Cost of house???

[MichelleCarmen]

Hey, just to add to the cost of things question, is it rude for people to ask how much you paid for a house? My husband and I just bought another house and are putting our current one up on the market at the beginning of november and people keep asking us how much we paid. Is this especially rude since generally houses are an indication of how much you make (generally, of course, there are acceptions)?

 

[Todd07]

I does depend a bit on the situation. In general housing prices are a very public affair that can be researched. I probably know what most of my friends paid for their houses, and if I thought about it, I probably have a good idea of their income, etc. That happens with friends. I guess I'd share the info with friends and with other people who were looking to buy/sell and wanted to understand my experience.




However, some people give me a bad feeling when they ask this type of question. With them, I avoid a direct answer.




Doubt if this ramble helps

 

[aljdewey]

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On 9/30/2004 8:21:01 PM MichelleCarmen wrote:





Hey, just to add to the cost of things question, is it rude for people to ask how much you paid for a house? My husband and I just bought another house and are putting our current one up on the market at the beginning of november and people keep asking us how much we paid. Is this especially rude since generally houses are an indication of how much you make (generally, of course, there are acceptions)?

----------------

It's funny, because questions on housing costs tend to be less offensive. I think that's more due to the fact that most folks have a pretty good idea of market value is (if they are on top of the market).

I think part of the reason it's more acceptable is because the motivation is different when asking about house price. Most times, people ask about your house price because they are trying to figure out what it means for THEM....what *they* might be able to afford, how much below asking price *they* might successfully offer and the like.

When people inquire about what one paid for a diamond, it often (not always, but often) boils down to a) trying to figure out if it's "real" or b) making correlations between how much someone cares about his FI and the size of the diamond he gave, or c) the proverbial "Johnson" contest - is mine better than yours? Sad, but true.

Also, a ring tends to give away more information about *individual* income than a house does. The ring is purchased strictly by the man (in most cases), where the house is usually bought by both.

 

[jenwill]

I agree with the above, and add in:

If you live in an area with housing prices that seem to never stop climbing, people seem to talk about housing prices all the time. Constantly talking about how much someone bought a house for, and then sold it for later. Trying to find areas where there are still 'good' deals (although I don't know how a 60 year old 2 bedroom/one bath 800 sq foot house at $850k can be a deal), so perhaps if they have a friend also looking they can tell them about it.

I was doomed to be an renter until I met a saver...feel bad that he brought a house to the deal and all I brought was charm and 2 cats!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

----------------
although I don't know how a 60 year old 2 bedroom/one bath 800 sq foot house at $850k can be a deal----------------

Yikes, this sounds painful unless it's a gorgeous house on the ocean! lol But, then STILL this sounds painful.

Thanks for your opinions. My husband and me both were surprised how open people are about house prices. None of the "interested" parties are looking to buy or planning to live in our neighborhood and so I feel like it's more privacy intrusion than some may see it as, but I'll try to keep prospective rather than feel defensive

lol

Oh, and regarding the authenticity of diamond, lol, I'm sure everyone will think my upgrade is fake since we're buying a new house and a new diamond on one income (unlike many who have both husband & wife purchasing the house)

hehehe

 

[cflutist]

In the county that websailor and I live in, all the home sales are published in the Sunday newspaper complete with address, selling price, square footage and age. This is considered public information in California so neither websailor or I are bothered when asked about what I paid for my house or what the current sales in the neighborhood were.

 

[jenwill]

cflutist- I think we may live near one another...I am in Palo Alto, I think I remember websailor mentioning SF Bay Area one time in a post...

Funny thing is, I am always reading the paper to see who bought what- I the Daily News (the free paper) they list the names of who bought wahat along with the info above. Mostly I read it to see if anyone I know moved back into the area, as many of my friends from high school are starting to come back after experienceing other cities for awhile...

 

[Jennifer5973]

The public real estate disclosures are the norm in many states, including mine.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I'll have to check to see how one goes about finding this info in my state. I've never seen this info in our city's paper.

We have MLS access so we already can look at prices of houses sold in our area, so I've never bothered to look elsewhere.

Michelle

 

[fire&ice]

It's such a published item that it doesn't seem personal. Go to realtor.com - punch in your zip & you can tell the amount of any house listed on your street or zip.

Yet, I am a bit uncomfortable talking about price, especially if one must tell you how much their house costs.

 

[sluke]

Michelle,

You mentioned you lived in Seattle. You can get information on houses in King County online with the property address. Tells you who owns the property, sq footage, amount paid, etc. Amazing.

Unless people are looking for a house themselves, it is a bit rude to ask.

S.

 

[Dancing Fire]

this housing market reminds me of the nasdaq stock market(bubble) march 2000 when everybody wants to buy (look out)plus is on the front page of every newspaper in the nation talking about how much homes has gone up in the last 2 yrs. (HOUSING BUBBLE)?

 

[jenwill]

Unfortunately we haven't had a real housing bubble burst here since about 1981. Houses prices seriously dropped from like 81-86, but have climbed pretty much continuosly since then. Living on a peninsula of land means we have reached maximum density, and even with the burst of 2000 in the dot com industry, all it really means is that there are a few more places to rent, and that when a house goes on the market it only sells for 10-15% more than asking in the first couple of days instead of 50% more than asking in a couple of hours.

I had longed for a drop in prices, but now that I have accepted that I am not buying on my own, and have met my sweetie who has a house, I am a-ok with the prices at least remaining stable...selfish, selfish Jen

My relatives in Oklahoma think we're all on drugs for paying the prices we do to live here.

 

[Dancing Fire]

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On 10/1/2004 7:19:00 PM jenwill wrote:

Unfortunately we haven't had a real housing bubble burst here since about 1981. Houses prices seriously dropped from like 81-86, but have climbed pretty much continuosly since then. Living on a peninsula of land means we have reached maximum density, and even with the burst of 2000 in the dot com industry, all it really means is that there are a few more places to rent, and that when a house goes on the market it only sells for 10-15% more than asking in the first couple of days instead of 50% more than asking in a couple of hours.

I had longed for a drop in prices, but now that I have accepted that I am not buying on my own, and have met my sweetie who has a house, I am a-ok with the prices at least remaining stable...selfish, selfish Jen

My relatives in Oklahoma think we're all on drugs for paying the prices we do to live here.----------------

jenwill
i think after the earth quake in 1989 housing market in the bay area took a big hit(everybody wanted to move out),i notice homes here in the sacto area started to sky rocket,because a lot of bay area buyers,it top out in the summer of 1991. now there is a lot of $700k home out here never thought i see this day,i know is still nothing compare to where you and cflutist lives,the toilet alone can cost $10k.

 

[Mara]

I dont think it's rude at all, esp in an area like the BayArea where it may be an indicator of what you can afford. Aka if you know your pal makes XY and he can afford AZ, then you can somewhat figure out if you could afford somethign similar. May not be accurate but people still will try to figure it out. We did this before as well. Also, part of it is curiousity, aka how much did YOU pay for yours vs what we paid for ours...did we get ripped off, did you get a good deal. Lastly, I think people like to know if you are making money off your purchase, aka is real estate a good place to put money as an investment.




Our house has appreciated 10% since we bought it which was 8 months ago. We are in the middle of seeing if it's feasible to refinance with the new lower rates and possibly save about $300 a month on our payments which would be amazing. But Greg pointed out the other day that this hullabaloo with Fannie Mae may cause some ruffles in this housing boom period. People are wondering if this is what may cause that housing bubble to finally break.




Which would make us VERY SAD so we better get our refinance through ASAP because if that happened, IR's would rise rise rise. It's a double edged sword, those who want to get in may get lower pricing but higher IR's and those who own houses have to sit on them until things right themselves.




The last time things were iffy here in the BayArea with housing was in the late 80s and very early 90s (where a friend of ours got a house for an unheard of $150k) so we have been overdue for something to happen, but you just never know. In any case I am glad we are entrenched in our townhouse with good rates just in case....

 

[websailor]

While I don't think it's rude to ask what a person paid for their house (especially when it's friends and you've just put it on the market), there are many ways to answer such a question without really answering...

For example,
Give a small laugh, and then say, "A bit more than my e-ring for sure"

 

[hoorray]

I tend to think it's fairly rude to ask what anything cost unless it is a very good friend. However, if someone has an obvious reason for asking, I will answer. If I think they are just fishing or comparing, I go the Websailor route of answering with a non-answer. I guess the housing market has just been such a big issue everywhere that it is becoming normal conversation. I wonder how long it can last. I'm worried about all the ARM and interest only loans out there.