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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Wharton MBA is proving how out of touch he is. Symptomatic of a larger problem.

Some people want a flipped house and can pay lots of money to get one.

Many other people don't have the money, or feel comfortable with an unflipped house (perhaps because they DIY).

The problem is every unrenovated house is purchased by flippers with cash, locking out the latter group of homebuyers. The dominance of flipped houses drives up prices for everyone and reduces choice in the market.

Speaking for ourselves, we'd very much like to buy a fixer-upper rather than a flip (within reason - not looking for cracked foundations). It would save us money at the front end and we could customize the home with remodeling projects over time. Unfortunately, the market does not seem to provide this option.[/quote]

The market does provide this option, but you need to target the space between teardown and flip.  We purchased an unrenovated house that needed a lot of updates, but was too costly for a flip to make sense.  Prepare to spend $600k+.  If the place is priced much lower, it becomes a flip target.  The key is to find places that are too expensive to buy and flip at a profit, but not updated enough to charge a reno premium.  It takes time, but it can be done.

My post assumes of course that there is an army of flippers with bags of cash waiting to buy up everything.  I think this is not actually the case, but I'm sure it may seem like it is if you've lost a place to a cash buyer.[/quote]

600k+ for a non-mansion hovering above teardown = bubble
[/quote]

Well, I do believe real estate prices might be inflated.  But in my case, it's a row house in Capitol Hill, so absolutely not a tear down!  It's in perfectly liveable condition -- just with old molding, old windows, small closets, no powder room on 1st floor, etc.  Since we always intended to stay at least 10 years, it seemed like a good investment.  The worst of it is probably the windows, as well as the bricks that may need repointing.  We'll do those if we have do, and likely still have a good chunk of equity left when/if we have to move for middle school.  (That's a whole 'nother story related to housing values  in DC ... ) [/quote]

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