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the up and downs of home prices in the U.S ......
- Thread starter Dancing Fire
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movie zombie
Super_Ideal_Rock
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thanks, DF! informative. my area [santa cruz] is doing better than most! however, where i actually live in the santa cruz mountains is effected also by the bay area as it is an easy commute. our prices in this community go up but not at the rates that santa cruz and the bay area saw....and the reverse is true: our prices do not go down at the same pace as those two areas. a bit more stable. however, this is not suburban living as witnessed this past week by power outages, woman killed by a fallen redwood tree, etc. we are definitely a rural, mountain community and city folk sometimes don''t make an easy transition.
movie zombie
movie zombie
Mara
Super_Ideal_Rock
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the growth has been definitely climbing here in san jose, they are doing tons of gentrification to the city near downtown where we are and it's been very interesting to watch. we have been in our house for 2 years and the area has changed much even in just that short time. right across from us they put up a whole new townhouse complex and they are building lofts/condos on an old cannery brick building. we are less than a mile from the HP arena over near Alameda. there is a whole foods slated to be built in 2007 (early i hope), they already own the property and are just waiting...we think waiting for all of this new housing to be done since it seems most of us in these new places are their audience, whereas alot of the older properties already here will not shop often at a place like whole foods. i am so excited about the WF, it is within walking distance which is huge. a new longs drugs just opened up on another corner within walking distance on the Alameda and 2 blocks up from us more new lofts and condos are being built. now if we could just get rid of the Flamingo Motel..aka read prostitute hangout, it would be so positive! talk about a transitional area.
there is also a petition for a new ballpark near here, from what i have heard, they are trying to bring the oakland A's to san jose if you can believe it...there is so much space over here near us, huge old commercial factories and plants. we drive down by it all the time thinking what will be here in 5 years. why has nothing been built here yet.
i joke around that by the time it's all setup the way we would like it to be, we will be ready to move on. sad but true most likely. though actually i would not want to live that close to a professional ballpark (1 mile or so) even though it will probably raise the property value. at least we feel like our home values are a bit stable in that this area is just getting better, we can walk to downtown and we are right next to the train/light rail station. we have people sending us letters asing us to sell because they want to live in our complex and own an end unit.
in the meantime we are just enjoying watching the changes and knowing we are part of some history we'll probably be telling our kids about 20 years from now. the funny thing is that my dad grew up not too far from us and went to st. leo's and where our townhouses are it used to be an old ice packing plant, well his mom would send him over here to get ice from the machine they had for the public...he says 'it was about right where your house is!!!'. we think that's pretty cool.
there is also a petition for a new ballpark near here, from what i have heard, they are trying to bring the oakland A's to san jose if you can believe it...there is so much space over here near us, huge old commercial factories and plants. we drive down by it all the time thinking what will be here in 5 years. why has nothing been built here yet.
i joke around that by the time it's all setup the way we would like it to be, we will be ready to move on. sad but true most likely. though actually i would not want to live that close to a professional ballpark (1 mile or so) even though it will probably raise the property value. at least we feel like our home values are a bit stable in that this area is just getting better, we can walk to downtown and we are right next to the train/light rail station. we have people sending us letters asing us to sell because they want to live in our complex and own an end unit.
in the meantime we are just enjoying watching the changes and knowing we are part of some history we'll probably be telling our kids about 20 years from now. the funny thing is that my dad grew up not too far from us and went to st. leo's and where our townhouses are it used to be an old ice packing plant, well his mom would send him over here to get ice from the machine they had for the public...he says 'it was about right where your house is!!!'. we think that's pretty cool.
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there was a builder in Elk Grove,Ca about 10 miles from where we live. the builder sold a couple of new $600k homes for $450k.now..how would you feel if you paid 600k for the same home last year? and your neighbor across the street just bought one for 450k .
the housing market around our area has been slow in the last year, but actually top out about 15 months ago.i can feel it at that time b/c the for sale signs was hanging around too long and then reduce sign everywhere,that''s when i knew it was over (top out). it just hit the local newspaper. by the time news hits the papers you know it''s already old news.15 months ago when the market was hot, if the seller was asking $500k,the buyer would offer $20k more than the asking price.today,they can''t even give it away at $450k and the $800k homes, they can''t give those away for $700k.
Mara
Super_Ideal_Rock
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our little complex is interesting...the end units are scarce and hardly go up on the market, one went up last week and already has a sale pending. one went up in dec and it was only on for 2 days...the couple who bought it told us that they had been waiting and watching for months.
who knows if it will continue like this, now would be a good time for us to sell but we''d end up paying something like $200k more for a house if we sold and moved a mile away, so we''re just staying put for now.
who knows if it will continue like this, now would be a good time for us to sell but we''d end up paying something like $200k more for a house if we sold and moved a mile away, so we''re just staying put for now.
lmurden
Ideal_Rock
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Waited2Long
Shiny_Rock
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2 friends of mine (married) sold their home last year and are now renting. They owned for 2 years (waited for the day gains taxes weren''t an issue), made over $200k on the sale, and are now renting. I was in the minority who applauded their decision at the time and it looks like they''ll be able to either buy cheaper, bigger, or both--in addition to taking a few months off work this year for international travels. With 2 cats and tons of stuff, my fiancee and I are staying put. But we won''t mind a good correction to allow us to upgrade our home while keeping the one we have now.
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firebirdgold
Ideal_Rock
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My sister just bought a place in DC, very competitive market. Seemed like the good ones go within a couple of days. She was lucky, a different house in the same neighborhood went on the market and all the buyers flocked around the new house. By the time the other buyers came back, she''d already made an offer and been accepted! very lucky, otherwise it sounds like there could have been a bidding war.
Good luck with your housing quest!
lmurden
Ideal_Rock
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