I see prices are being driven up by investors buying houses 20 or 30 thousand dollars over the fair price of the home. In my area I see prices have gone up like 60K in 2 years and with all the ghost inventory I get the feeling this can't be good. I just looked at a house last week and I see the estimate on every real estate website is like 30K under what the sellers are asking for it. Now if this home sells for that or even higher is just going to drive the price up for all other properties in the area, it's insane!
the us dollar will lose its reserve status in the next year or two and then houses and everything else will be dirt cheap. if you happen to have any other denomination besides us dollars then, you can make a killing on houses.
The prices are going up because buyers are in a war to buy a home. It has NOTHING to do with investors.
We have fewer properties on the market right now in North Texas, so prices are up some say as high as 7% resulting in a good time to sell and not as good for buyers who aren't in a strong negotiating position. All cash rules and 20% or more down comes in second. Not quite what I would call a bubble yet.
As long as an investor can buy a house and rent it for enough to pay the mortgage and upkeep then the market is healthy. In my area that is true. The online value estimators are not accurate at all- they are just for fun. To get a real estimate of value an appraiser or real estate agent would have to walk thru the house and yard- take into account the location and compare it to sales over the last six months that are very similar. In my area we have had a very weak market for several years and this current time seems to be a partial catch up as buyers that have delayed buying are rushing in before prices and interest rates take a jump. As always most buyers are way to late.
Yes many of the sales in my area - a very hot market - is driven by investors / cash buyers and quite a few are Russians and Asians. I now see prices starting to drop and a few expensive homes are in foreclosure --- but the word is late getting out to real estate agents and sellers. Since wages are not going up, buyers will not be able to qualify for many of the increased prices or be cash poor and rental prices are also going up and now I see them starting to sit. Some real estate agents convince buyers - especially those from out of state with money to burn or possibly hide for taxes - that they can't go wrong buying to flip or rent in my area - but my intuition is strong that the bubble is bursting or at least fizzing out slowly. Prices went up too fast too soon - and that's always a bad sign. Better to sell than buy right now unless you find a good deal or plan to own for at least 10 years.
