Quote:
Originally Posted by Neal Stevens
You're right, they won't stop. I don't blame them. When I stopped by a realtor earlier this year to get their take on homes selling in my area, I was shocked when I learned the local housing market is going wild. No wonder renters in the area cannot find a house (other than apartments, there are plenty of them). My current renter at the time was paying me about $300 under market. And he was chronically late, often 3 weeks at a time, and bounced two checks. He had no excuse, he made plenty of money (more than me), he just took advantage of my good nature. He had no shortage of toys (motorcycle, expensive tools, new truck, etc). When I discovered that my house had increased in value 40% in the last ten years, I gave him 30 days notice and sold it.
The thing is, house prices were high when I was his age. They are always high. In proportion to his salary, he could afford to buy, if he would be frugal and save a bit. All I can say is, if others can manage, so can youth. I would suggest giving up any thought of living on the seaside, that's for established, mature buyers. Find something that is a good value, invest in the equity, and stick with it.  Like you said, it's rare things come down, so get in and eventually you will be the seller. |
The trouble with their runaway profits is that eventually you create a bubble so large that when it bursts it takes half the country with it.
If others can manage so can youth is somewhat of a generalisation isn't it, and I think if you look into it you might well find that the ratio of house price to pay is somewhat different than when you were young.
Take a look at the findings from 'RealityTrac' in March this year, they found that in the US house prices had increased over a two year period at a rate of over 16% greater than the average wage had. In fact in 76% of markets in the US, house price growth outpaces wage growth.
You are correct in what you say about finding cheaper house prices in certain areas, and unfortunately this is skewing the average age of householders in certain areas in ways that I believe will be detrimental in the long term to certain places. For example, a seaside tourist town will often consist of retirees, second home owners and businesses. The working youth have to travel into the town from areas around in order to supply services to the retirees, second home owners and businesses. This increases traffic which is already busy in summer periods because of the second home owners and tourist trade, and also leads to a situation where in winter the town depopulates dramatically.
Some how it still works, at the moment, but in my opinion it's not that healthy at all, and I honestly believe that it should be a persons right to live where he or she wants to, so if someone wants to stay near the place of their birth or near their parents they should be able to do so.
Still, that stuff is for people that can plan their future I guess.
