# Real estate prices in the NW are more than ridiculous



## BadOregon (12 mo ago)

I've been looking for a place for a while now. Found one that I thought was just right.
Made an offer (over asking price, I might add) and was below the other 8 offers.
The winning offer was $60,000 over asking price! 
This has got to stop sometime. Absolutely insane.


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## Max Overhead (Feb 22, 2021)

This is happening all over the country. Interesting you post this, I just saw this topic discussed earlier today:
This Is a Housing Crisis

Speculators and investment firms colluding with city governments for maximum profits at the price of putting people on the streets. That's my take, anyhow. A "depressed" town is an affordable one. A town undergoing "urban renewal" is one you won't long be able to afford without lots and lots of scratch.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

I don't see the Canadian company who purchased a house from me in Austin colluding with the Austin city council or Travis county government. They bulldozed the newly remodeled house and are building two houses on the lot. 

Entry level folks can't even afford an efficiency apartment in Austin now. 

I have a 79 year old friend who had to find a new place to live. It was a challenge.


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## BadOregon (12 mo ago)

This was out of our area, but I live in a podunk city that has nothing to offer jobwise (defunct timber town with empty storefronts everywhere) and we have houses selling in the 1/2 million and up prices. I know of 4 right now that are in the $750,000 range and all are pending. Don't know about the rest of you, but I don't consider that reasonable or affordable. 
Never in my life did I ever think I would be living in a half million dollar house.


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## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

We are seeing homes being bought just for air b&bs short stay nightly rental. Out of state buyers. Listing per night are $180 to $300 . nothing here but woods. Really pissing off neighbors with people coming and going all hours. Bringing strange dogs for walks on neighbors woods fields. Walking on the back roads that are heavily used by cars trucks. People walking in the middle of the almost wide enough for 2 cars to pass roads. Kids walking in to fields with bulls. Ya ya you should buy the place if you dont want neighbors but short vacation stays are way different. But man $300 a night sounds real good. 
.


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## Max Overhead (Feb 22, 2021)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> I don't see the Canadian company who purchased a house from me in Austin colluding with the Austin city council or Travis county government. They bulldozed the newly remodeled house and are building two houses on the lot.
> 
> Entry level folks can't even afford an efficiency apartment in Austin now.
> 
> I have a 79 year old friend who had to find a new place to live. It was a challenge.


Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it isn't possibly there Certainly two houses on the same lot can bring in more property taxes than one. The motive is there. Places like Austin are cannibalizing themselves, imo, and there will come a time when they become ghost towns, because all of the service workers were priced out of the town.


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## Big_Al (Dec 21, 2011)

BadOregon said:


> I've been looking for a place for a while now. Found one that I thought was just right.
> Made an offer (over asking price, I might add) and was below the other 8 offers.
> The winning offer was $60,000 over asking price!
> This has got to stop sometime. Absolutely insane.


Oh, it will stop sometime.
When the economy collapses into recession.
It will probably start even before that when the Fed raises the interest rates and mortgage lending slows WAY down.

I just read today that Florida (where we live) is the most expensive state to live in.
The median rental rate in Miami/Dade county is $2,900 per month!!


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## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

Max Overhead said:


> Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it isn't possibly there Certainly two houses on the same lot can bring in more property taxes than one. The motive is there. Places like Austin are cannibalizing themselves, imo, and there will come a time when they become ghost towns, because all of the service workers were priced out of the town.


Didn't musk just buy land for a new battery plant. Workers will need apartments


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## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

Be patient. Interest rates are going up. Housing prices will go down as fewer people will be able to afford the payments. This has happened before.


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## doc- (Jun 26, 2015)

The Law of Supply & Demand is a self regulating system-- As prices rise, demand goes down. As demand goes down, Prices go down. As prices go down, demand goes up etc etc

The sytem gets fouled up when an artifical manipulation of supply or demand is instituted-- like ridiculously low interest rates or excessive input of money (money printing & "stimulus programs") alters the demand side.

That's what led to the RE collapse in 2008-- high demand cuased by a de facto give-away program shot prices too high and then re-payment was made impossible when they didn't supply enough extra money.

Brace yourselves. We're at that point again.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

I can't speak for the NW, but out of state buyers from states like California, New York, etc can sell a pinch of a lot with a tract house on it, and have enough cash to go into the Southeast or Midwest and grab large parcels of land with a nice home for a lot less money. This prices the locals out of the market, causes property taxes to rise and yes, probably makes for a little resentment.


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## BadOregon (12 mo ago)

That is what has happened here in Oregon. Between not affording a place to live and the politics here, I have been planning a move for the last couple of years.
Unfortunately, even if prices come down, I don't think they are going to go back to "pre-pandemic" levels. Gone are the
days of picking up a fixer-upper for under $100,000. Even 3 years ago I could have had half a dozen for less than that.


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## Reloader (Nov 15, 2020)

Was very fortunate to recently get 40 acres adjacent to our home for a good price. 
Not much available land in the area and even in a depressed little community prices are high. 
The hub town in the county has turned away from living wage jobs to tourism and homelessness is on the rise as a result.


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## Rodeo's Bud (Apr 10, 2020)

Some of my best customers are from California. They gladly pay my bills and keep a roof over my head. I can't complain about it as they are a big part of my business model. And despite what the cliche might tell you, they have all been great people and fun to work with.

It does affect the housing market though. They have cash, locals don't. Most are semi retired, most middle aged locals are both working more than full time just to keep afloat.

Here they seem to have decided that massive low income housing is the answer. So working class folks are priced out at both ends. All the while working to pay for the low income housing for others and not making enough to buy a house.


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## Montanarchist (Feb 24, 2005)

I got taxed out in Durango Colorado. My property, I had bought for 120K six years before, I sold for over 300. I took the profit got out of debt and found a nice place in Montana. It's happening here now, there's some proposed legislation that will cap residential property tax increases to 1%/year which if passed will help. If not, I'll take these profits and go find another empty place... The UP, South America, a seastead, Mars?


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## BadOregon (12 mo ago)

Rodeo's Bud, glad it has worked out for you. Unfortunately, my experiences with people who move in from "other"
places has not been so great. They all seem to want to turn it into a new version of wherever they are from.
What I don't understand, is if they liked it so much, why didn't they stay there!? 
My husband has a lot of them as clients, and yes, they do pay and keep a roof over our heads. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep that roof as prices skyrocket (and property taxes) because of all the outside money moving in. A lot of them are really clueless as to what is a reasonable price is for a home because of the prices where they came from are ridiculous. Which means they pay WAY more than they should and more than the locals can afford.
Ok to work for/with them but I dang sure don't like living next to the one who moved in next door. He is an %&$%.


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## JRHill02 (Jun 20, 2020)

BadOregon said:


> That is what has happened here in Oregon. Between not affording a place to live and the politics here, I have been planning a move for the last couple of years.


There is a reason that the eastern counties in Oregon are trying to join Utah. Seriously, its a big thing. Those counties have very little for population but the income taxes are wild. While there is no sales tax, yet, it keeps getting discussed. And as has been mentioned in other posts the property values are climbing at crazy rates, driving long time rural folk out. But that's not just an OR problem.


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## BadOregon (12 mo ago)

They are trying to join Idaho. And how will that help them when Idaho has an income tax AND a sales tax? I was raised there, it is no better than here. Both states currently suck just in different ways. 
Unfortunately, I have been looking (hard) but so far haven't found anywhere better for affordability since I already have a place here. Which I can't afford to replace for triple its cost anywhere. So, for now, I am temporarily stuck.


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## JRHill02 (Jun 20, 2020)

BadOregon said:


> They are trying to join Idaho.


Oops. Yes, my error.

And so it goes - there are positives and negatives all over. But some places are beneficial depending on individual preferences and situations. As for our time in central OR we left in haste when the opportunity presented itself.


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## BadOregon (12 mo ago)

I'm still waiting for that opportunity. Not very patiently, I might add.


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## JRHill02 (Jun 20, 2020)

the only hope is to get beyond commuting distance. and that has its own built n problems.


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## Rollo Duitscher (7 mo ago)

It seems to me that because of the situation in the world, even air prices will soon start to rise, lol. Now the price of absolutely all goods and real estate has increased, many realtors who trade on the principle of brrrr real estate cannot carry out transactions due to the fact that buyers do not want to buy too expensive real estate. The problem is that the state does not want to do anything about it and does not help realtors in any way to reduce the key rates for buying real estate for ordinary people, because of this the market and buyers suffer. Many economists say that this problem will not be solved soon, but someone says that it remains to wait just a little bit. The main thing now is not to worry a lot and wait.


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## doc- (Jun 26, 2015)

Rollo Duitscher said:


> It seems to me that because of the situation in the world, even air prices will soon start to rise, lol


Welcome, Rollo!

Air prices have already started to rise. Cf- cost of "carbon credits" added to everything we buy.


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## Robert_Actual (8 mo ago)

BadOregon said:


> I've been looking for a place for a while now. Found one that I thought was just right.
> Made an offer (over asking price, I might add) and was below the other 8 offers.
> The winning offer was $60,000 over asking price!
> This has got to stop sometime. Absolutely insane.


There are 2nd and 3rd order effects of this as well. We listed our last house in the Puget Sound area for $950k and we accepted an offer for $1,010,000 - or $60k over asking. It only appraised for $955k and the buyers were fine with it and paid. Fast forward 6 months and others in our old neighborhood are using our comp to drive their house sale. So although we sold our for $60k over asking - asking is now $60k more as a result of us. 

I'm not sure I explained this correct, point I'm getting at is that this is synergistic and gets worse each time.


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