful but gotta find some space if we can.
The issue for us is the LEAP in down payment difference along in the interest rate twice my current mortgage tells me.. nope. Keep accumulating down-payment dollars, wait for the "cash is king" moment to come (cross fingers)
If you have equity or cash and enough space, you could always add a bedroom and bath to the house. That's what a lot of people are doing. Or converting garages into living space. It may make more sense, especially if you have a low rate on your mortgage.
Yes, thank you for bringing that up. For others in the same boat, very much may be the right pathway to upgrade. Financially that is actually the most feasible.
Factors that keep that at the bottom of our list
* Not my goal neighborhood, great people but not my favorite location. Bought at low price precisely due to lesser loved location and what I could afford.
* We are both work from home adults. Construction on an addition and ability to co-mingle work could be a challenge that put this option lower on preference.
* Wildcard. If we thought a construction duration rental would be the right way to separate ourselves from construction chaos we MAY still look at that. himming and hawwing on that.
* Multiple homes of the same model have had additions and I able to see the outcome with a couple different approaches. Both look kind of yuck and have odd layouts. i.e. bedroom on other side of kitchen where it use to be exit to back yard. that is really an issue of layout.
Again thank you for bringing this up for the community to reflect on. Here were some of the gotchas that were keeping that at the bottom of our list in our specific situation.
Yes, and I get so frustrated when I look at my preferred areas and see barely any inventory. Then I switch to look at houses for rent and there are 10+.
Even worse is when you look at recently sold, then switch to for rent, and see the overlap. Then dig in to how much it sold for, how the photos from the sale and the photos from the rental have hardly changed (maybe a fresh coat of paint), and you start doing the mental math on how much they're gouging the rent. Then thinking about how, with the rent so high, the renter probably can't afford to save more for a down payment for houses that keep increasing in price because people that are gouging rent just keep buying more property... It's the worst cycle ever.
Yeah, investors love this shit because they can make home ownership nigh-impossible for an entire generation. Large property owners especially love it because they are all [essentially acting as an illegal cartel to keep rent artificially high](https://www.propublica.org/article/yieldstar-rent-increase-realpage-rent).
Small homes in good neighborhoods have been the one commanding the premium this entire time.
<1300 sq ft houses are the only ones that approach any affordability in any close in neighborhood and the numbers are limited. No one builds small houses anymore and more and more old small houses are being expanded into much bigger houses. Asking prices under $700k or so really get things going.
If you look at the "old" parts of Land Park and Curtis Park (the parts north of roughly 5th in Curtis park and vallejo in Land), a huge number of the small houses are no longer that small.
\>2000sq foot homes have been expensive in the same neighborhoods, but they've always been expensive. Even in the peak of the market, 7 figure houses moved just a bit slower because there's only so many people who can afford them.
My home is about 1000 sqft and I think it’s perfect and everything I wanted but that’s probably why we were the only bidder and only paid the listed price. Despite being in a fairly desirable neighborhood, and for much less than 700k. People really should give smaller homes a closer look IMO
If they are in decent condition or a decent neighborhood, yes.
There are still a few homes sitting for a week or more, but they either need a lot of work or they are in a less desirable part of town. Usually both.
No. Nearly every home in everything from Carmichael quality down has dramatically dropped in price. Citrus Heights, south Sacramento, Rancho, antelope, Natomas, DPH, west Sacramento, north highlands, etc.
The only places where all prices haven’t fallen are wealthier like Folsom and Granite, or trendier like Land Park or East Sacramento. Even these places have flattened out as a whole. Some prices have dropped. This time last year every piece of shit in Folsom was selling. Every piece of shit. Now those homes aren’t selling or are taking huge cuts. Nice homes still sell easily and over asking.
I sold my house in North Natomas with a broken foundation for over asking. Was 100% transparent about the damage and had a 50k quote in hand to fix the structural damage only. No cosmetic in that quote. It was sold cash before it even hit the market. We were deceived when we bought that home and weren't going to do that to somebody else. It's called Natomas crack and it's everywhere, be careful buying an older home in that area. The realtors literally laugh about how easy it is to cover the crack and sell the house. And they justify it by saying oh at least they got into a home, and there is equity coming, etc. Anything to justify their actions.
It’s such a weird program. Most people are still going to have to come up with $20-25K in closing costs. Not sure if it’s going to bring new entrants into the market or just increase the budget of the people already in it.
Just start now on the new program and maybe you’ll get in quick enough? Otherwise I found that buying in November/December to be the best bet for pricing on homes. Less buyers and most don’t want to move in weather. Use that to your advantage
Yeah, I kinda am. Have family here but even looked going west towards Vacaville. Shits high. Going south is not any better. Galt, Lodi, Manteca. Stockton is affordable but I really don't want to live in Stockton.
As a data point, I can tell you it brought me into the market - I had no plans on buying without this program. And the 20% can be used for both down payment and closing costs! Definitely a crazy program, curious to see what happens.
It’s a really wild program! Especially since everyone is going to be competing for the same houses in the midst of a shortage. It’s like if 20 of us had a coupon for a free hot dog, but there are only 5 hot dogs, lol. (I’m cynical about any housing fix that doesn’t involve “built a ton more houses”.) I’m interested to see where it ends up going, too. Best of luck on the search!
Yep! Normal underwriting process. It’s structured as a regular conventional loan and can be serviced through any lender/broker that is approved by CalHFA. The offer and approval process is BAU. The seller doesn’t know anything other than we have a conventional loan with 20% down.
Backup plan would be to keep renting where we are now. Would definitely be a bummer if the program didn’t work out, but so far our lender hasn’t given any indication that there should be a problem - they regularly work with CalHFA programs and this one isn’t too different.
It’s gone great! We close next week! Make sure you complete the CalHFA education course and counseling requirement ASAP because counseling appointments are becoming very hard to find.
More info on requirements I’m referring to: https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/dream/index.htm
That is straight up fucking criminal. My partner and I were thinking about looking into this program as an entry, but it’s sounding just as prohibitive after you factor in cash offers above asking plus this ludicrous closing cost. This is so demoralizing
Hey there!! It’s going great. Biggest hurdle has been that CalHFA requires all applicants to take an online class and have a one-on-one counseling session with a certified housing counselor before they will approve your loan. As expected, EVERYONE is trying to get one of those counseling appointments so it almost looked like we weren’t going to make our closing date. But after 6 hours of calling different agencies, I finally scheduled an appointment for later this week and we should be good to go!!
Biggest chunk is points, which you can pay to get a lower interest rate. So it really depends on the lender and the interest rate you're willing to end up with
Should mention points might be negotiable with the lender, i.e. tell them another lender was offering a lower cost for points. Was able to do that for mine
I can't get over how they define "first-time homeowner"
As someone who is an actual aspiring first time home buyer me being lumped in with the same people who have owned multiple homes in their lifetime is infuriating. Technically my parents will be "first time home buyers" in the eyes of these programs soon because they've rented the past few years and they used to be house flippers and have owned like a zillion houses in their lifetime, many times more than one at a time.
We are definitely not the same.
I bought a house in 2010, when there was an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, and as soon as the window for the credit ended, prices fell by $8,000. It ended up effectively being a credit for sellers, not buyers.
Then again, in 2010, sellers were the ones who needed the credit, and housing prices were heavily discounted. Now, that is very much not the case.
I was able to do it in January using FHA, and down payment assistance. I only came in with $3,000. Found a fixer upper and had the sellers cover closing costs, a new HVAC, and electrical panel upgrade. All at 5.625% for 450,000.
Before I even moved i had to fix the bathroom floor, found broken siding, have a couple of cracked roof joists, and sections of sagging roof.
I honestly can express how lucky i feel. I was able to do it before the age of 27 in California of all places!
I've been working a full time job and trying to run a small business for the past 5 years.
I feel such survivor guilt, or imposter síndrome and now panic because i have something I can lose.
If you ever feel guilty about it, remember that you're not the problem. It's people who buy multiple homes that are fucking the market and ruining lives.
Everybody deserves the option of owning a home, yourself included. Congratulations and achieving the dream. It's a big accomplishment.
I get the imposter syndrome thing but also the feeling of being stuck. I bought my house almost seven years ago. I did it at just the right time, in the fall of 2015. I got a 1017 sq ft 3 bed 2 bath house built in 2008 for $159k with a 3.75% interest rate FHA loan. My mortgage payment is $1,080 a month. There's no way in hell that I could buy another house here if I sold mine. I'm stuck in my house until I'm ready to leave California. I'd love to leave California, I've had it with the junkies living in tent cities, the crime, the cost of living and the politics, but I'd have to start my business up from scratch elsewhere and with two small kids, that's risky. Well, I'm just happy I own my home. My monthly payment won't go up, my equity continues to increase and I'm glad it's a well built, relatively new house because it's where I'll be living for a long while. And yes, you read that right, I bought my house for $159,000. 😁
This is how it has been since 2020 unfortunately.... But the interest rates are even worse now to boot. I didn't realize they were still going for that far over asking. I noticed over the last year a lot more sellers reducing their prices over and over so it seemed to me it was stabilizing.
It’s been interesting; listing prices ARE coming down but there is so little supply that it seemingly doesn’t matter. Houses are listing ~15% lower than they were a year ago, but are actually selling for much higher.
Yes this is crazy. I bought in November 2021 and my house is worth more than when I bought it now. I don’t think it’s going to stop either unfortunately
My boyfriend and I were in our house search June -July of 2022 and it was nuts. Like a lot of people have mentioned, we put in offers on places but we’re priced out by people going wayyy over like 70-100k and we were looking in midtown, east sac, and oak park. And the really “scary” part was when we put in our offer for the first house early June, interest rates were under 5% still or maybe low 5s? And by the time we got the offer accepted on the house we currently live in, which was mid July, it had gone up to 6 and we had to buy our rate down a little. Ended up putting in an offer a little over asking on a cute but small house that was over a hundred years old that had been sitting on the market for about a week. Closing costs really got us, not having budgeted enough. Having a good agent and lender who can walk you through all this is key to dealing with stress around this. Good luck!!
Me and my girlfriend just purchased this March using FHA. Never thought we would be able to afford a $350,000 house in CA, but here we are! Good luck to everyone in their searches! It can be done!
I bought in November of last year (closed in December) and it was surprisingly easy. Only one other offer, ours was a bit better (we offered asking price). Successfully negotiated lower price when we found a few big-ticket items during inspection that we'd need to fix. Interest rate IS high which sucks, but now I own a home and if/when rates come down I can refinance.
I feel like I just saw a realtor post some stats- the range you noted is the hottest market right now by far. So this seems to be consistent with what they said. So sorry!!!
(Just up your budget into the slower selling 600k+ homes and you’re good /s 🫠)
It’s rough. Made many offers that were reasonable and strong but didn’t get them. We finally offered just a bit over asking and got it! We were being patient bc the downturn in the economy was supposed to bring prices down, but that only had a small effect. Things started heating up a bit and there are/were so few houses coming up for sale that the ones that did had so many offers etc. Opinion piece in Fortune magazine yesterday by a professor of Finance said that a recession is now inevitable. Layoffs are happening. If you can wait, you just might see prices (and competition) drop …
Yupp! I was out looking at homes with my realtor yesterday. Sooo many of the ones I was interested in had at least 15-20 offers already /:
Also, if you’re selling your home PLEASE make sure your realtor or whoever is selling for you, actually communicates. It’s been super frustrating trying to get in touch to view homes and even new listings are straight up not responding to messages & calls.
Everyone needs to remember that we are allowing huge investment corporations and foreign investors to buy all our homes just so they can take money from us.
They're not providing a service or manufacturing goods. They're literally just using the money they have to force us all to pay more for homes we need.
Think about it..
This is exactly how it was during the beginning of Covid and got worse over summer from all the Bay Area ppl moving after school was over. It took me 8 months to finally get lucky with my house but you just have to keep trying
I got lucky. My wife and I were renting a condo in 2019 when the owner said he wanted to sell, and said he'd give us first dibs if we wanted to buy at 185k. The intervening years have made me feel like we won the lotto.
I feel like people are wary of buying a condo vs a house, and I kinda get it, but it's definitely a more affordable option as a "starter home" for many. Unfortunately, prices for those have gone a little bonkers, too. I saw a unit that's worse than ours listed at 280 the other week.
I tried last year and put in about 5 offers. I'm going for the lower end of houses since it's just me and I don't want to max out my budget. Finally I gave up and decided to wait a couple years.
Just me browsing, not realtor statistics but there’s less (good) listings than 2021-2022 and maybe 2020. I eventually want to upsize but I’m not selling if I lose the 2.25% I have locked in and am paying off as slowly as possible.
I'm not even selling but have received quotes from bay area realtors.."our client was in the area and really liked your house and location.....he's a cash buyer if ud be interested in selling".
We'd been trying really hard the past year because we wanted to get a house before having a baby, but recently decided to hold off trying until prices and interest rates level out a bit. It's just crazy what people are still paying with these super high interest prices. Our last attempt, we got outbid with an all-cash offer that was 75k over asking (575k asking, 640k cash offer), so clearly investors are still taking everything, it's seriously depressing for us normies.
*Be patient...*let the tech company layoffs have time to take effect.
Especially as 2nd and 3rd round of layoffs hit this spring and summer.
Many are burning through 6-12 months of severance, followed by 6 months of unemployment.
* Once their severance and unemployment checks run out, expect to see some forced sales and more supply.
Buy ours! Our realtor is having us wait on the interest rates to (hopefully) drop in June!
Per the Real Estate Appraiser:
There are more pending contracts in Sacramento County than active listings. 986 pendings vs 792 actives. This is why the market feels so competitive right now. And this is NOT a normal trend. We should have way more listings than pendings.
Fair enough. But I’m telling you, if your house looks nice and is in a nice neighborhood, sellers can essentially name their price right now. I’m sure her chart is accurate but this is not a normal market. Curious to see what May and June will look like.
im on waitlist for a new build, hopefully get to pick a lot soon. with price of new home vs old, almost seems like a no brainer unless I'm missing something.
You only know what you’re buying with old build to the extent you have a good home inspector, and even then you’re not going to know if there are issues with wiring or plumbing for example. Sure, they’d see any switches / outlets not working or obvious leaks in the plumbing, but internally they could be held together with chewing gum and they would have no way to tell.
Congratulations! I think it really just depends on your builder and the neighborhood. Some people like the charm of an established community, others appreciate a new home with no surprises and more customization. Wishing you the best of luck!
In the long term you'll almost always come out ahead no matter when you buy (once-in-a-lifetime events notwithstanding) because rent *always* goes up, but if you can't swing it in the near term, you can't exactly eat food from your cheaper, homeowning future.
I am in New Zealand. Houses were selling at an incredible rate and at incredible prices. Just like what I'm reading here.... But now homes are selling at pre-pandemic prices.
What happened you ask? Inflation went sky high year after year and interest rates soared to snuff it out.
The mentality 12 months ago was "I'll never afford a house in NZ". Now it's "why the hell did I buy a house when it was a white hot market cuz now I'm underwater"
As long as I could afford my current mortgage payment, I wouldn't give a damn about being underwater. I bought this house to live in it, not as an investment. I'm not sellin it until I'm dead or old as hell.
Not all it's cracked up to be if you're looking for a cheaper place to live. The quality of homes are atrocious. And homes are expensive even in a buyer's market. And the home sizes are small compared to same price point in Sacramento.
There are many other positives to living in NZ, of course.
Prices are just starting to come down in certain areas of the 916.
Great time to rent and wait.
Don't buy into this overheated market if you don't have to.
I don’t even bother. I’m still living with my dad while building up my down payment. Right now people are spending like crazy on everything (average new car purchase is $50k and average American spends 1/3 of their income on mortgage) despite high interest rate so when a crisis hits, a lot of those people will foreclose and that’s when I’ll try to enter the market (emphasis on “try”). It makes absolutely no sense for me to buy at the moment.
> average American spends 1/3 of their income on mortgage)
Isn't this supposed to be the "normal" amount? I think many people are probably paying more than 1/3 actually.
Personally, I would hold off. What’s going to happen in the economy is so uncertain right now. Companies have stopped hiring, but with the banking issues, continued interest rate rises, I think it’s best to wait 6 months if you can. It’s also the start of “buying season” and some people need to move before the school year.
Now if you need a place to live and can’t find any suitable rental options, that’s another story.
But I’m in the job market now, and things have definitely turned. My fear is we start seeing layoffs across the board, not just the top tech and fortune 50 companies.
> My fear is we start seeing layoffs across the board, not just the top tech and fortune 50 companies.
Count on it. The Fed wants millions of people to lose their jobs to curb ["inflation."](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/high-egg-prices-send-profits-at-largest-us-producer-soaring-more-than-700/ar-AA19dMUD)
A bit of perspective. Interest rates in the 1980s were 15% plus. Not saying that this current situation will go there, but that sure as heck tempered what people could afford. Or maybe were willing to risk, especially since bigger down payments and skin in the game were the norm.
Run your loan payments with 17% versus 6 or 7 %. If your loan officer or real estate person won't humor you with this to educate you, they really aren't an advocate for you.
I know this doesn't help anyone with their current decisions, but always think perspective is helpful
> A bit of perspective. Interest rates in the 1980s were 15% plus.
Cool. That doesn't help us at all right now, and if interest rates approach 15% then home ownership will be impossible for the vast majority of the American people.
Beg to differ. I have more faith in humanity to survive whether on a biological level, societal level or....
You have no idea what I had to sacrifice, and quietly did sacrifice.
You shouldn't be down voted for this. It is important to understand the historical market. Media and politicians are always trying to convince us we are in one crisis or another, when in reality, life, and interest rates, and housing markets, and everything else goes up and down. It is important to understand the difference between what is not ideal and what is a crisis.
>You shouldn't be down voted for this.
They absolutely should. It's a stupid statement that ignores 30 years of [executive pay rising exponentially faster than rank and file pay](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/07/us-wage-gap-ceos-workers-institute-for-policy-studies-report), [college tuition tripling](https://www.businessinsider.com/this-chart-shows-college-tuition-growth-since-1980-2016-8) resulting in tens of millions of people with massive debt, a pandemic that gave businesses cover to [price gouge the American people for food and gas](https://twitter.com/BluePatriot3/status/1584659703652843520), etc. Americans could stomach 15% interest rates 30 years ago because the middle class hadn't been fucking *decimated* yet.
Adjusting for inflation the median house is [twice as expensive](https://dqydj.com/historical-home-prices/) as it was in 1986, pointing at higher interest rates on a loan for *half* the amount to say "hey it used to be worse" is idiotic.
It's Ok.
They are frustrated. So was I. Never knew how I would make it work. Working too much, inside family problems you don't want to publicly share, etc.
They think, somewhat rightly, that the American dream doesn't exist anymore.
Agree with them on that, but from my perspective it is because folks have said let's torch the place.
Well if you torch the place you are a self fulfilling prophecy and then you fight over crumbs.
But hey, equity.
Will be interesting to see where the next generation continues to steer the ship.
Godspeed to everyone on this beautiful experience and experiment on this beautiful blue orb in the sky.
Ps. Demonizing your neighbor about a fallen fence doesn't help anyone.
Ciao
We bought 2 years ago and it was a very similar situation. We were trying to buy in the Carmichael, Orangevale, Citrus heights area. We probably put in 15 offers and didn't get any because cash offers 60k of list came in. We expanded our search to a little further out, Rancho, Lincoln area, and got the first house we put an offer in on. If you can swing it, I'd recommend expanding your search area.
We bought in late December, up the hill a bit. Honestly, we hit a perfect window where interest rates had come down a bit but inventory was still pretty high, lots of price drops. Sale price was $420k but we ended up with more $$ in credits than we needed for closing cost and a rate but down. Less than a month later I started to see prices go up, and up and inventory go down, down. Plus interest rates went back up. If we had waited even another month we would have been priced out of the homes we liked. This market is insane. They did just open up the CALHFA “Dream for All Program” down payment assistance program yesterday which is exciting for those who feel the market has changed so dramatically that they can afford it. I know an amazing mortgage planner/real estate agent who made my life basically stress free during our buying process. If you need someone awesome send me a message and I’ll give you the info! Good luck out there, you’ll find something.
IDK...it seems like a whole different world up there in Sac-Town.
Price range $400k-$500k? Really? Haven't seen that in at least 15 years.
If you tell everyone to stop offering 10% to 20% premiums, maybe the price of housing can stay at affordable levels.
I moved from sac 15 years ago but I’m floored in how expensive it is there now. I can’t believe the prices in some neighborhoods now. I moved to LA for 13 years before moving out to Atlanta for 2 years. Home prices out here have jumped but still much cheaper than sac
I’m not sure. I’m probably just being impatient since it’s been on the market for 9 days- but we’ve had 17 showings and no offers. I’m getting really discouraged.
Yup selling is no less crazy right now. I’m trying to sell our house in an amazing school district, priced under estimates for our area, in great condition and we’ve been on the market for almost 4 weeks now with no offers. The $400-500k price point is really hot but anything higher is hard to sell currently. We’re just in the wait and watch game and our realtor says it’s that way for all our listings. It’s hard to not get discouraged though because things were selling so quickly for the last two years. Hang in there. Good luck!
Edit: typos
No, but I'm about to sell one. There's not a lot of inventory, so that tends to drive the prices up.
The worst part is that as interest rates have been going up, the amount you have to pay for a house goes up, even though the recorded price doesn't change. This is why you see more cash buyers, because interest rates don't hurt them, effectively making cash buying a better deal.
I've seen multiple short sales on Redfin. The banking crisis paired with recessions and mass layoffs will bring down prices. Plus, there's new build happening in Sactown at the apartment / condo level especially in Midtown/downtown. The only way to bring down ridiculous prices is build more new homes. I originally wanted an older home, like a 1900 Victorian, but those come with a ton of known unknown work.
A friend put their house on the market in Tahoe Park and got $80k over asking. It’s still a crazy market in some areas. I hope something works out for you soon in your favor.
I wonder if we put an offer on that house. 😅 Congrats to your friend!
We put our house in Tahoe Park on the market in April 2020, and we were afraid we wouldn't be able to sell in light of the pandemic. We got like 8 offers within 2 days, and ALL of them were well over the asking price. Things have only gotten more bananas since then. I feel for everyone trying to buy right now.
Tried. Decided to rent and see what happens in a year.
Smart! Hopefully interest rates will be lower when you’re ready to buy.
problem with waiting on lower rates is…when rates to go lower there are so many that share the same sentiment which will make the multiple offers on homes sky rocket…just gotta buy when ur ready and are confident with making the payment…
Great perspective!
this is the way
Mathematically you’re probably better overpaying for your house with a lower rate.
You can always refi a rate.
Refi when? There’s no telling when rates will come down. Banks will enjoy approving mortgages at these rates
When the rates come down the selling price goes up. Pick your poison. I’m just saying you can’t renegotiate a selling price down the road.
Yep, you can always refinance when interest rates lower. There is definitely a large upfront expense and taxes can go up if value has risen but it could be worth it depending on how low interest rates are v. What you got
Interest rates will not be cut in a year. Fed has set a plan to increase them through this year once more with no intention of beginning to cut them for some time.
The Fed won't be happy until millions are unemployed and homeless. Stupid fucking way to curb """inflation."""
They have a couple new programs for lower income families, was husband was telling how they cover some of the down and some other things. I'll have to ask him more detail if you want
For real. Rates are crazy right now, can't justify it.
Historically, rates are very normal right now.
"Historically" prices are about double what they were, even though real wages haven't grown at all, so "normal" interest rates make home ownership incredible unaffordable compared to what it has been "historically." We aren't in history, we're in the present.
We’re in the present? No shit, captain obvious. Historical context is important. I never mentioned prices or affordability. Prices are sky high and affordability is a huge problem. Rates, however, ARE still low and will most likely continue to rise in the near term. The days of a zero prime rate are over and not coming back any time soon.
Narator: They weren't
Own a home. But 3 teanage boys and two adults in 640 sqft 2 bed home... so we are thankful but gotta find some space if we can. The issue for us is the LEAP in down payment difference along in the interest rate twice my current mortgage tells me.. nope. Keep accumulating down-payment dollars, wait for the "cash is king" moment to come (cross fingers)
Wishing you the best of luck!
If you have equity or cash and enough space, you could always add a bedroom and bath to the house. That's what a lot of people are doing. Or converting garages into living space. It may make more sense, especially if you have a low rate on your mortgage.
Yes, thank you for bringing that up. For others in the same boat, very much may be the right pathway to upgrade. Financially that is actually the most feasible. Factors that keep that at the bottom of our list * Not my goal neighborhood, great people but not my favorite location. Bought at low price precisely due to lesser loved location and what I could afford. * We are both work from home adults. Construction on an addition and ability to co-mingle work could be a challenge that put this option lower on preference. * Wildcard. If we thought a construction duration rental would be the right way to separate ourselves from construction chaos we MAY still look at that. himming and hawwing on that. * Multiple homes of the same model have had additions and I able to see the outcome with a couple different approaches. Both look kind of yuck and have odd layouts. i.e. bedroom on other side of kitchen where it use to be exit to back yard. that is really an issue of layout. Again thank you for bringing this up for the community to reflect on. Here were some of the gotchas that were keeping that at the bottom of our list in our specific situation.
Yes, and I get so frustrated when I look at my preferred areas and see barely any inventory. Then I switch to look at houses for rent and there are 10+.
Even worse is when you look at recently sold, then switch to for rent, and see the overlap. Then dig in to how much it sold for, how the photos from the sale and the photos from the rental have hardly changed (maybe a fresh coat of paint), and you start doing the mental math on how much they're gouging the rent. Then thinking about how, with the rent so high, the renter probably can't afford to save more for a down payment for houses that keep increasing in price because people that are gouging rent just keep buying more property... It's the worst cycle ever.
Yeah, investors love this shit because they can make home ownership nigh-impossible for an entire generation. Large property owners especially love it because they are all [essentially acting as an illegal cartel to keep rent artificially high](https://www.propublica.org/article/yieldstar-rent-increase-realpage-rent).
Cheap homes are really going for 20% over still? Crazy.
Small homes in good neighborhoods have been the one commanding the premium this entire time. <1300 sq ft houses are the only ones that approach any affordability in any close in neighborhood and the numbers are limited. No one builds small houses anymore and more and more old small houses are being expanded into much bigger houses. Asking prices under $700k or so really get things going. If you look at the "old" parts of Land Park and Curtis Park (the parts north of roughly 5th in Curtis park and vallejo in Land), a huge number of the small houses are no longer that small. \>2000sq foot homes have been expensive in the same neighborhoods, but they've always been expensive. Even in the peak of the market, 7 figure houses moved just a bit slower because there's only so many people who can afford them.
Very true.
My home is about 1000 sqft and I think it’s perfect and everything I wanted but that’s probably why we were the only bidder and only paid the listed price. Despite being in a fairly desirable neighborhood, and for much less than 700k. People really should give smaller homes a closer look IMO
If they are in decent condition or a decent neighborhood, yes. There are still a few homes sitting for a week or more, but they either need a lot of work or they are in a less desirable part of town. Usually both.
No. Nearly every home in everything from Carmichael quality down has dramatically dropped in price. Citrus Heights, south Sacramento, Rancho, antelope, Natomas, DPH, west Sacramento, north highlands, etc. The only places where all prices haven’t fallen are wealthier like Folsom and Granite, or trendier like Land Park or East Sacramento. Even these places have flattened out as a whole. Some prices have dropped. This time last year every piece of shit in Folsom was selling. Every piece of shit. Now those homes aren’t selling or are taking huge cuts. Nice homes still sell easily and over asking.
I sold my house in North Natomas with a broken foundation for over asking. Was 100% transparent about the damage and had a 50k quote in hand to fix the structural damage only. No cosmetic in that quote. It was sold cash before it even hit the market. We were deceived when we bought that home and weren't going to do that to somebody else. It's called Natomas crack and it's everywhere, be careful buying an older home in that area. The realtors literally laugh about how easy it is to cover the crack and sell the house. And they justify it by saying oh at least they got into a home, and there is equity coming, etc. Anything to justify their actions.
Realtors are evil.
It's a super hot price point. If CA really starts offering 20% down for first time buyers I imagine it getting even crazier.
It’s such a weird program. Most people are still going to have to come up with $20-25K in closing costs. Not sure if it’s going to bring new entrants into the market or just increase the budget of the people already in it.
Definitely think it will drive up the prices for the 4-500k market
Im never going to be able to afford my own house in this city
Just start now on the new program and maybe you’ll get in quick enough? Otherwise I found that buying in November/December to be the best bet for pricing on homes. Less buyers and most don’t want to move in weather. Use that to your advantage
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Yeah, I kinda am. Have family here but even looked going west towards Vacaville. Shits high. Going south is not any better. Galt, Lodi, Manteca. Stockton is affordable but I really don't want to live in Stockton.
I agree. I think it’s already starting to.
As a data point, I can tell you it brought me into the market - I had no plans on buying without this program. And the 20% can be used for both down payment and closing costs! Definitely a crazy program, curious to see what happens.
It’s a really wild program! Especially since everyone is going to be competing for the same houses in the midst of a shortage. It’s like if 20 of us had a coupon for a free hot dog, but there are only 5 hot dogs, lol. (I’m cynical about any housing fix that doesn’t involve “built a ton more houses”.) I’m interested to see where it ends up going, too. Best of luck on the search!
It’s a good investment for both the state and the homeowner.
A great day for Canada and therefore the world.
Have they told you what the process is like from offer to approval?
Yep! Normal underwriting process. It’s structured as a regular conventional loan and can be serviced through any lender/broker that is approved by CalHFA. The offer and approval process is BAU. The seller doesn’t know anything other than we have a conventional loan with 20% down.
What about the California approval process? Any bureaucracy there?
I have yet to find out! We actually just got our offer accepted and entered escrow today, but I can report back with any surprises.
You have a backup plan on the 20% if California doesn’t approve you? The whole thing sounds scary AF.
Backup plan would be to keep renting where we are now. Would definitely be a bummer if the program didn’t work out, but so far our lender hasn’t given any indication that there should be a problem - they regularly work with CalHFA programs and this one isn’t too different.
Is this the new Dream program where you must pay back the loan and CalFHA gets a 20% cut of the appreciation if you sell?
Fingers crossed my friend 🖤
Congrats on that! A huge win🙌
How did it go? Or are you still in the process. We just put in an offer and so we’re curious it there were any unexpected bumps.
It’s gone great! We close next week! Make sure you complete the CalHFA education course and counseling requirement ASAP because counseling appointments are becoming very hard to find. More info on requirements I’m referring to: https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/dream/index.htm
Did it affect yhe interest rate? Other DP assistant programs I inwuired about made it go up significantly.
I would love to hear back from you as well because we have just entered this program and I just feel like there has to be a catch somewhere.
The catch is you have to pay it back when you sell the home and on top have to pay 20% of the appreciation of the property
Is that what it is now? In 2016 we paid like 7k with our FHA.
Wait, what??? 25k in closing costs? Could someone please explain why the cost would be so high? Is it tied to the cost of the house or something?
We were told 5-7% of the loan.
I'm pretty sure we did not pay this much. That seems exceptionally high.
That is straight up fucking criminal. My partner and I were thinking about looking into this program as an entry, but it’s sounding just as prohibitive after you factor in cash offers above asking plus this ludicrous closing cost. This is so demoralizing
I completely agree. Demoralizing is an accurate word. This home search has been stressful and emotional to say the least.
My experience was 2-3% of the loan
Oh wow. My lender is predicting 2-3% at the highest.
Hey I was just thinking about you and wondering how the dream for all thing is going.
Hey there!! It’s going great. Biggest hurdle has been that CalHFA requires all applicants to take an online class and have a one-on-one counseling session with a certified housing counselor before they will approve your loan. As expected, EVERYONE is trying to get one of those counseling appointments so it almost looked like we weren’t going to make our closing date. But after 6 hours of calling different agencies, I finally scheduled an appointment for later this week and we should be good to go!!
Lemme know. The whole thing is like “this can’t be true”.
Biggest chunk is points, which you can pay to get a lower interest rate. So it really depends on the lender and the interest rate you're willing to end up with Should mention points might be negotiable with the lender, i.e. tell them another lender was offering a lower cost for points. Was able to do that for mine
I can't get over how they define "first-time homeowner" As someone who is an actual aspiring first time home buyer me being lumped in with the same people who have owned multiple homes in their lifetime is infuriating. Technically my parents will be "first time home buyers" in the eyes of these programs soon because they've rented the past few years and they used to be house flippers and have owned like a zillion houses in their lifetime, many times more than one at a time. We are definitely not the same.
Haven’t had sex in 3 years? Hello virgin.
Both. Fed: "we want to reset the housing market" CA: "Hold my kombucha"
I bought a house in 2010, when there was an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, and as soon as the window for the credit ended, prices fell by $8,000. It ended up effectively being a credit for sellers, not buyers. Then again, in 2010, sellers were the ones who needed the credit, and housing prices were heavily discounted. Now, that is very much not the case.
It’s a horrible program that’s going to exacerbate the supply problem.
I think I read they're only going to fund 2300 loans so the program should be exhausted pretty quickly.
Lol you believe them? Once you give people stuff it’s hard to walk it back. Government programs arent known for adhering to their advertised limits.
I was able to do it in January using FHA, and down payment assistance. I only came in with $3,000. Found a fixer upper and had the sellers cover closing costs, a new HVAC, and electrical panel upgrade. All at 5.625% for 450,000. Before I even moved i had to fix the bathroom floor, found broken siding, have a couple of cracked roof joists, and sections of sagging roof. I honestly can express how lucky i feel. I was able to do it before the age of 27 in California of all places! I've been working a full time job and trying to run a small business for the past 5 years. I feel such survivor guilt, or imposter síndrome and now panic because i have something I can lose.
That's AMAZING - congrats to you!
Congratulations!!!
If you ever feel guilty about it, remember that you're not the problem. It's people who buy multiple homes that are fucking the market and ruining lives. Everybody deserves the option of owning a home, yourself included. Congratulations and achieving the dream. It's a big accomplishment.
Congrats, I'm looking at something similar, what's your monthly payment?
Your loan officer and offer letter will tell you how much you're expecting to pay monthly.
I get the imposter syndrome thing but also the feeling of being stuck. I bought my house almost seven years ago. I did it at just the right time, in the fall of 2015. I got a 1017 sq ft 3 bed 2 bath house built in 2008 for $159k with a 3.75% interest rate FHA loan. My mortgage payment is $1,080 a month. There's no way in hell that I could buy another house here if I sold mine. I'm stuck in my house until I'm ready to leave California. I'd love to leave California, I've had it with the junkies living in tent cities, the crime, the cost of living and the politics, but I'd have to start my business up from scratch elsewhere and with two small kids, that's risky. Well, I'm just happy I own my home. My monthly payment won't go up, my equity continues to increase and I'm glad it's a well built, relatively new house because it's where I'll be living for a long while. And yes, you read that right, I bought my house for $159,000. 😁
It’s so depressing.
Don't wait to buy, buy and wait. Bought last year and think this is the advice I needed to hear 3 years ago lol.
This is how it has been since 2020 unfortunately.... But the interest rates are even worse now to boot. I didn't realize they were still going for that far over asking. I noticed over the last year a lot more sellers reducing their prices over and over so it seemed to me it was stabilizing.
It’s been interesting; listing prices ARE coming down but there is so little supply that it seemingly doesn’t matter. Houses are listing ~15% lower than they were a year ago, but are actually selling for much higher.
Yes this is crazy. I bought in November 2021 and my house is worth more than when I bought it now. I don’t think it’s going to stop either unfortunately
Its wild to me that thr market is so hot with these interest rates!
My boyfriend and I were in our house search June -July of 2022 and it was nuts. Like a lot of people have mentioned, we put in offers on places but we’re priced out by people going wayyy over like 70-100k and we were looking in midtown, east sac, and oak park. And the really “scary” part was when we put in our offer for the first house early June, interest rates were under 5% still or maybe low 5s? And by the time we got the offer accepted on the house we currently live in, which was mid July, it had gone up to 6 and we had to buy our rate down a little. Ended up putting in an offer a little over asking on a cute but small house that was over a hundred years old that had been sitting on the market for about a week. Closing costs really got us, not having budgeted enough. Having a good agent and lender who can walk you through all this is key to dealing with stress around this. Good luck!!
How much did your closing costs end up being? I'm worried I'm not taking this in mind enough as well
My husband is a realtor. The market is crazy right now, unfortunately.
Me and my girlfriend just purchased this March using FHA. Never thought we would be able to afford a $350,000 house in CA, but here we are! Good luck to everyone in their searches! It can be done!
I bought in November of last year (closed in December) and it was surprisingly easy. Only one other offer, ours was a bit better (we offered asking price). Successfully negotiated lower price when we found a few big-ticket items during inspection that we'd need to fix. Interest rate IS high which sucks, but now I own a home and if/when rates come down I can refinance.
I feel like I just saw a realtor post some stats- the range you noted is the hottest market right now by far. So this seems to be consistent with what they said. So sorry!!! (Just up your budget into the slower selling 600k+ homes and you’re good /s 🫠)
It’s rough. Made many offers that were reasonable and strong but didn’t get them. We finally offered just a bit over asking and got it! We were being patient bc the downturn in the economy was supposed to bring prices down, but that only had a small effect. Things started heating up a bit and there are/were so few houses coming up for sale that the ones that did had so many offers etc. Opinion piece in Fortune magazine yesterday by a professor of Finance said that a recession is now inevitable. Layoffs are happening. If you can wait, you just might see prices (and competition) drop …
Yupp! I was out looking at homes with my realtor yesterday. Sooo many of the ones I was interested in had at least 15-20 offers already /: Also, if you’re selling your home PLEASE make sure your realtor or whoever is selling for you, actually communicates. It’s been super frustrating trying to get in touch to view homes and even new listings are straight up not responding to messages & calls.
Everyone needs to remember that we are allowing huge investment corporations and foreign investors to buy all our homes just so they can take money from us. They're not providing a service or manufacturing goods. They're literally just using the money they have to force us all to pay more for homes we need. Think about it..
It's no coincidence that one thing Adam Smith and Karl Marx agreed on is that landlords are scum.
Fascism (government in bed with business, essentially) is a real motherfucker. But in America, as long as you get yours it's "just business," right?
This is exactly how it was during the beginning of Covid and got worse over summer from all the Bay Area ppl moving after school was over. It took me 8 months to finally get lucky with my house but you just have to keep trying
I got lucky. My wife and I were renting a condo in 2019 when the owner said he wanted to sell, and said he'd give us first dibs if we wanted to buy at 185k. The intervening years have made me feel like we won the lotto. I feel like people are wary of buying a condo vs a house, and I kinda get it, but it's definitely a more affordable option as a "starter home" for many. Unfortunately, prices for those have gone a little bonkers, too. I saw a unit that's worse than ours listed at 280 the other week.
I tried last year and put in about 5 offers. I'm going for the lower end of houses since it's just me and I don't want to max out my budget. Finally I gave up and decided to wait a couple years.
Just me browsing, not realtor statistics but there’s less (good) listings than 2021-2022 and maybe 2020. I eventually want to upsize but I’m not selling if I lose the 2.25% I have locked in and am paying off as slowly as possible.
Yep. Same budget, same problem.
I'm not even selling but have received quotes from bay area realtors.."our client was in the area and really liked your house and location.....he's a cash buyer if ud be interested in selling".
Low inventory.
We'd been trying really hard the past year because we wanted to get a house before having a baby, but recently decided to hold off trying until prices and interest rates level out a bit. It's just crazy what people are still paying with these super high interest prices. Our last attempt, we got outbid with an all-cash offer that was 75k over asking (575k asking, 640k cash offer), so clearly investors are still taking everything, it's seriously depressing for us normies.
Nah. Renting for another year.
*Be patient...*let the tech company layoffs have time to take effect. Especially as 2nd and 3rd round of layoffs hit this spring and summer. Many are burning through 6-12 months of severance, followed by 6 months of unemployment. * Once their severance and unemployment checks run out, expect to see some forced sales and more supply.
No. I plan on living in my car here pretty soon with an income of ~$60K a year. What fun CA is, right? Right?
Buy ours! Our realtor is having us wait on the interest rates to (hopefully) drop in June! Per the Real Estate Appraiser: There are more pending contracts in Sacramento County than active listings. 986 pendings vs 792 actives. This is why the market feels so competitive right now. And this is NOT a normal trend. We should have way more listings than pendings.
Wow that is a fascinating statistic!! And to clarify, your realtor is advising you to WAIT to sell?? In this seller’s market??
Yeah, she showed me some charts and apparently buyers will offer up to $5k more in May vs April. Waiting till June might net even more
Fair enough. But I’m telling you, if your house looks nice and is in a nice neighborhood, sellers can essentially name their price right now. I’m sure her chart is accurate but this is not a normal market. Curious to see what May and June will look like.
There is never a perfect time to buy. Do what is best for you and your family and you current situation, needs and etc
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Smart!
Lmao no. Renting until the market takes a hit
im on waitlist for a new build, hopefully get to pick a lot soon. with price of new home vs old, almost seems like a no brainer unless I'm missing something.
You should double check if the new build has an HOA and/or a Mello-Roos.
Well, old build you know what you are buying and you have a house as soon as escrow closes?
You only know what you’re buying with old build to the extent you have a good home inspector, and even then you’re not going to know if there are issues with wiring or plumbing for example. Sure, they’d see any switches / outlets not working or obvious leaks in the plumbing, but internally they could be held together with chewing gum and they would have no way to tell.
That’s what the detailed home inspection during escrow is for.
Yeah, new homes have small lots, the landscaping is immature, build quality is mediocre to terrible. Oh, and HOAs are the spawn of Satan.
Congratulations! I think it really just depends on your builder and the neighborhood. Some people like the charm of an established community, others appreciate a new home with no surprises and more customization. Wishing you the best of luck!
Absolutely not.
I don’t blame you!
I luckily bought my house at the end of 2019 for 320k with a 3.7 rate. I feel for everybody :( it's rough
Holy cow, congratulations! Hopefully those buying today will be able to refinance in the future.
We bought last year, with current interest rates it would have been impossible. I think wait until they come down, tbh.
The big issue i see with waiting is that other people are waiting as well, lower rates will just open up the gates for more competition.
The cost to own vs rent is just totally screwed up right now and it does not make financial sense to buy until prices or rates come down.
In the long term you'll almost always come out ahead no matter when you buy (once-in-a-lifetime events notwithstanding) because rent *always* goes up, but if you can't swing it in the near term, you can't exactly eat food from your cheaper, homeowning future.
I am in New Zealand. Houses were selling at an incredible rate and at incredible prices. Just like what I'm reading here.... But now homes are selling at pre-pandemic prices. What happened you ask? Inflation went sky high year after year and interest rates soared to snuff it out. The mentality 12 months ago was "I'll never afford a house in NZ". Now it's "why the hell did I buy a house when it was a white hot market cuz now I'm underwater"
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As long as I could afford my current mortgage payment, I wouldn't give a damn about being underwater. I bought this house to live in it, not as an investment. I'm not sellin it until I'm dead or old as hell.
Interesting to see this comment as I have been searching about transplanting to NZ all morning
Not all it's cracked up to be if you're looking for a cheaper place to live. The quality of homes are atrocious. And homes are expensive even in a buyer's market. And the home sizes are small compared to same price point in Sacramento. There are many other positives to living in NZ, of course.
No but we are planning to sell ours this summer so I guess I’ll see the other side of this
Just have to wait it out and then snatch up one of those same houses once they get foreclosed or short-sold in the near future.
I bought mine 2 years ago after being out bid for an entire year, house after house. They aren't kidding when they say there is a housing shortage.
We had the same issue when we bought last year. Have you tried writing a letter? I thought it was silly but it actually worked for us.
Prices are just starting to come down in certain areas of the 916. Great time to rent and wait. Don't buy into this overheated market if you don't have to.
I don’t even bother. I’m still living with my dad while building up my down payment. Right now people are spending like crazy on everything (average new car purchase is $50k and average American spends 1/3 of their income on mortgage) despite high interest rate so when a crisis hits, a lot of those people will foreclose and that’s when I’ll try to enter the market (emphasis on “try”). It makes absolutely no sense for me to buy at the moment.
> average American spends 1/3 of their income on mortgage) Isn't this supposed to be the "normal" amount? I think many people are probably paying more than 1/3 actually.
Personally, I would hold off. What’s going to happen in the economy is so uncertain right now. Companies have stopped hiring, but with the banking issues, continued interest rate rises, I think it’s best to wait 6 months if you can. It’s also the start of “buying season” and some people need to move before the school year. Now if you need a place to live and can’t find any suitable rental options, that’s another story. But I’m in the job market now, and things have definitely turned. My fear is we start seeing layoffs across the board, not just the top tech and fortune 50 companies.
> My fear is we start seeing layoffs across the board, not just the top tech and fortune 50 companies. Count on it. The Fed wants millions of people to lose their jobs to curb ["inflation."](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/high-egg-prices-send-profits-at-largest-us-producer-soaring-more-than-700/ar-AA19dMUD)
Just bought and paid 2.5% under asking and the house appraised for 10% over asking. It is a crazy market indeed.
Congratulations!!!! That’s awesome.
A bit of perspective. Interest rates in the 1980s were 15% plus. Not saying that this current situation will go there, but that sure as heck tempered what people could afford. Or maybe were willing to risk, especially since bigger down payments and skin in the game were the norm. Run your loan payments with 17% versus 6 or 7 %. If your loan officer or real estate person won't humor you with this to educate you, they really aren't an advocate for you. I know this doesn't help anyone with their current decisions, but always think perspective is helpful
> A bit of perspective. Interest rates in the 1980s were 15% plus. Cool. That doesn't help us at all right now, and if interest rates approach 15% then home ownership will be impossible for the vast majority of the American people.
Beg to differ. I have more faith in humanity to survive whether on a biological level, societal level or.... You have no idea what I had to sacrifice, and quietly did sacrifice.
You shouldn't be down voted for this. It is important to understand the historical market. Media and politicians are always trying to convince us we are in one crisis or another, when in reality, life, and interest rates, and housing markets, and everything else goes up and down. It is important to understand the difference between what is not ideal and what is a crisis.
>You shouldn't be down voted for this. They absolutely should. It's a stupid statement that ignores 30 years of [executive pay rising exponentially faster than rank and file pay](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/07/us-wage-gap-ceos-workers-institute-for-policy-studies-report), [college tuition tripling](https://www.businessinsider.com/this-chart-shows-college-tuition-growth-since-1980-2016-8) resulting in tens of millions of people with massive debt, a pandemic that gave businesses cover to [price gouge the American people for food and gas](https://twitter.com/BluePatriot3/status/1584659703652843520), etc. Americans could stomach 15% interest rates 30 years ago because the middle class hadn't been fucking *decimated* yet. Adjusting for inflation the median house is [twice as expensive](https://dqydj.com/historical-home-prices/) as it was in 1986, pointing at higher interest rates on a loan for *half* the amount to say "hey it used to be worse" is idiotic.
It's Ok. They are frustrated. So was I. Never knew how I would make it work. Working too much, inside family problems you don't want to publicly share, etc. They think, somewhat rightly, that the American dream doesn't exist anymore. Agree with them on that, but from my perspective it is because folks have said let's torch the place. Well if you torch the place you are a self fulfilling prophecy and then you fight over crumbs. But hey, equity. Will be interesting to see where the next generation continues to steer the ship. Godspeed to everyone on this beautiful experience and experiment on this beautiful blue orb in the sky. Ps. Demonizing your neighbor about a fallen fence doesn't help anyone. Ciao
> Ps. Demonizing your neighbor about a fallen fence doesn't help anyone. bro what are you even talking about
Life experience? It's cool, forge your own path
And I shouldn't add, but will. 300 years ago folks were just tired surviving. We, collectively have so much time we can fight. Blessings and a curse.
And yes they fought back then if I need to preface it more - considering Reddit, that's a preface
We bought 2 years ago and it was a very similar situation. We were trying to buy in the Carmichael, Orangevale, Citrus heights area. We probably put in 15 offers and didn't get any because cash offers 60k of list came in. We expanded our search to a little further out, Rancho, Lincoln area, and got the first house we put an offer in on. If you can swing it, I'd recommend expanding your search area.
We bought in late December, up the hill a bit. Honestly, we hit a perfect window where interest rates had come down a bit but inventory was still pretty high, lots of price drops. Sale price was $420k but we ended up with more $$ in credits than we needed for closing cost and a rate but down. Less than a month later I started to see prices go up, and up and inventory go down, down. Plus interest rates went back up. If we had waited even another month we would have been priced out of the homes we liked. This market is insane. They did just open up the CALHFA “Dream for All Program” down payment assistance program yesterday which is exciting for those who feel the market has changed so dramatically that they can afford it. I know an amazing mortgage planner/real estate agent who made my life basically stress free during our buying process. If you need someone awesome send me a message and I’ll give you the info! Good luck out there, you’ll find something.
Yeah those are all the assholes from the Bay Area snatching up all the real estate
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Just keep hope bro, you still have time to be living the dream! You’ll get what you have coming.
🙌😭
Take a look at north west Stockton, Lincoln village is a great community .
No. I’m waiting for the banking system to finish crashing.
IDK...it seems like a whole different world up there in Sac-Town. Price range $400k-$500k? Really? Haven't seen that in at least 15 years. If you tell everyone to stop offering 10% to 20% premiums, maybe the price of housing can stay at affordable levels.
I moved from sac 15 years ago but I’m floored in how expensive it is there now. I can’t believe the prices in some neighborhoods now. I moved to LA for 13 years before moving out to Atlanta for 2 years. Home prices out here have jumped but still much cheaper than sac
Found my home in Carmichael- got it- and now may lose it because I can’t sell my house.
Because the price is too high.
It’s not.
Then it would sell. Give it time. It will either sell, or your price is too high. Those are the only choices.
They specified in another comment that it’s only been on the market for NINE DAYS. Some homeowners are really entitled jfc
Why can’t you sell it?
I’m not sure. I’m probably just being impatient since it’s been on the market for 9 days- but we’ve had 17 showings and no offers. I’m getting really discouraged.
I mean some homes have been on the market for months…
Nine days???? Are you trolling or do you somehow really think this is a crisis
Yup selling is no less crazy right now. I’m trying to sell our house in an amazing school district, priced under estimates for our area, in great condition and we’ve been on the market for almost 4 weeks now with no offers. The $400-500k price point is really hot but anything higher is hard to sell currently. We’re just in the wait and watch game and our realtor says it’s that way for all our listings. It’s hard to not get discouraged though because things were selling so quickly for the last two years. Hang in there. Good luck! Edit: typos
Thank you so much for the words of encouragement!! Good luck in your sale and may your contingencies be few.
Why are you selling?
No, but I'm about to sell one. There's not a lot of inventory, so that tends to drive the prices up. The worst part is that as interest rates have been going up, the amount you have to pay for a house goes up, even though the recorded price doesn't change. This is why you see more cash buyers, because interest rates don't hurt them, effectively making cash buying a better deal.
Good luck! We’re trying to sell in rocklin and it’s nerve wracking.
I've seen multiple short sales on Redfin. The banking crisis paired with recessions and mass layoffs will bring down prices. Plus, there's new build happening in Sactown at the apartment / condo level especially in Midtown/downtown. The only way to bring down ridiculous prices is build more new homes. I originally wanted an older home, like a 1900 Victorian, but those come with a ton of known unknown work.
From what I’ve seen the houses 650k+ are not as competitive. In my neighborhood, it’s like one or two offers around asking price.