Hey real estate moguls - what’s going on in the housing market?

[Clintonaldo 2574]

You own a sporting goods store?

You’re thinking of Heartbreak Kid.


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[Johnny Sack 8397]

2 hours ago, gmr548 said:

At a $180k income with no other debts you can easily afford a $360k home. Now, given the state of the market, you may think a $360k price tag is steep for a given house, or that inventory at that price point is a little meh, but that's kind of another conversation. 

Also, 2,000sf is a ton of space for two adults and a baby. I bet you could open up your options some if you were willing to go down to 1,600 or 1,700 square feet, and I almost guarantee you wouldn't notice the difference unless you both work at home or something.

I have 2100 sf (an old ranch style house) and there are 4 of us.  We have plenty of room.  I am about to add on a covered outdoor living space and garage apartment.  Need a place for my FIL (will also put in an elevator -- they are surprisingly not that expensive).

I have run the numbers and this is much cheaper than moving to a bigger house in my area.  Especially when you factor in hidden costs like increased taxes and giving my wife an opportunity to think we need new furniture, rugs, window treatments, or remodeling a new house.  Shit we have right now is all fixed and everything fits.

[Johnny Sack 8397]

ddddp

Edited October 29, 2021 by Johnny Sack

[South Austin 52504]

2 hours ago, Clintonaldo said:

I am a little disappointed I didn’t get any smart ass answers guys

Show us your wife's tits.

[gurt 748]

2 hours ago, Clintonaldo said:

I am a little disappointed I didn’t get any smart ass answers guys and I appreciate the responses. I would happily go down to 1,600 if I could find something. The thought of an $1,800 house payment scares the absolute shit out of me. I am probably too conservative( financially) to a fault. I am kind of like Ben Stiller’s character in Along Came Polly( even have the same job as he did in movie) in that I am constantly running worst case scenarios. What if we lose one income... what if someone gets sick... etc. I will say it was awesome to not have to worry about money when we found out the wife was pregnant  

Maybe some of my angst is the inventory in this area is small. Every house on Zillow is already pending.  

my wife and I make a combined 50k less than you and have a 1900 a month payment with zero issues...no kids, which does make our situation simpler, but this feels like you are bordering on an unhealthy level of risk avoidance.  There are always things that could come up, and I'm not advocating for living fast and loose like so many Americans, but you are holding you and your family back with this level of conservatism IMO.

[TwiceHorn 31471]

2 hours ago, Clintonaldo said:

I am a little disappointed I didn’t get any smart ass answers guys and I appreciate the responses. I would happily go down to 1,600 if I could find something. The thought of an $1,800 house payment scares the absolute shit out of me. I am probably too conservative( financially) to a fault. I am kind of like Ben Stiller’s character in Along Came Polly( even have the same job as he did in movie) in that I am constantly running worst case scenarios. What if we lose one income... what if someone gets sick... etc. I will say it was awesome to not have to worry about money when we found out the wife was pregnant  

Maybe some of my angst is the inventory in this area is small. Every house on Zillow is already pending.  

As far as I can tell, Zillow is not a very good place to look.

Realtor.com comes closer to showing MLS and tends to be current.

[Chewbacca 7777]

2 hours ago, Clintonaldo said:

I am a little disappointed I didn’t get any smart ass answers guys and I appreciate the responses. I would happily go down to 1,600 if I could find something. The thought of an $1,800 house payment scares the absolute shit out of me. I am probably too conservative( financially) to a fault. I am kind of like Ben Stiller’s character in Along Came Polly( even have the same job as he did in movie) in that I am constantly running worst case scenarios. What if we lose one income... what if someone gets sick... etc. I will say it was awesome to not have to worry about money when we found out the wife was pregnant  

Maybe some of my angst is the inventory in this area is small. Every house on Zillow is already pending.  

You make $15,000 per month.  Spending 12% of your pre-tax income on a home scares the shit out of you?  Why?

[Clintonaldo 2574]

You make $15,000 per month.  Spending 12% of your pre-tax income on a home scares the shit out of you?  Why?

I honestly don’t know. I guess I grew up with parents that fought about money a lot and didn’t have much of it.


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[tbone_ 14123]

Brah, I totally get the risk avoidance as I am the same way. But you gotta live somewhere. $1800 is not an issue.

Shit can always happen but you can’t live in fear of it. That’s taken me a long time to realize. Go get yourself a house and enjoy your life. If life takes a dump on you then deal with it then.

[gmr548 16580]

28 minutes ago, Clintonaldo said:

I honestly don’t know. I guess I grew up with parents that fought about money a lot and didn’t have much of it.


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Here's a smart ass response: I grew up in a low enough income bracket to have free school lunch all through high school, which is good because now I understand math. 

Let's say you lose 50 percent of your household's income to taxes, savings, health insurance, elder care, student loans, whatever. If you have no debt that is almost certainly a wildly conservative estimate of your household's net pay. You are still clearing $7,500 a month. That'd still be in the top third of gross income earners. I'm not calling you Jeff Bezos but you guys make a shitload of money, especially in TN.

An $1,800 mortgage would be 24 percent of your net pay. That is well below the threshold of affordability, particularly in TN, which is not a particularly high cost area otherwise. Even a $2,500 mortgage would only be a third of your net income. I am fairly conservative too and wouldn't necessarily go up to that point because you have to account for taxes, maintenance, and insurance, but there's no reason to sweat anything up to the low $2,000's. And again, that's likely significantly undershooting your take home pay. The number at which you'd actually have to think about it at all is likely higher. Also understand that this payment is locked in for the term of your mortgage. Your rent is not going to be locked in for 15-30 years.

Don't buy just to do it or because you feel like you have to or whatever and end up taking what you think is a bad deal. There are plenty of legitimate non-financial reasons to not want to buy. But if it's a priority for you and your wife, know that you can definitely afford the price point you're talking about at your income level without any debt obligations.

 

Edited October 29, 2021 by gmr548

[burntorangebongos 10710]

12% of your monthly income is awesome for housing costs. 

You have real good problems ,Clintonaldo.

[Chewbacca 7777]

21 minutes ago, Clintonaldo said:

I honestly don’t know. I guess I grew up with parents that fought about money a lot and didn’t have much of it.


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Risk avoidance is good to a certain point, but going well beyond there is going to hold you back.  I would not at all be afraid of a $2,000 mortgage at your income level (personally I'd be OK going much higher but clearly we have different risk tolerances).  I assume your risk avoidance means you have plenty of savings, which is good in case something happens to your job.  You're in a good place and a house, despite what many here would like to claim, is a good way to build wealth, put down roots, and raise a family.

[gmr548 16580]

1 hour ago, Johnny Sack said:

I have 2100 sf (an old ranch style house) and there are 4 of us.  We have plenty of room.  I am about to add on a covered outdoor living space and garage apartment.  Need a place for my FIL (will also put in an elevator -- they are surprisingly not that expensive).

I have run the numbers and this is much cheaper than moving to a bigger house in my area.  Especially when you factor in hidden costs like increased taxes and giving my wife an opportunity to think we need new furniture, rugs, window treatments, or remodeling a new house.  Shit we have right now is all fixed and everything fits.

Nice. I am a big believer that additional square footage is more trouble than it's worth after a certain point. The average new build size has nearly doubled over the past 50 years and it's just extra space to fill up with shit and pay for climate control. American consumers often take the Kyle Flood size queen approach to house shopping though. To each his own I guess.

[Buzzrock 14920]

Brah, I totally get the risk avoidance as I am the same way. But you gotta live somewhere. $1800 is not an issue.

Shit can always happen but you can’t live in fear of it. That’s taken me a long time to realize. Go get yourself a house and enjoy your life. If life takes a dump on you then deal with it then.

Yup. I thought our most recent house was going to break me, but it’s been fine. And three years in the appreciation has been crazy, I wouldn’t be able to afford it now.

[Chewbacca 7777]

27 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

Nice. I am a big believer that additional square footage is more trouble than it's worth after a certain point. The average new build size has nearly doubled over the past 50 years and it's just extra space to fill up with shit and pay for climate control. American consumers often take the Kyle Flood size queen approach to house shopping though. To each his own I guess.

Absolutely agree.  I would never own a house over ~3500sf.  And that's on the high side.  Would prefer houses under 3000 but they are tough to find.  You almost have to build, especially if you want any kind of land with it.

[Chewbacca 7777]

2 minutes ago, Buzzrock said:

Yup. I thought our most recent house was going to break me, but it’s been fine. And three years in the appreciation has been crazy, I wouldn’t be able to afford it now.

So what was Ed's special car that he sold a bunch of them off for?  Has it made an entrance in the neighborhood yet?

[TwiceHorn 31471]

45 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

Brah, I totally get the risk avoidance as I am the same way. But you gotta live somewhere. $1800 is not an issue.

Shit can always happen but you can’t live in fear of it. That’s taken me a long time to realize. Go get yourself a house and enjoy your life. If life takes a dump on you then deal with it then.

Yep, the beauty of it is you combine an unavoidable sunk cost in shelter with a savings/investment component.  If you're not able to buy in a good area, that may not be an attractive deal, but even with your risk avoidance and "cheapness," you should be able to find a property in a good 'hood that will be a teardown in 15-20 years and appreciate accordingly.

[BabaYaga 15298]

1 hour ago, Clintonaldo said:

I honestly don’t know. I guess I grew up with parents that fought about money a lot and didn’t have much of it.


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It's not what you make, it' what you spend.  If you have a ton of other debt, be smart about it.  

[Sbbruin 21853]

1 minute ago, BabaYaga said:

It's not what you make, it' what you spend.  If you have a ton of other debt, be smart about it.  

[Homercles 10205]

I like big houses so I can hide from my kids and wife when I want to

[MrBig 5398]

1 hour ago, Homercles said:

I like big houses so I can hide from my kids and wife when I want to

Someone needs to make a graph similar to the hot/crazy/wife chart for house size.

There is a fine line between having enough space to hide from the wife & kids vs having enough space where the wife invites her mom, sisters and their kids to stay all the damn time. 

[DCA_HORN 725]

1 hour ago, Homercles said:

I like big houses so I can hide from my kids and wife when I want to

The way to a happy marriage is sqftage and multiple TVs.

[tbone_ 14123]

House my ex and I had in the before times had the master upstairs which was big enough for a couch and a tv. The guest room was downstairs. I could retreat and have no idea who if anyone was in the house.

House was bought for this specific reason.

[BearSchlong 8094]

1 hour ago, Homercles said:

I like big houses so I can hide from my kids and wife when I want to

I tried that, then found out I was married to THE GOTDAMMED DEVIL.

5000 ft2 house and I've never been so miserable.

Wife #2 and I have a 1700 ft 3/2 house and I will probably stay here forever because it is the perfect size.  I'll never be house poor ever again.

Last week my son and his new wife somehow scored a 4br house - Captain's quarters - at Ft. Bragg.  If he makes the Army his career then he should have enough set aside by retirement for a cool place.

Edited October 29, 2021 by BearSchlong

[ftf82 485]

2 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

Absolutely agree.  I would never own a house over ~3500sf.  And that's on the high side.  Would prefer houses under 3000 but they are tough to find.  You almost have to build, especially if you want any kind of land with it.

Exactly. Mine is a shade under 3,000 in West Lake Hills. Kids shared a bathroom. It's now a goldmine.

[Clintonaldo 2574]

39 minutes ago, BearSchlong said:

I tried that, then found out I was married to THE GOTDAMMED DEVIL.

5000 ft2 house and I've never been so miserable.

Wife #2 and I have a 1700 ft 3/2 house and I will probably stay here forever because it is the perfect size.  I'll never be house poor ever again.

Last week my son and his new wife somehow scored a 4br house - Captain's quarters - at Ft. Bragg.  If he makes the Army his career then he should have enough set aside by retirement for a cool place.

Yeah, I want around 1,800 with a nice deck partially screened in and a nice outdoor party setup with a pavilion or something. 

[Guest Lobo]

4 hours ago, burntorangebongos said:

12% of your monthly income is awesome for housing costs. 

You have real good problems ,Clintonaldo.

Yeah, I thought it was 28% of your gross should go to mortgage/rent and then 32% overall with insurance/taxes.?  Or something.  

[closetohumping 17442]

4 hours ago, burntorangebongos said:

12% of your monthly income is awesome for housing costs. 

You have real good problems ,Clintonaldo.

I'm sure he knows that.

[Hefeweizen 5321]

50 minutes ago, ftf82 said:

Exactly. Mine is a shade under 3,000 in West Lake Hills. Kids shared a bathroom. It's now a goldmine.

This is how you humblebrag.  He just let you know he's sitting on 2 million.

[ftf82 485]

31 minutes ago, Hefeweizen said:

This is how you humblebrag.  He just let you know he's sitting on 2 million.

I am a bank lawyer, too. 😁

[Guest Lobo]

Are you one of those guys that keeps telling the bank to open up more branches because it's the smart real estate play?  

[ftf82 485]

Negative. I've been trying to get the Texas Commerce Bank-Barton Creek branch closed down for 30 years. Looks like it's finally happening. :its_happening:

[Hefeweizen 5321]

13 hours ago, Lobo said:

Are you one of those guys that keeps telling the bank to open up more branches because it's the smart real estate play?  

What do bank storefronts do besides give olds a place to drop off their coins?  Seriously I think the last time i went was to pick up some checks when we ran out.  They generate no sales tax for cities, no utility revenue, and probably pretty shitty ad valorem taxes too.  
 

I don’t get it, at all.

[Neonmoon 38129]

11 minutes ago, Hefeweizen said:

What do bank storefronts do besides give olds a place to drop off their coins?  Seriously I think the last time i went was to pick up some checks when we ran out.  They generate no sales tax for cities, no utility revenue, and probably pretty shitty ad valorem taxes too.  
 

I don’t get it, at all.

Easy. Most people are morons and need help by a teller. 

[Guest Lobo]

They still serve some functions and need some real estate.  The part I can't wrap my brain around is why they keep choosing such prime real estate.  Half the new skyscrapers in downtown Austin still have a bank tenant.  They at least got wise and quit wasting space on street-level drive-thrus.  And outside of downtown, they still take the prime PAD sites or Endcap units.  They're still stuck in this mentality that they have to be really visible, in highly desirable spots, or else customers won't notice them and make them their new bank.  It's the most expensive customer acquisition cost in all of business.  And just like how you eventually fill up all the closets and garage space in your new home..so to the bank branch eventually has to fill up that 4000 square foot branch with lots and lots of people.  7 folks just sitting around hoping that today is the day that Hefeweizen stops by to open an IRA.  Well, oops.  Hefe opened one up already.  On his phone.  At the red light outside your branch.  

[DaysOff 7951]

If this PNC-BBVA merger is any indication, you need a physical branch to go in to yell at someone.

[South Austin 52504]

1 hour ago, Neonmoon said:

Easy. Most people are morons and need help by a teller. 

 

[Guest Lobo]

^

Ah man, they cut off the two best lines.  The crisp $10 bill for the birthday card and the thing about Volume.  Or wait, were there two separate commercials?  It was a long time ago, I can't remember.

[South Austin 52504]

12 minutes ago, Lobo said:

^

Ah man, they cut off the two best lines.  The crisp $10 bill for the birthday card and the thing about Volume.  Or wait, were there two separate commercials?  It was a long time ago, I can't remember.

 

[jimmyjazz 45952]

My wife and I are looking to sell our Austin house, probably next year, as we're rapidly becoming empty nesters.  We'll go from 4 kids and a grandson to just us in the space of about 3 years.

Still trying to identify a location, maybe the gulf coast of Florida, but I look forward to dropping from 3700 sf 5/4.5 to about 1800 sf 3/2.  One master, two guest rooms, one mine, one hers for TVs and general escape space when we're tired of each other, which is often.

[Underdog 28633]

On 10/28/2021 at 9:42 PM, Clintonaldo said:

 wife and I combined make around $180,000 a year 

when our grand baby was born last year we figured we’d stay in NY a few more years in order for her to come up and experience some of the things this area has to offer, but lately the wife is getting fed up with her work and we’re missing out on things with the baby and we’ll probably move down to DFW sooner than originally plan.  Our fear is we’ll miss out on 5he housing boom by time we decide to sell, we’ll live in an apt down there as I don’t want another house at our age(60).  God luck on whatever you chose, Clintonado.  

[Clintonaldo 2574]

when our grand baby was born last year we figured we’d stay in NY a few more years in order for her to come up and experience some of the things this area has to offer, but lately the wife is getting fed up with her work and we’re missing out on things with the baby and we’ll probably move down to DFW sooner than originally plan.  Our fear is we’ll miss out on 5he housing boom by time we decide to sell, we’ll live in an apt down there as I don’t want another house at our age(60).  God luck on whatever you chose, Clintonado.  

I appreciate it and you know at some point we just can’t be paralyzed by what could happen.

By the way, we have a good football game against each other next week.


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[Neonmoon 38129]

7 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

My wife and I are looking to sell our Austin house, probably next year, as we're rapidly becoming empty nesters.  We'll go from 4 kids and a grandson to just us in the space of about 3 years.

Still trying to identify a location, maybe the gulf coast of Florida, but I look forward to dropping from 3700 sf 5/4.5 to about 1800 sf 3/2.  One master, two guest rooms, one mine, one hers for TVs and general escape space when we're tired of each other, which is often.

We did this last year. 

[Brew 3049]

Realtor called and wanted to show our second home to someone, so I threw out a stupid number and told her she could show it. They accepted which kind of sucks after thinking about it. Guess we’re going to sit and see what happens with pricing. Worst case, we’ll rent for the summer I guess. Yes 

[Armybrat 40844]

19 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

My wife and I are looking to sell our Austin house, probably next year, as we're rapidly becoming empty nesters.  We'll go from 4 kids and a grandson to just us in the space of about 3 years.

Still trying to identify a location, maybe the gulf coast of Florida, but I look forward to dropping from 3700 sf 5/4.5 to about 1800 sf 3/2.  One master, two guest rooms, one mine, one hers for TVs and general escape space when we're tired of each other, which is often.

Whenever you downsize, be sure to get a one story home - or at least one with the master suite on the 1st floor.

Plus, specify that it be built for wheelchair accessibility. 
And be sure the 2 car garage is oversize from the usual inadequate 18’x20’ builder specs.

Wish we had done the latter two features when we built our “forever” home 25 years ago.

[FORTY NINE TO ZERO 2652]

Pricing has gone insane in the historic part Galveston.  Literally double what it was 2 years ago.  

Wife is also pregos, so we need another bedroom.   Current house is 3-3 3.6k sf and pretty much the largest nonmansion house in the area, so we are fucked with nowhere to move unless we want to shell out 2 million on a white elephant.  

Housing  stock seems to disappear between 3.5k-6k sf, so we are  in the process of adding a bathroom, bedroom and office to the house.  Fun times.    Will get us 4.2k sf or so.   I’m hoping it ends up being a good investment, especially since it will hopefully fill the upper middleclass family of 4 niche that seems to be missing. 

[Underdog 28633]

I know when jr and DIL we’re looking for a house earlier this year in DFW they were getting outbid by the tens of thousands on a few they liked, luckily found a house whose owners wanted them to have the house for jr’s Budding family.  

Edited October 31, 2021 by Underdog

[JimmyJames 12271]

On 10/30/2021 at 11:35 AM, jimmyjazz said:

My wife and I are looking to sell our Austin house, probably next year, as we're rapidly becoming empty nesters. 

Still trying to identify a location, maybe the gulf coast of Florida

Don’t move to Florida. It sucks. 
 

Plenty of other better options on all three coasts. 
 

Obviously depends on what you ultimately want and can afford. 

[jimmyjazz 45952]

6 minutes ago, JimmyJames said:

Don’t move to Florida. It sucks. 
 

Plenty of other better options on all three coasts. 
 

Obviously depends on what you ultimately want and can afford. 

Well, what we want is to be in the lower 48 and within walking distance of a great warm water beach, so Biloxi on east to Key West is pretty optimal.

Honestly, I'm not interested in being surrounded by Floridians, but I'm surrounded by Texans right now, so  . . . (no offense to all the fine Texans on surly, but this state has a large cadre of asshats).

[closetohumping 17442]

7 hours ago, ONE YARD said:

Pricing has gone insane in the historic part Galveston.  Literally double what it was 2 years ago.  

Wife is also pregos, so we need another bedroom.   Current house is 3-3 3.6k sf and pretty much the largest nonmansion house in the area, so we are fucked with nowhere to move unless we want to shell out 2 million on a white elephant.  

Housing  stock seems to disappear between 3.5k-6k sf, so we are  in the process of adding a bathroom, bedroom and office to the house.  Fun times.    Will get us 4.2k sf or so.   I’m hoping it ends up being a good investment, especially since it will hopefully fill the upper middleclass family of 4 niche that seems to be missing. 

Do you really need 4200Sq feet?  Of course I live in California, 2000 sq feet is a mansion here.