So what's with house prices in the US ? | FerrariChat

So what's with house prices in the US ?

Discussion in 'Other Off Topic Forum' started by samba-lee, Oct 5, 2008.

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  1. samba-lee

    samba-lee Formula Junior

    Aug 28, 2006
    677
    Manchester, UK
    Full Name:
    Lee Griffiths
    So I'm looking on:

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/

    at prices in the NE of the USA. How can these properties be so cheap relative to car prices ?

    Just wonderding before I buy a house for less than my GT4 ;)

    Lee (in the UK)

    77 GT4
     
  2. Gilles27

    Gilles27 F1 World Champ

    Mar 16, 2002
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    Jack
    Well, it's no secret what has been happening to home prices. But if you'd like to spend more, I've got a place in Chicago I'd be happy to sell to you!
     
  3. SrfCity

    SrfCity F1 World Champ

    Couldn't see what you're talking about but I'm sure they're in Detroit or there abouts. Many of these homes are in severely distressed areas that will probably never come back. IOW they are so cheap for a reason.
     
  4. Darolls

    Darolls F1 Veteran
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    Jul 2, 2003
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    Sparky
    WOW, some of you guys must live in a vacuum. Aren't you up on current events?

    I've got a house to sell, and it's not going to be at a rock bottom price. Anyone interested?
     
  5. samba-lee

    samba-lee Formula Junior

    Aug 28, 2006
    677
    Manchester, UK
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    Lee Griffiths
    I know what you are saying about living in run down areas, but we have equally rough areas and just about the cheapest you will get a house via a normal (non auction) sale would be around $90,000. Alternatively where we live you'll be paying $250,00 for a 1 bedroom flat/apartment! The places I was finding on the rightmove site in the US were in Rochester, Monroe County, New York - no idea what the place is like. Take a look at "overseas properties", choose the USA and click the NE region. Just do a blank search and you should see a listing starting at the cheapest.

    Lee

    '77 GT4
     
  6. samba-lee

    samba-lee Formula Junior

    Aug 28, 2006
    677
    Manchester, UK
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    Lee Griffiths
    I think the point is that surely overseas buyers will start buying up this property, because distressed area or not, it's a house in the USA and it seems for the price of a new SUV in europe you can buy a couple of houses. Why not buy a street then ? I've seen that over here when old terraced houses in a poor urban area were going for £10,000. Landlords were buying rows of houses - I bought one too (a house not a row) and now the area has priced the local (problem) people out and the area is on the up.

    I know that the current problems with the economy are driving this uncertainty in the US, but I'm sure it won't be long before overseas buyers start buying lots of houses, and there are lots of overseas buyers. The far east has a booming economy and they need to spend their money on something.

    Lee
     
  7. SRT Mike

    SRT Mike Two Time F1 World Champ

    Oct 31, 2003
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    Many of the homes have problems and are uninhabitable. Furthermore, many of them have money that must be paid (to the city, for example) after they are purchased. Just be wary... usually there is no free lunch, and you still have to pay insurance and property taxes every year on the amount the home is valued at.
     
  8. Gilles27

    Gilles27 F1 World Champ

    Mar 16, 2002
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    Like Mike implied, if it looks too good to be true, it is. Property that's in a good location will still command a decent price. In our area, condos start in the low $300K range (1-2 bedrooms), townhomes are $400-$800K and single family homes into the millions. Typically east coast prices are higher than ours, so if you're looking at cheap property, you'll most likely get more than you bargained for.
     
  9. TexasF355F1

    TexasF355F1 Six Time F1 World Champ
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    #9 TexasF355F1, Oct 6, 2008
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2008
    But at the same time, if you're lucky of course, you can still come out ahead buying *some* foreclosed homes.

    As long as they weren't former meth factories, even if some rehab is required on top of the taxes/insurance/etc, they're worth looking into for serious buyers. Especially for flippers.
     
  10. Oceanic815

    Oceanic815 Formula 3

    Apr 30, 2008
    2,071
    Central Oregon
    My understanding, according to the Today Show and FoxNews is the housing market in the US is to bottom out sometime next summer.

    Houses in Central Oregon (a very inflated market) have dropped 35% in the past 2 years... $250k houses are now around $160k, and 9/10 of the houses on the market are short sales, and the other 10% are bank owned. Its a great time to pick up a house or three, but banks just aren't doing indiscriminate lending like they used to.
     
  11. Jdubbya

    Jdubbya The $10 Trillion Man
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    #11 Jdubbya, Oct 6, 2008
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2008
    That area has been economically depressed for a long time. Old manufacturing/industrial base that is pretty much gone. They are trying to do different things to get some kind of economy back but it doesn't seem to have done much.

    Take an area that's been that depressed for so long, add the recent national problems, and you get houses that cost less than the cars parked in the driveway. I'm sure some of those that are so cheap are in neighborhoods you wouldn't send your worst enemy to live in though.

    I'm from that area and still have family there. I remember not too many years back, one of them selling a beautiful house, in a great neighborhood, for what most would consider pennies on the dollar. If that house were just about anywhere else the price would have been at least triple, if not more.

    Edit: Don't forget to check the property taxes too!!
     
  12. TexasF355F1

    TexasF355F1 Six Time F1 World Champ
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    And hopefully it'll stay that way.
     
  13. Ferrari Boy

    Ferrari Boy Formula 3

    Oct 25, 2003
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    David Couch
    I remember seeing in kansas this house and lot being sold for $2,000. My laptop was more expensive than that. Granted there wasn't a great house on that lot, and it was in a population 10 town lol, but still. crazy stuff.
     
  14. Horsefly

    Horsefly F1 Veteran

    May 14, 2002
    6,929
    I saw a story on ABC a few years ago where they were selling an entire grade school in a small town in South Dakota. The old school was built nearly 100 years ago but was in very good shape. Problem was, the entire population had simply moved away during the past 30 or 40 years and there were no families or kids left to go to school. It was as if the entire population of the town and surrounding area had simply vanished. Only a few people left at a crossroads gas station.

    I think there will be large areas of the country that will simply become ghost towns or ghost areas where there is no future and no people.
     

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