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kleinbl00  ·  2017 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: September 19, 2018

Keep your powder dry.

Have a friend. Lofting his ceiling. A reasonable estimate is $20k. First estimate he got was $80k. Second estimate was $147k. The contractors don't want the work. They're quoting fuck-you prices. It's the froth of 2007.

Watched a house. Couple of houses, actually. Somebody gutted one down to the studs and tried to sell the pair of them. Sat on the market at $950k all through 2016, 2017. March 2018 they were bought by a throw'n'go real estate vulture out of Florida for $950k. Yesterday he listed 'em again, using the same photos from 2016, for $1.7m. Yeah, he wants to double his money for sitting on an unrebuildable house for six months. It's the froth of 2007.

Watching some other houses. Several of them sold in the $600-800k range in 2013, 2014. All of 'em listed for over $1.1m. Last year, they all sold within 2 months. March, they all sold within 4 months. Now, they're sitting there unsold. Those that do sell are losing $100k between ask and bid. It's the froth of 2007.

I founded /r/realestate. I pay a lot of attention to this stuff. And the bodies are about starting to hit the floor. I went to an open house six months ago where the owner-flippers didn't even bother to clear the boxes of unlaid tile out of the basement. The stampede has started.

Your choices will be greatly changed within 12-18 months. Your environment will be greatly changed within 40 years. That lovely farmhouse on the outskirts of town may end up surrounded by condos. When my wife's parents bought their house in 1978 the road had just been paved a few years earlier. When they'd been there 5 years, the county came through and cut in sidewalks. When they'd been there ten years, the county built a high school across the street. Two years ago the county knocked over the high school and built a bus barn for all the school buses and five years from now there will be an elevated light rail station going 40 miles to the damn airport.