Is there going to be panic selling?

[Anonymous]

Some of my friends think there will be mass selling off homes in DC metro with huge percent of population becoming unemployed and not enough private industry jobs. For now I see homes still being built, not skipping the beat and there are no bargains, but I am worried about the future of this area despite being in private industry.

We are kind of trapped staying here and cannot sell. Family reasons and also having a cheap rate (like many others) and mortgage we can afford. Moreover, if selling off does happen where would you go? It's expensive everywhere, I can't find anything cheaper that's not a shi*hole. And if prices do tank a lot then this will become a low COL area and you can no longer cash out enough to buy anything in another metro area with a decent job market. I wonder how many people are going to be trapped in the same situation afraid to move for a sticker shock

[Anonymous]

I can definitely see that happening...

[Anonymous]

We live in a small crummy house. We can only go up, not down. I suspect there may be some foreclosures at some point.

[Anonymous]

Well if there are cheap homes on prime land, Trump is a real estate guy…

[Anonymous]

It's not nearly as expensive everywhere else. Lots of mid-sized cities that are way more affordable, especially in places that people on this board would call flyover country. Those places are safe, have good schools, and don't have nightmare commutes if you have to live far from your job. Broaden your horizons -- there's more to the world than the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Yes a lot of us just got laid off at the major contractors this week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not nearly as expensive everywhere else. Lots of mid-sized cities that are way more affordable, especially in places that people on this board would call flyover country. Those places are safe, have good schools, and don't have nightmare commutes if you have to live far from your job. Broaden your horizons -- there's more to the world than the DMV.

The issue is that if you currently own a home in the DMV and the market tanks, you may end up stuck. If the market falls apart, you might have to sell for a loss in order to leave DC. If you are 40 or 50 years old, have kids, and don't have any particular ties to another city, how do you even begin with that.

I'd happily move to any other city and if I was in my 20s or even early 30s, what you propose makes sense. But the people struggling right now are people who are locked into this region for various reasons and not in a particularly mobile time in our lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not nearly as expensive everywhere else. Lots of mid-sized cities that are way more affordable, especially in places that people on this board would call flyover country. Those places are safe, have good schools, and don't have nightmare commutes if you have to live far from your job. Broaden your horizons -- there's more to the world than the DMV.

Nice try but most of us are from.those places and we know why we left.

[Anonymous]

We will see. I guess it depends ultimately on how many people get laid off. 10k won’t make a difference. 100k would be huge.

[Anonymous]

To summarize: OP you have a house at a good rate you can afford. You are luckier than most.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not nearly as expensive everywhere else. Lots of mid-sized cities that are way more affordable, especially in places that people on this board would call flyover country. Those places are safe, have good schools, and don't have nightmare commutes if you have to live far from your job. Broaden your horizons -- there's more to the world than the DMV.

Nice try but most of us are from.those places and we know why we left.

OK. The ivy league colleges are filled with kids from those places. And people there in blue collar jobs can afford houses that don't have nightmare commutes. They can even run their errands without running into long lines, lack of parking, and gridlock everywhere. I like this area too, but I am always surprised when people are too closed-minded to explore alternatives.

[Anonymous]

what sort of financial sense would it make to "panic sell" the roof over your head that you likely have with a sub 5% mortgage rate? Even moving to a MCOL or LCOL location - with rates as high as they are - it makes no financial sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what sort of financial sense would it make to "panic sell" the roof over your head that you likely have with a sub 5% mortgage rate? Even moving to a MCOL or LCOL location - with rates as high as they are - it makes no financial sense.

The premise of this thread is that many people will be unemployed. If you were living paycheck to paycheck (and unfortunately, many people with 6-figure incomes do), and you can no longer afford your mortgage, than the only move that makes "financial sense" is to sell rather than having the house taken by foreclosure. Will it happen on a large scale in this area? I doubt it, but who knows.

[Anonymous]

Panic selling because . . .?

[Anonymous]

Only time will tell.

But a lot of people are in your position, especially with regard to low-rate mortgages, and will stay and make it work. So I really don't see a mass sell-off. We just bought a house, with no concern that prices are going to fall a huge amount. And we are renting out a house that we own, and intend to sell after these tenants leave, and we are in no rush to kick them out and sell or anything.