East Bay - My neighbors on either side sold their homes recently (last week). The house on the right sold for 75K above asking price. The one one the left sold for 90K above asking price (around 20 offers for each house). Listing price for both houses were already high.
San Francisco Home Prices Fell for the First Time in Four Years in March
71–80 of 238 posts
Re: San Francisco Home Prices Fell for the First Time in Four Years in March
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
You pay rent to the government, around here about 1.25% of the purchase price / year.
That's not rent. That's a tax, which is what you agree to in exchange for living in one of the most advanced societies on earth.
It's theft. People don't explicitly agree to it. It's forced on you. And most taxes don't go towards the advancement of society. Advancement comes from the people and businesses.
Re: San Francisco Home Prices Fell for the First Time in Four Years in March
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
You pay rent to the government, around here about 1.25% of the purchase price / year.
That's not rent. That's a tax, which is what you agree to in exchange for living in one of the most advanced societies on earth.
It's theft. People don't explicitly agree to it. It's forced on you. And most taxes don't go towards the advancement of society. Advancement comes from the people and businesses.
Re: San Francisco Home Prices Fell for the First Time in Four Years in March
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
You pay rent to the government, around here about 1.25% of the purchase price / year.
That's not rent. That's a tax, which is what you agree to in exchange for living in one of the most advanced societies on earth.
It's theft. People don't explicitly agree to it. It's forced on you. And most taxes don't go towards the advancement of society. Advancement comes from the people and businesses.
Re: San Francisco Home Prices Fell for the First Time in Four Years in March
#75Meanwhile in Canada: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/crea-house-prices-march-1.35...
Pretty incredible bubble price increases, given the growth rate of the Canadian economy. How can that end any other way but in a massive crash? "The average price of a Canadian home hit $508,567 in March, a jump of 15.7 per cent compared to the same month a year earlier." vs "IMF downgrades forecast for Canada's economy in 2016 and 2017" "Canada's GDP will expand by 1.5 per cent this year and by 1.9 per cent next yea…
Most markets in Canada are in slow decline, which reflects reality. Then you have the two special markets of Vancouver, which needs no introduction, and Toronto, which fits somewhere between Vancouver and reality.
It would be interesting to examine the fundamentals of each separately.
Re: San Francisco Home Prices Fell for the First Time in Four Years in March
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
And sometimes the stock market crashes and takes everything with it. See: every ten years. At least with a house, even if the value goes down, you still have a home.
True, but what is more risky? Having most of your money in a single, non-liquid asset with a very local market or having most of your money in a diversified, liquid asset? I'm not saying owning a home is a bad idea, just having 80%+ of your money in it.
Diversification can include real estate.
Besides, it's the leverage. You can buy $625,500 of house with 2.5% down + a monthly payment with a ~4% vig. Nowhere else can you get that kind of money at that kind of rate with ~$16k down.
Then if you're smart you invest other money other places to diversify. You can live in house, unlike Vanguard funds. But you should have both.
Re: San Francisco Home Prices Fell for the First Time in Four Years in March
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because it means you don't have to pay rent after you retire.
There are untold retired people who have been forced to move due to rising property taxes. Many of the benefits of owning evaporate when you take into account everything .
Evaporate? No. Those retired people would still be paying property taxes -- you think landlords just eat that cost? Rent includes taxes, maintenance, etc, it's just spread out through the year.
Re: San Francisco Home Prices Fell for the First Time in Four Years in March
#78It's always hard to believe the numbers, but I trust Redfin since I used them to purchase my home. I think the problem is comparing what's turn key and not. For example they say: > Portland, OR had the nation’s highest price growth, rising 16.1% since last year to $325,000... The problem is you're fighting 100's of people for that one house in Portland that is livable at $325,000. Most houses that cheap need a ton of…
A bit off topic, but how was your experience with Redfin? I'm thinking of using them.
As a buyer I would assume it's pretty similar to other agents. The only big difference is that they contribute some stipend to your closing costs. So it's a bit cheaper for both parties (as they take a smaller commission as well) to go with Redfin.
Re: San Francisco Home Prices Fell for the First Time in Four Years in March
#79Meanwhile in Canada: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/crea-house-prices-march-1.35...
Pretty incredible bubble price increases, given the growth rate of the Canadian economy. How can that end any other way but in a massive crash? "The average price of a Canadian home hit $508,567 in March, a jump of 15.7 per cent compared to the same month a year earlier." vs "IMF downgrades forecast for Canada's economy in 2016 and 2017" "Canada's GDP will expand by 1.5 per cent this year and by 1.9 per cent next yea…
> Pretty incredible bubble price increases, given the growth rate of the Canadian economy. How can that end any other way but in a massive crash?
I don't know sometimes. People have been saying that it's going to crash for the past 7-8 years but the prices just keep going up and up. Right now a lot of people are trying to snap up property before the prices reach impossible heights.
Re: San Francisco Home Prices Fell for the First Time in Four Years in March
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's not exactly true. A lot of REIs are built on complex structures. The SF estate market might be fueling other investments. Once one starts to collapse it can have a domino effect. Basically if investors were expecting 10% annual return and you tell them this year might be 1-2% they'll take that money and move it elsewhere. Now you have to raise money or sell. When I used to live in downtown Miami there were hig…
> How can they take that money and move it somewhere? Most such investment contracts don't allow it. Am I missing something?
Some REITs are publicly traded. Investors can simply sell their shares and buy into something else.