How's your housing market? (3 Viewers)

[Captain Cranks]

I’m Tampa adjacent and went from purchasing at 166 a sq foot 3 years ago to a neighbor selling for 320 a few days ago. I get it, but also don’t understand how it can go that much higher here before our home values turn into San Diego. 

What do you mean by "turn into San Diego"?

 

[dkp993]

I’m Tampa adjacent and went from purchasing at 166 a sq foot 3 years ago to a neighbor selling for 320 a few days ago. I get it, but also don’t understand how it can go that much higher here before our home values turn into San Diego. 

Imagine living in SD!! Oh wait I do.  

 

[dkp993]

What do you mean by "turn into San Diego"?

I’m pretty sure he means the best city in the country. 

 

[Capella]

I’m pretty sure he means the best city in the country. 

Freaking gorgeous place. But seems to be unaffordable to most people who want to live there. 

 

[Captain Cranks]

Freaking gorgeous place. But seems to be unaffordable to most people who want to live there. 

Gotcha. My sister just moved to Tampa last year and has quickly been priced out of the market even though they have a six figure income (4 kids). People are being forced to move further and further from downtown. Lakeland is just as competitive as Tampa too. 

 

[The Z Machine]

I just hope that the middle class wealth created form this inflation in real estate values raises all boats, but I fear that only a subset of the population will benefit.  

Here in BMore City, prices have seen moderate rises in the last few years, but nothing like other places.  Still the most affordable east coast city and still has major challenges in the urban core.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

I just hope that the middle class wealth created form this inflation in real estate values raises all boats, but I fear that only a subset of the population will benefit.  

Here in BMore City, prices have seen moderate rises in the last few years, but nothing like other places.  Still the most affordable east coast city and still has major challenges in the urban core.

I’m with you in that- I feel awful for young families who dont already have a house. The only options are to buy in bad neighborhoods with bad schools or rent.

My mom is getting ready to sell my grandfathers house for about $300k.

This is the house grew up in - Forrestville/District Heights, MD. It hasn’t been a good neighborhood since the 60s and it’s worse now then when I lived there in the late 70s to mid 80s. 

If you send your kids public school there the chances of them not ending up dead or in jail are horrifically low. 

 

[GoBirds]

I just hope that the middle class wealth created form this inflation in real estate values raises all boats, but I fear that only a subset of the population will benefit.  

Here in BMore City, prices have seen moderate rises in the last few years, but nothing like other places.  Still the most affordable east coast city and still has major challenges in the urban core.

Unfortunately I think you are right in the bolded and and this will do to the gap for non homeowners is very sad as they are missing out on that appreciation while getting crushed with rent raises. Tough times for non owners for sure. 

 

[The Z Machine]

If you send your kids public school there the chances of them not ending up dead or in jail are horrifically low. 

Don't know if you're trying to bait me here, but my kids are in BMore public schools and there are many kids in my neighborhood that attend public schools, and I highly doubt your statement. 

These are kids from K though high school. 

Are these schools "good"? No. They have their challenges just like the city of Baltimore.  Will there be kids that go to school with my kids that will end up in bad circumstances and make terrible decisions? Yes, that's undoubtedly true.

But life isn't all about sheltering kids from reality. My kids will be fine.  They have two well educated, loving parents at home that support them.  That is much more important than the average test scores of their classmates. 

 

[dkp993]

They have two well educated, loving parents at home that support them.  That is much more important than the average test scores of their classmates. 

Truth. Engaged loving parents is the single most important thing in a kids lives.  

 

[eoMMan]

Went to a dinner party tonight at a friend’s house here in SW FL.  According to Zillow, they bought it for about $380k in 2018 and it’s now worth $760k. Yup, pretty much doubled in 4 years. 

The market here is getting so bonkers that the employment situation is just going to get worst for so many people due to not being able to afford any sort of housing. Rents along with housing prices are increasing dramatically. Think about an entry level professional making  $35k/$40k and having to pay $1400 for a 1 BR apartment. It just doesn’t make much sense. Topic for another thread I guess.

 

[eoMMan]

Went to a dinner party tonight at a friend’s house here in SW FL.  According to Zillow, they bought it for about $380k in 2018 and it’s now worth $760k. Yup, pretty much doubled in 4 years. 

The market here is getting so bonkers that the employment situation is just going to get worst for so many people due to not being able to afford any sort of housing. Rents along with housing prices are increasing dramatically. Think about an entry level professional making  $35k/$40k and having to pay $1400 for a 1 BR apartment. It just doesn’t make much sense. Topic for another thread I guess.

Adding link…

What $2k in rent gets you in Naples, FL

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

Don't know if you're trying to bait me here, but my kids are in BMore public schools and there are many kids in my neighborhood that attend public schools, and I highly doubt your statement. 

These are kids from K though high school. 

Are these schools "good"? No. They have their challenges just like the city of Baltimore.  Will there be kids that go to school with my kids that will end up in bad circumstances and make terrible decisions? Yes, that's undoubtedly true.

But life isn't all about sheltering kids from reality. My kids will be fine.  They have two well educated, loving parents at home that support them.  That is much more important than the average test scores of their classmates. 

Yeah I don't know what you’re talking about. I explained my situation growing up in my hood. 

Since you brought it up-

Is parenting more important than the environment, yes. My momma raised me well. That doesn’t mean I didn’t grow up with the dude who brought ALL the coke to the DMV. And I mean ALL of it. That doesn’t mean I didn’t rob, steal and much worse that I can’t talk about. I was “smart” and VERY lucky. Many of my friend are dead or serving long sentences. My best friend growing up and I spent almost every moment together growing up. He’s been arrested a dozen times and I’ve never been arrested once. Been in the back of a squad car and ####ed up by 5o but never caught. 

I recommend you don’t put your kids through that gauntlet. It isn’t “sheltering” your kids to put them in a good situation to survive. 

You do NOT want your children to go through what I went through. If you willingly put them through my environment god help you. 
 

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

Truth. Engaged loving parents is the single most important thing in a kids lives.  

This is true. It’s the single most important matter but it’s far from the only thing. Your job as a parent is to put your kid in the best position you can to succeed. You wanna send your kids to a ####ty school, go for it. That’s not a gamble I’m taking. I dont take any chances with my kids. 

We’re all in the wrong thread for this so this will be my last post on the matter.

 

 

[flapgreen]

This is true. It’s the single most important matter but it’s far from the only thing. Your job as a parent is to put your kid in the best position you can to succeed. You wanna send your kids to a ####ty school, go for it. That’s not a gamble I’m taking. I dont take any chances with my kids. 

We’re all in the wrong thread for this so this will be my last post on the matter.

 

Preach! 

 

[gump]

18 hours ago, eoMMan said:

Tampa here and work with a lot of young, talented pros who start in that range or slightly higher…some are having to move to smaller places or lesser ‘hoods to afford rent, and a few are working another job…Leadership is now really concerned about losing people, even in a specialized industry.

 

[Battersbox]

Not sure what your property taxes are, but in this part of the Bay Area, they are among the highest in California. And yet property values keep going up, up, up. 

$1,000/sf was the talk two years ago in just a few East Bay communities. Now it's trending toward becoming the baseline for much of it.  

It's all supply and demand. And the wealth around here is insane. And another thing. As the administration of some of our cities suffers - looking at you Oakland and San Francisco - the people with $ and children are looking for better alternatives, well-run school districts, etc. Those are the bedroom communities where supply ain't changing any time soon, further pushing prices up. Nice but not exceptional homes sell for $1 million over asking. 

Where I live, a $500k home will run you about $18k/year in property taxes. That's a higher rate than almost every county in the country.

You're absolutely right that supply and demand is the name of the game. Demand suffers here because of the property tax burden. The economy is fine locally relative to the rest of the country, but the high tax burden keeps a lid on demand. The Bay area has silicon valley and other hubs of industry which has (so far) been able to outweigh the high tax burden.

We have recently seen a bit of appreciation in home values in my area, but liquidity has fallen at the same time. There are so few transactions it's hard to know what's real. People can't sell because there is no where to go, and people don't buy because of the aforementioned tax rates.

 

[massraider]

Lakeland is just as competitive as Tampa too. 

Whoa, Lakeland must've gotten a lot cooler since I was there 20 years ago.

 

[SoBeDad]

Where I live, a $500k home will run you about $18k/year in property taxes. That's a higher rate than almost every county in the country.

You're absolutely right that supply and demand is the name of the game. Demand suffers here because of the property tax burden. The economy is fine locally relative to the rest of the country, but the high tax burden keeps a lid on demand. The Bay area has silicon valley and other hubs of industry which has (so far) been able to outweigh the high tax burden.

We have recently seen a bit of appreciation in home values in my area, but liquidity has fallen at the same time. There are so few transactions it's hard to know what's real. People can't sell because there is no where to go, and people don't buy because of the aforementioned tax rates.

The property tax rate in Miami Dade County averages about 2% of assessed value. It takes a few years for the assessed value to reach the real sales value. I'm not sure how this is impacted by the 3% Save Our Homes cap on annual increases in assessed value which was intended to help older people stay in their homes without having huge increases in property taxes. Also, Florida has a 50,000 homestead exemption of $25k off the first $50k of assessed value. The 3% cap is an additional incentive to stay in your own home, above and beyond that there is no where to go at a similar price in the same neighborhood. But if you live in the north east, Chicago, or California, the sunshine state would be an option for potentially more affordable living if you sold your home. The pandemic and COVID policies have accelerated the migration to low-tax warmer states like Nevada, Texas, and Florida.

 

[Battersbox]

The property tax rate in Miami Dade County averages about 2% of assessed value. It takes a few years for the assessed value to reach the real sales value. I'm not sure how this is impacted by the 3% Save Our Homes cap on annual increases in assessed value which was intended to help older people stay in their homes without having huge increases in property taxes. Also, Florida has a 50,000 homestead exemption of $25k off the first $50k of assessed value. The 3% cap is an additional incentive to stay in your own home, above and beyond that there is no where to go at a similar price in the same neighborhood. But if you live in the north east, Chicago, or California, the sunshine state would be an option for potentially more affordable living if you sold your home. The pandemic and COVID policies have accelerated the migration to low-tax warmer states like Nevada, Texas, and Florida.

Absolutely. Once my wife is eligible for retirement, we will be gone in a flash from this state.

 

[Instinctive]

We closed Memorial Day 2020 at ~650, and all comps and Zillow and Homebot and whatever have value between 900-1M. Bonkers.

 

[Captain Cranks]

Whoa, Lakeland must've gotten a lot cooler since I was there 20 years ago.

I like Lakeland. It has a nice small town feel to it and is nicely located between Tampa and Orlando. I'm not saying it's as pricey as Tampa, but % of price appreciation is through the roof. 

"Lakeland is the most overpriced housing market in the state" 

 

[⚡DEADHEAD⚡]

I just don't see how this continues to work in the Bay Area, but it does. I have dear, dear friends who've been trying to buy for about 3 years now. She's/They're trying to time the market. The $800k house they should have tried to buy 3 years ago is now $1.1 or $1.2 million, easy.

It's a difficult place to buy. Limited inventory, some homes sell off market, some folks can't handle the "no contingency" aspect of the market. You gotta buy "as is", have financing, have a substantial down payment, and you have to be competitive. If you don't have a good, local, dialed-in realtor, you're never gonna get it. Avoid the national firms, go local, IMO.

Here's a home that listed for $2.995 million in the area in a nice part of the East Bay. Sold for $4.525 million.

Local news story emphasized how pricing is part of the strategy of selling a home, not reflective of what the seller is actually looking for. That's been the norm around here for two decades, though exacerbated these days. I wonder if this will become the norm elsewhere in the state/country. 

I'm happy for us, but I'm starting to feel terribly for my children. I think the "you can afford a home 3x/your income" norm that I heard of many years ago may be out the window. 

 

[culdeus]

I just don't see how this continues to work in the Bay Area, but it does. I have dear, dear friends who've been trying to buy for about 3 years now. She's/They're trying to time the market. The $800k house they should have tried to buy 3 years ago is now $1.1 or $1.2 million, easy.

It's a difficult place to buy. Limited inventory, some homes sell off market, some folks can't handle the "no contingency" aspect of the market. You gotta buy "as is", have financing, have a substantial down payment, and you have to be competitive. If you don't have a good, local, dialed-in realtor, you're never gonna get it. Avoid the national firms, go local, IMO.

Here's a home that listed for $2.995 million in the area in a nice part of the East Bay. Sold for $4.525 million.

Local news story emphasized how pricing is part of the strategy of selling a home, not reflective of what the seller is actually looking for. That's been the norm around here for two decades, though exacerbated these days. I wonder if this will become the norm elsewhere in the state/country. 

I'm happy for us, but I'm starting to feel terribly for my children. I think the "you can afford a home 3x/your income" norm that I heard of many years ago may be out the window. 

What has to happen is the US has to start to look more like Asia in high density multi family structures in even suburban areas. The NIMBY effect against multi-family has had a huge backlash and enabled this spike more than anything IMO.

 

[culdeus]

Absolutely. Once my wife is eligible for retirement, we will be gone in a flash from this state.

It's about 28k/1M in Texas.  At 65+ it's more or less free.  

 

[Captain Cranks]

 The pandemic and COVID policies have accelerated the migration to low-tax warmer states like Nevada, Texas, and Florida.

Before purchasing our house last June we were constantly being outbid by buyers from New York, New Jersey, Illinois and California. It was a pretty demoralizing process. I finally realized we can't compete on turnkey homes, so focused on places that might need a little work and wouldn't be as attractive to out-of-staters.

 

[Birdie048]

Where I live, a $500k home will run you about $18k/year in property taxes. That's a higher rate than almost every county in the country.

You're absolutely right that supply and demand is the name of the game. Demand suffers here because of the property tax burden. The economy is fine locally relative to the rest of the country, but the high tax burden keeps a lid on demand. The Bay area has silicon valley and other hubs of industry which has (so far) been able to outweigh the high tax burden.

We have recently seen a bit of appreciation in home values in my area, but liquidity has fallen at the same time. There are so few transactions it's hard to know what's real. People can't sell because there is no where to go, and people don't buy because of the aforementioned tax rates.

HOLY CRAP!!

What do you get in return for that beside the basic community services like marginal Schools,  TV Fire shows, marginal Police efforts, bad politicians and dirty Sewer, etc....

My area outside Raleigh, $500K house has property taxes are about $4k.  And it has the same impact that you can sell fast, but you won't be able to find anything in the immediate area without luck or vastly overpaying.  If you move 25 min away, you can get nice housing but there is no guarantee on how the area will develop.  

 

[Phil Elliott]

Absolutely. Once my wife is eligible for retirement, we will be gone in a flash from this state.

FWIW - In TX, school property taxes are supposedly frozen the year you turn 65. 

 

[urbanhack]

This house just went up for sale and is now pending on my block in North Portland.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7627-N-Berkeley-Ave-Portland-OR-97203/53937098_zpid/

2 bedroom, 1 bath - less than 1,000 sq. ft. for $450,000.  crazy.

 

[Captain Cranks]

This house just went up for sale and is now pending on my block in North Portland.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7627-N-Berkeley-Ave-Portland-OR-97203/53937098_zpid/

2 bedroom, 1 bath - less than 1,000 sq. ft. for $450,000.  crazy.

That house has a very high laundry room sf / house sf ratio.

 

[Sand]

My area outside Raleigh, $500K house has property taxes are about $4k.  

In my area it's 2.75k and we're expensive for the surrounding area.  My kid's HS is top 2% in the country, though, so that much more is worth it.  If my locality can hit those kind of education marks with 1/6 of that 18k, I just don't know what in the world they're spending all that money on.

BTW, if I went one country over I could pay 1.2k or so on a 500k house.  Two counties over and it would be under 1.

 

[SFBayDuck]

When I bought my home in July I was expecting and prepared for the fact I was likely buying at the top of the market. I was OK with this as we plan on being here 10/15 yrs.  I chronicled my journey here (purchase challenges, bidding wars, etc etc) so I won’t rehash it but needless to say it was an interesting time to buy a home and I had to pay way over listing price.  8 months later and my new home’s value is up another 15% over my purchase price.   Un. Real.  

Similar, we were looking last April-May, and got blown away on our first 4 offers (which were all 10-15% over ask) by all cash offers higher than ours.  Rentals were also tight and we were effectively (safely) homeless living in AirBnBs and with friends so had to do something, and figured we'd be buying at "the top" as well.  We got totally lucky on our 5th offer as the sellers pulled it off the market as they didn't want to move out until the end of June so weren't getting offers, we wrote an offer at ask that day and they accepted - they just didn't want to deal with it anymore.  Closed in May, rented back to them through the end of June.  Zestimate has us up about 13% in 9 months.

I just don't see how this continues to work in the Bay Area, but it does. I have dear, dear friends who've been trying to buy for about 3 years now. She's/They're trying to time the market. The $800k house they should have tried to buy 3 years ago is now $1.1 or $1.2 million, easy.

It's a difficult place to buy. Limited inventory, some homes sell off market, some folks can't handle the "no contingency" aspect of the market. You gotta buy "as is", have financing, have a substantial down payment, and you have to be competitive. If you don't have a good, local, dialed-in realtor, you're never gonna get it. Avoid the national firms, go local, IMO.

Here's a home that listed for $2.995 million in the area in a nice part of the East Bay. Sold for $4.525 million.

Local news story emphasized how pricing is part of the strategy of selling a home, not reflective of what the seller is actually looking for. That's been the norm around here for two decades, though exacerbated these days. I wonder if this will become the norm elsewhere in the state/country. 

I'm happy for us, but I'm starting to feel terribly for my children. I think the "you can afford a home 3x/your income" norm that I heard of many years ago may be out the window. 

That's why, after 25 years, I left.  Had been a renter there, and our landlord offered us our home at $765K, no agents, no inspections or contingencies, etc.  I just wasn't in a position to buy there, though, and hadn't been preparing to do so, so we had to pass.  They put about $20K in cosmetic upgrades into it, listed it at $859K, and sold it in a week in May for $915K.  Zestimate has it at just over $1M now.  

Like you, I'm concerned for my kid.  She's in college now, but if she wants to stay there afterward and start her career she'll have little chance to ever own a home.

 

[Battersbox]

It's about 28k/1M in Texas.  At 65+ it's more or less free.  

Wow, that's high as well.

But, I can at least understand it in theory since there are no state income taxes. Here in Illinois, we get to pay both!

 

[Battersbox]

HOLY CRAP!!

What do you get in return for that beside the basic community services like marginal Schools,  TV Fire shows, marginal Police efforts, bad politicians and dirty Sewer, etc....

My area outside Raleigh, $500K house has property taxes are about $4k.  And it has the same impact that you can sell fast, but you won't be able to find anything in the immediate area without luck or vastly overpaying.  If you move 25 min away, you can get nice housing but there is no guarantee on how the area will develop.  

I will say where I live is nice. Public schools are strong imo. The weather is awful, but I can't blame that on taxation.

 

[Battersbox]

FWIW - In TX, school property taxes are supposedly frozen the year you turn 65. 

Frozen meaning, you don't pay them anymore? Or, frozen meaning at least they won't go any higher?

Illinois does have some relief for retirees I think, but it's minimal. Veterans can get their property taxes 100% waived if they are 'disabled'. I don't like to begrudge veterans anything they get, but I know several veterans who are 'disabled' on paper only and it saves them $10 - $20k annually on property taxes. 

 

[Keerock]

I really want to sell.  Built and lived in this house 23 years.  Basically an empty nester (oldest son still "lives" at home while he pays off student loans), but I've got roadblocks

1. I'd have to overpay for anywhere I moved
   
2. After 20+ years, there's a LOT that needs to be purged/cleaned
   
3. My wife is too nostalgic and isn't on board
   

 

[kylechoffman]

I left SD in 2018 and returned in 2021.   I wanted to rent badly last year but could not land a home even when offering to prepay an entire year in advance.  Im glad I didnt rent at this point and while I expect the market to return to earth at some point, I am content with the purchase (up +350K in 8 months and will go up more with some of the homes under contract).  San Diego has limited space left to build so anything remotely close to the coast (within 10 miles) will be hard pressed to drop much.  No inventory yet every one of them that comes to market is going +100K above ask.  A home up the street pre-listed at 2.25 which is insane and came to market at 2.4.  Multiple offers were tossed in two days on the market and its expected to sell 100-200 north of the list. This home was sold previously previously in early 2020 for 1.4.

 

[brun]

Frozen meaning, you don't pay them anymore? Or, frozen meaning at least they won't go any higher?

Illinois does have some relief for retirees I think, but it's minimal. Veterans can get their property taxes 100% waived if they are 'disabled'. I don't like to begrudge veterans anything they get, but I know several veterans who are 'disabled' on paper only and it saves them $10 - $20k annually on property taxes. 

The relief is at the state level?

In my town there's a senior discount on property tax. However there's also a income qualifier $50k pre-adjusted, and wealth qualifier $150k.

 

[Battersbox]

The relief is at the state level?

In my town there's a senior discount on property tax. However there's also a income qualifier $50k pre-adjusted, and wealth qualifier $150k.

For regular seniors, I really don't know. Doesn't apply to me so I never looked into it.

For disabled veterans, it is mandated at the state level I believe.

 

[culdeus]

FWIW - In TX, school property taxes are supposedly frozen the year you turn 65. 

Your appraisal freezes and your tax rate is lower.  

 

[SoBeDad]

Similar, we were looking last April-May, and got blown away on our first 4 offers (which were all 10-15% over ask) by all cash offers higher than ours.  Rentals were also tight and we were effectively (safely) homeless living in AirBnBs and with friends so had to do something, and figured we'd be buying at "the top" as well.  We got totally lucky on our 5th offer as the sellers pulled it off the market as they didn't want to move out until the end of June so weren't getting offers, we wrote an offer at ask that day and they accepted - they just didn't want to deal with it anymore.  Closed in May, rented back to them through the end of June.  Zestimate has us up about 13% in 9 months.

That's why, after 25 years, I left.  Had been a renter there, and our landlord offered us our home at $765K, no agents, no inspections or contingencies, etc.  I just wasn't in a position to buy there, though, and hadn't been preparing to do so, so we had to pass.  They put about $20K in cosmetic upgrades into it, listed it at $859K, and sold it in a week in May for $915K.  Zestimate has it at just over $1M now.  

Like you, I'm concerned for my kid.  She's in college now, but if she wants to stay there afterward and start her career she'll have little chance to ever own a home.

My kids don't live in the Miami area, but if they returned it's unlikely they could afford a single family home in the centrally located neighborhood they grew up in. Maybe they could afford a condo or townhouse in a less desirable or more distant neighborhood. In Europe and South America, a home is often kept in a family for generations. But with small families, high mobility, and late starts to having kids, if at all, I don't see that happening in the USA just yet.

 

[The Z Machine]

I think the "you can afford a home 3x/your income" norm that I heard of many years ago may be out the window. 

You might be able to afford it, but you can't find it. 

 

[Osaurus]

Zillow forecasts another 16% rise in 2022. Forecasts Tampa to be the hottest market this year.

This place is gonna be all scorched earth by 2023. 

 

[Birdie048]

I will say where I live is nice. Public schools are strong imo. The weather is awful, but I can't blame that on taxation.

I apologize for making a negative assessment for an area I know little about.  Glad it is a nice area, but I still don't see the justification for such a high property tax value?  Is it worth it when so many other areas are much lower for comparable ROI?. 

 

[Birdie048]

In my area it's 2.75k and we're expensive for the surrounding area.  My kid's HS is top 2% in the country, though, so that much more is worth it.  If my locality can hit those kind of education marks with 1/6 of that 18k, I just don't know what in the world they're spending all that money on.

BTW, if I went one country over I could pay 1.2k or so on a 500k house.  Two counties over and it would be under 1.

AGREED.  I just don't understand how they justify the Tax value with little to show for the value they return. 

Locally extending out a county,  I see a very similar house price drop and Tax value reduction as well.  

My area schools are well ranked and there are numerous local parks, community areas and "greenways".  Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area is often ranked in US Top Cities to live.  I am in Cary (just SW of Raleigh) and I love the area...  I would love to sell for the value (bought house in 1996 for $150K today valued $450K) but there is no way to find anything I want in the area for under $1M... so we will just stay put... 

 

[Battersbox]

I apologize for making a negative assessment for an area I know little about.  Glad it is a nice area, but I still don't see the justification for such a high property tax value?  Is it worth it when so many other areas are much lower for comparable ROI?. 

No worries, I didn't infer any offense from your statement.

And no, it isn't worth it. But the state knows that many people are stuck, so nothing changes. Jobs, family, kids in school, etc. make a strong case for inertia.

 

[stbugs]

AGREED.  I just don't understand how they justify the Tax value with little to show for the value they return. 

Locally extending out a county,  I see a very similar house price drop and Tax value reduction as well.  

My area schools are well ranked and there are numerous local parks, community areas and "greenways".  Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area is often ranked in US Top Cities to live.  I am in Cary (just SW of Raleigh) and I love the area...  I would love to sell for the value (bought house in 1996 for $150K today valued $450K) but there is no way to find anything I want in the area for under $1M... so we will just stay put... 

A lot of up north (NY in particular) states with high tax rates are paying a ton in pensions and other things like that. I couldn’t even count how many retired NYC cops I know down here in NC. It’s probably a cost savings blessing to be in a red state as the union presence/pension presence is way lower than up north and I wouldn’t be shocked if that’s a large chunk of the cost. Property (new schools), maintenance and general salaries for schools and admin are also likely way higher as well.

My wife grew up in upstate NY and I remember years ago being shocked at the property tax rates being paid on houses that were way smaller than ours and we lived in the DC suburbs at the time. Houses half the size paying 5+ times the taxes. Seemed like you’d pay for the house every 10-15 years just in taxes.

 

[eoMMan]

Thoughts on the Russian conflict affecting the US housing market? No effect? Small effect? 

 

[Chadstroma]

I just hope that the middle class wealth created form this inflation in real estate values raises all boats, but I fear that only a subset of the population will benefit.  

Here in BMore City, prices have seen moderate rises in the last few years, but nothing like other places.  Still the most affordable east coast city and still has major challenges in the urban core.

Renters are screwed.

 

[Chadstroma]

Thoughts on the Russian conflict affecting the US housing market? No effect? Small effect? 

I expected more impact on pushing rates down with a flight to safety and that hasn't happened. 

Energy will go up since we made policy decisions early in this Presidency taking us away from being energy independent and an exporter. That will be a continued and strong inflationary pressure up. As inflation continues to be an issue, rates will rise to more historic norms. 

Further, it could slow building as Russia is the 4th (IIRC) largest exporter of lumber further pushing costs up. 

Rates going up should slow or calm valuations but supply and demand are still strongly in favor of prices going up. Supply is likely to tighten even more as new builds could be costlier and current homeowners are less likely to sell since they will give up a rate in the 2's for a rate in the 4's are higher. So, in order to see a correction, demand will need to drop significantly, which means people losing their jobs in mass due to an economic slowdown. 

To sum up, it should have had a short term impact more than it has but long term, it should only exasperate everything that is and likely will happen.