The current prices in Zillow and Redfin are chasing the market. I've noticed that the 'value" of homes will pop hugely when they go into a listing... a home with a value of $1.6M will suddenly jump tp $2.2M when it gets listed for $2.2M and sells... and the homes in the neighborhood will pop just a little bit, as if the Internet real estate sites are trying to be careful....
I spoke with a local real state broker... he has known my area for 35 years. We rebuilt our home 22 years ago. Complete.
My broker friend said he could get one more million for my house than Redfin... Redfin says $2M... ( it was $1.6M last year). My broker friend, who is selling homes, tells me more than a mil: three and above for the listing... expect to sell well above listing price... WTF? And these are well qualified buyers, most of them are all cash. Not a redo of 2008, that's for sure.
The problem is, what do we do after that? Where do we go?
I keep telling my wife I want to build a second den above the garage... that will be the dedicated stereo room.. with my office in the corner. ;-)
That's because a proper maintenance programme wasn't put in place at the same time as rent controls and a lot of American house building leaves a lot to be desired. I watch an American programme here in France called Renovation Impossible. I cannot believe how bad, how flimsy a lot of US property is. The continuation of using really flimsy small gauge timber and single plasterboard, wooden shingles for the exterior, no wonder they burn down so easily. Aercrete blocks first appeared in 1924 they are fireproof, insect proof (you know all about termites) thermally very efficient and acoustically excellent as well. There is resistance to using them in Europe as well by the vested interests who make and sell dense concrete blocks and the awful red clay blocks. internal walls that are so thin (3") that mean zero privacy.
I saw on the UK TV a house designed by an Australian architect that was certain that one year with climate change there would be huge uncontrollable forest fires - he was right and there was his house undamaged but all around including his garden all turned to ash, I'll bet this was never shown on Australian TV.
I've worked in construction in 3 different EU countries, it would have been 4 but as I wasn't 'enchufargo/connected' I would never have got a single house approved by the 'local school of architects'. I had 4 Spanish people get hold of my phone number because they had heard about how I could build alt/energy houses that wouldn't need air.con. The Arabs knew how to build for the heat, their designs are still valid today. The Brits in Spain used to boast about the cavity construction back home LOL only nec. because all the UK face bricks are as porous as hell and should have been banned decades ago.
If only people would use the net to find out about materials, construction methods, that didn't buy properties built by rivers or on flood plains at ground level. If houses were built that no one bought because they were wised up to just how crap they are, guess what construction would change overnight but as long as chumps make their biggest investment by not using their brains then you will still see people crying their eyes out outside their flooded, burned down homes.
When I was 18 my mother took me and my sister for a week to Paris. They wanted to eye feast on all the smart Parisian clothing boutiques, I didn't so took off on my own around Paris. I had to go up the Eiffel Tower. Somewhere at the top an American heard me speaking English with a German couple. He was with his parents who were immigrants from Sicily, they spoke little English.
In a loud voice he said "you Brits are communists" "really" said I, " that's news to me" "yea" he said "you have a communist health system", I laughed, as did the German couple and some other Europeans nearby who heard this conversation. I said " I've heard that in the USA if you don't have insurance you are left in the street until a mercy ambulance comes along or not and if you don't have insurance then you don't have any right to treatment, I don't know any European country where this would ever happen we would see this as barbaric, not communist" to which all the other Europeans nodded in agreement and looked to this American for a response, he went red in the face and walked away.
There are plenty of diabetics in the USA who cannot afford the price of something basic like insulin which is very cheap to make. The Nasty party have already partly dismantled the NHS and want to privatise it, just like the USA. It will be good to see just what the islanders will stand for. Here in France the nurses and doctors are united in wanting better for the French people but then the French have a track record and the word guillotine is etched in the memory of les tres riches - vamos a ver.
In a loud voice he said "you Brits are communists" "really" said I, " that's news to me" "yea" he said "you have a communist health system", I laughed, as did the German couple and some other Europeans nearby who heard this conversation. I said " I've heard that in the USA if you don't have insurance you are left in the street until a mercy ambulance comes along or not and if you don't have insurance then you don't have any right to treatment, I don't know any European country where this would ever happen we would see this as barbaric, not communist" to which all the other Europeans nodded in agreement and looked to this American for a response, he went red in the face and walked away.
There are plenty of diabetics in the USA who cannot afford the price of something basic like insulin which is very cheap to make. The Nasty party have already partly dismantled the NHS and want to privatise it, just like the USA. It will be good to see just what the islanders will stand for. Here in France the nurses and doctors are united in wanting better for the French people but then the French have a track record and the word guillotine is etched in the memory of les tres riches - vamos a ver.
Now we have "non compos mentis" and the ship is taking on water.
Back to housing prices, one of our factors of production in the little biz we have in Ohio is MDF. Our supplies are essentially "rationed" for the first time since the early 2000's (we used a specialty commercial grade, not the Home Depot stuff). So you have line employees who are working at 75% of capacity and no one is happy, and the foreman isn't happy as he gets a bonus based upon productivity (and other factors).
Wood product companies are increasing capital expenditures, but not to the level commensurate with the new levels of demand. Everyone is looking to the FED.
I must give that the highest order possible - the Order Of The Dog's Bllcks with diamond encrusted testes. ditto the UK/Russia, hell, the whole world. If anyone thinks you can create a successful happy productive society without a profit motive, the kindest thing I can say is that 'you are away with the fairies'. But, there is a world of difference between a healthy well earned profit and greed. When I think of the challenges that my father faced as a boy and as a young man I have nothing but total admiration for the horrendous conditions he faced and how he came out of them as a decent human being and having lived in 4 different European countries it was the same tale. Having American friends it was the same for their fathers as well.
That ordinary hard working people across so much of the world cannot afford to buy a home and if they do are terrified if something happens that means they cannot pay the mortgage - what a terrible state of affairs. I'm glad I'm an old man - what a terrible thing to say in the 21st century.
The thing is the medical expenses are paid by insurance, not in cash by patients in the USA, for them it is just a sign the slip thing.
So unlike gas prices, it does not have the effect paying cash has, they cannot compare prices.
And patent protection means monopolistic prices.
Off patent price drops of 90% have been known to happen.
India has process patents, so different companies can legally make the same medicine with a different process.
Paracetamol (Acetaminophen), is $9 or so for a kilo, and that is good for about 1300 tablets each of 650 mg.
That is the real bulk price, 1300 tablets for 900 cents, about 0.7 CENTS each.
The rest is tablet making, packing, transportation, and huge profits for the monopoly sellers.
This is a bit off topic, but it shows part why the cost of living in the USA is so high.
So unlike gas prices, it does not have the effect paying cash has, they cannot compare prices.
And patent protection means monopolistic prices.
Off patent price drops of 90% have been known to happen.
India has process patents, so different companies can legally make the same medicine with a different process.
Paracetamol (Acetaminophen), is $9 or so for a kilo, and that is good for about 1300 tablets each of 650 mg.
That is the real bulk price, 1300 tablets for 900 cents, about 0.7 CENTS each.
The rest is tablet making, packing, transportation, and huge profits for the monopoly sellers.
This is a bit off topic, but it shows part why the cost of living in the USA is so high.
I would like to point out that there is not universal health insurance in the US. There is a law saying that you are required to buy private health insurance in the marketplace. Big difference. Many people still don't have insurance.
The whole medical system is designed to extract every last bit of wealth from every American before they die, bar none. Those that don't already know this will find out when they or one of their loved ones becomes ill. You put your loved one in a nursing home and it costs around $800/day for them to lie in their own feces and die without dignity. But they won't let your loved one die until every last cent is extracted from them. House gone, retirement savings gone, and the courts will back them up 100%.
The whole medical system is designed to extract every last bit of wealth from every American before they die, bar none. Those that don't already know this will find out when they or one of their loved ones becomes ill. You put your loved one in a nursing home and it costs around $800/day for them to lie in their own feces and die without dignity. But they won't let your loved one die until every last cent is extracted from them. House gone, retirement savings gone, and the courts will back them up 100%.
I feel quite sorry for young people. It must be very difficult to get on the property ladder.
But the market was screwed in the seventies. Previously, any man who was married and wanted a mortgage, could only borrow up to three and a half times his salary. Even if they had no kids and the wife worked, the building societies wouldn't take her earnings into consideration.
That all changed and so the market took off.
We bought our house in 1972, when only my earnings were taken into consideration for a mortgage.
Inflation, should only make it worth now, about ten times what we paid for it.
It's actually now worth fifty-seven times that amount.
But the market was screwed in the seventies. Previously, any man who was married and wanted a mortgage, could only borrow up to three and a half times his salary. Even if they had no kids and the wife worked, the building societies wouldn't take her earnings into consideration.
That all changed and so the market took off.
We bought our house in 1972, when only my earnings were taken into consideration for a mortgage.
Inflation, should only make it worth now, about ten times what we paid for it.
It's actually now worth fifty-seven times that amount.
Look, there is NO better way of building.... you build for your environment.
Here in SoCal our homes are built with stucco on wood. We laugh at a 7.0, will only see some cracks on the stucco at a 7.5... and we stand a great chance of doing just fine up through an 8.5. Likely we'll do OK with some cracked windows through a 9.0.
Now you guys over in Europe... God Help You if you get a 5.5.... all of your "stoutly built" homes you are so proud of don't stand a chance of surviving a 6.5.
So, before you think so highly of yourself. remember: "People in glass houses shouldn't throw the first brick".
Same thing with homes built in the Midwest and in all over the West. My mother's home was built over 100 years ago... in the Puget Sound area. Originally it was a small house built with wood on a crawl space. The floor joists on that little house are trees! At the time, they were living in huge forests... so they used whole trees to frame their floors. Laugh all you want, but timber framing is very strong.
Or homes in Florida, the Gulf, Hawai'i... Alaska ( where they worry about the frozen tundra under the house )... home are built with materials and techniques to match the place.
Now, my recommendation, if you want to look at home building in the US, is to watch This Old House. They don't cut corners, and being in the NE, their construction techniques ( cold, wet, hot, humid ) match Europe's weather very well. Don't judge home building standards in the US by a show based on flippers.
And remember, our geology and weather are very different from yours.
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Not talking Politics which are not to be discussed in this Forum, but comparing Health issues and services.
Here in Argentina we have 3 health Systems, working in parallel: Public, Private and Union run.
Last Friday my 7 y.o. granddaughter had to be pulled from School because of "bellyache".
Since kids routinely over-stuff themselves with junk food (are you listening Mc D?), candy, cake, Pringles, Oreo, ice cream, nachos and similar stuff, no surprise.
But by Sunday it had grown serious, so my Daughter took her to her Union Hospital .... let´s call it Hospital 1
"come tomorrow and see a GP, who will refer her to a Specialist, who will decide what to do"
"but she´s bending with pain"
"sorry, Rules"
so she took her to one of our City (municipal, free) Children Hospitals: let´s call it Hospital 2
"she clearly has appendicitis, sorry Mother but at the moment our Operating Rooms are saturated, you´d have to wait 6 hours, but let me ring other Children Hospitals" (we have many)
"ok, go to this one, they are waiting for you" and sent them on an ambulance, a 30 minutes ride through crowded streets.
On the 3rd Hospital they were waiting for her, made a quick Ultrasound/Echo scan to confirm infection and less than 1 hour after arrival she was operated. Period. No ifs or buts.
Very high quality staff, treated her (and my Daughter) like a Princess, besides "technical" skills they were also kind and comforting, today she´s back at home.
EVERYTHING including operation itself, stay and food for both of them, all medicines, medical studies, etc. absolutely FREE, ZERO $ involved.
The first two hospitals failed the Hippocratic Oath test.
Hope she is doing OK, my wife's brother died from the infection of a burst appendix.
Here they keep referring you to one specialist after another. I'm currently seeing 3 doctors: a general practicioner, a gastroenterologist, and a cardiac specialist. Plus I've been meeting with a GI surgeon and a registered dietician.
When I was about 4 or 5 I fell and broke my wrist. My parents took me to the pediatrician's office, less than two miles from home. He examined me, xrayed my wrist, set the break, and put a cast on it. All this happened at his office, which was separated from any hospital. Nowadays it would be a Big Deal and I would have been shuttled between the doctor and the hospital's myriad of departments. I don't know what my dad paid but I bet it was only a couple hundred bucks. Today it would probably cost more than $10,000.
Many years ago I had outpatient surgery. I was at the hospital less than ten hours and the bill was $106,000. That was 20 years ago!
Extract that wealth. Trickle down is BS. It's really trickle up.
When I was about 4 or 5 I fell and broke my wrist. My parents took me to the pediatrician's office, less than two miles from home. He examined me, xrayed my wrist, set the break, and put a cast on it. All this happened at his office, which was separated from any hospital. Nowadays it would be a Big Deal and I would have been shuttled between the doctor and the hospital's myriad of departments. I don't know what my dad paid but I bet it was only a couple hundred bucks. Today it would probably cost more than $10,000.
Many years ago I had outpatient surgery. I was at the hospital less than ten hours and the bill was $106,000. That was 20 years ago!
Extract that wealth. Trickle down is BS. It's really trickle up.
Another giveaway is that when hospitals close here it's always, always, always in a poor neighborhood that's already underserved. But you should see the hospitals in my neighborhood! Gleaming marble edifices is what we have here for hospitals. No skimping here. But if you get shot in Englewood Chicago (happens dozens of times a day there) there isn't even a hospital in the city limits to serve you! You have to travel two communities away to Christ Hospital way west on 95th Street in Oak Lawn.
This just minutes ago from the Wall St. Journal:
Rapidly rising mortgage rates and record home prices are cooling the U.S. housing market, as April sales dropped for the third straight month and fell to their weakest pace in nearly two years.
Existing-home sales slipped 2.4% in April from the prior month, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. Last month’s sales fell 5.9% from a year earlier.
The figures are the latest sign that the frenzied market that took off in mid-2020 is losing much of its steam. Record-low mortgage-interest rates and home buyers’ desire for more space during the Covid-19 pandemic unleashed a sales boom that pushed prices to new highs. In some markets, hot listings drew hundreds of people who waited in lines that curled around the block.
The housing market still looks relatively hot by historic standards, and home-price growth remains robust. Prices rose 14.8% in April from a year earlier to $391,200, a record high in data going back to 1999, NAR said.
Rapidly rising mortgage rates and record home prices are cooling the U.S. housing market, as April sales dropped for the third straight month and fell to their weakest pace in nearly two years.
Existing-home sales slipped 2.4% in April from the prior month, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. Last month’s sales fell 5.9% from a year earlier.
The figures are the latest sign that the frenzied market that took off in mid-2020 is losing much of its steam. Record-low mortgage-interest rates and home buyers’ desire for more space during the Covid-19 pandemic unleashed a sales boom that pushed prices to new highs. In some markets, hot listings drew hundreds of people who waited in lines that curled around the block.
The housing market still looks relatively hot by historic standards, and home-price growth remains robust. Prices rose 14.8% in April from a year earlier to $391,200, a record high in data going back to 1999, NAR said.
Well.. when I had my appendicitis I had gone to my doctor who told me to go to the ER at a near hospital where his buddy was waiting for me.
I walked in, the doctor walked out with a wheel chair and took me in (*), checked me out and I was in the operating room within 15 minutes. My wife gave them our insurance card.
Years later, when my wife had appendicitis, in the middle of the night... I took her to the ER in our local hospital, she was accepted within 5 minutes and diagnosed within 30 minutes. They operated a few hours later with those new techniques that only require two small cuts. I took care of the insurance paperwork.
Pretty much, not to get political, but insurance is available for all. You just have to work at signing up for it. Anyone who complains that they have no insurance is just lying, they are just being lazy about it.
(*) The nurse kept complaining: "Doctor you can't do this"... the good doctor replied: "What? you've never seen a doctor wheel in a patient?". I was in pain but couldn't help laugh... which made me hurt more.
I couldn't agree more Tony. I'll just add that the reason you see one house falling apart right next door to another standing tall, both using basically the same materials and methods, is due to poor workmanship in the first place. That and a lack of maintenance.
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I was in a situation for some years where I went multiple times for "affordable" insurance and was offered insurance that was completely unaffordable, like 80% of my gross income. When I got real sick and ended up in the ER the bursar helped me rearrange my finances to get coverage. Funny they wouldn't do that until I was on death's door.
It didn't help that I was worth over $2 million "on paper." A class action lawsuit was finally settled (a couple years ago) after over ten years and that $2.5 million was really only $8K. That was all a consequence of 2008 when I got hammered along with the rest of the middle class.
It didn't help that I was worth over $2 million "on paper." A class action lawsuit was finally settled (a couple years ago) after over ten years and that $2.5 million was really only $8K. That was all a consequence of 2008 when I got hammered along with the rest of the middle class.
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Just the attitude I try to keep threads open.