Real estate has always been a hobby of mine (I am not a realtor) and I was curious if members around the country, that follow it as well,
would give a brief and "uneducated" market condition of their local market.

Nashville is definitely slowed but prices are holding up - however I do not think that will last. Surrounding bedroom communities are not doing as well - but nothing like Vegas or S. Florida. The downtown condo boom has really slowed. Mcmansions in the new suburbs/golf developments are not pretty. The worst hit are in surrounding communities where there are developments, built up, but still with many lots to sell. My gut feeling is that the worst is yet to come and unfortunately, Nashville is one of the bankruptcy capitals of the country. Though I don't know why - I welcome anyone with a different opinion of this area.

next....

 

I'm not serious follower of it here in Los Angeles, yet it seems like people are losing their as*es out here. They all overpaid and can't hang with a $2,000 - $4,000 a month mortgage. I see a lot of property in the high desert area going for half of the asking price as of last year. If you can hold onto your money for awhile this place is gonna drop out. I would go on craig's list LA and take a look at the prices for housing, then take that price and cut it in half. And that's probably where it's all gonna end up, at least 30-40% off.

 

When the wave really started rising back in '99 - '00 and then continued strong for so long, I think some folks thought it would never end. Silly them.

Example: our old neighborhood in Orange, CA - we moved in back in late 2000 and homes were selling in the $240,000 range, give or take. The neighborhood dated to 1964 and most of the homes were around 1,700 square feet (again, give or take) on small lots. Several original owners, now retired and the homes paid for, still live there. When we moved out in late 2006 these homes were selling for $700,00 or more, but they were beginning to take much longer to sell. In mid 2005 our neighbors across the street sold their place (with an exceptionally tiny back yard, by the way) for $695,000 in just 3 days!!!

So folks who bought in 2000 or sooner made a killing in as little as 5-6 years, but those who bought in 2006 are likely to face ARM increases in a couple of years and with prices dropping, albeit slowly, will have no equity at all in their homes. I wouldn't be surprised if many of these people were sub-prime borrows too, given the state of their vehicles, clothing, etc. (Not trying to make a judgment call here, but when the majority of the residents are driving fairly new, decent cars and the new people moving in rarely have anything newer than a clapped out mid 90's econobox...well, you get the point).

 

Well I follow it closely. I'm in the insurance business and we pretty much follow the sales trend around here and we have been off since mid 2005. Montgomery County Maryland is one of the most well to do counties in the country and was one of the last to see home values drop. Properties when I bought my home in 2002 were on the market for no longer than 30 days, now it can be 6 months to a year. I paid 285k for my home in November of '02. It appraised for 505k last year and now, pretty much the same house is going for 450k to 475k. Our market is heavily influenced in election years, there's a pretty decent turnover when things change with the fed. gov. so we expect this market to pick up again late next year. There is a military installation relocating as well so that will be an added kick. Our business which is heavy on the homeowner side of things has been half what we were doing a month in 2004. Pretty scary right now.

Pat

 

- Things may be worse here than I thought. I ran into a banker pal with a very large bank who said they were not making any new loans but just refinances - meaning no one was buying a new/existing home...said he had never seen anything like it and that they were expecting it to last at least til next summer. Ouch!

 

I don't think there will be any new house buyers until the Gen Xers begin making a decent income, and that will be a long time. I will give them about another 8-10 years before they can get their stuff together to even think about buying housing for their families.
So in the mean time prices will drop like a friggin brick, 40%-50% off on all housing all over the country.

 

**** up baby! Like that schmuck Donald Trump says, "The money is made in the bad times not the good times!"

Central California Housing Crash:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVFBojFJTZM

Florida Housing Crash 50% Off:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10WoQZKZkNs

Miami, Florida Housing Crash 50% Off:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkuW8bCjC6c

Housing Meltdown:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4SHn-5d8IY

Mortgage Meltdown:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-rEs_FofB4

US Mortgage Mess Goes Global:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzuVG0xlq_A

Global Market Meltdown:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oajsYswDPQo

How Millions of Americans Will Lose Their Homes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biP2JOf5euo

Bill Moyers Housing Market Meltdown (from June):
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q9dC7FQJ1U
Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZggRyJlD8X4

 

Here, the crash of the subprime lending in the US is tending to push up our interest rates, but our real estate prices are still climbing. We are paying 8.30% for housing loans ATM.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/busine...941321711.html

 

Michigan is now ghetto everywhere - apparently, you can't give houses away.
In North Carolina, where I am, it's pretty stagnant, prices aren't going up much, but at least they're not dropping.

 

Prices here in Asheville, NC are still on the rise, but a bit slower than last year.
According to realtors in the area, sales are down 40-50%.
This is likely due to people stuck w/Florida properties.