I feel your pain. My situation isn't the same, but I have resentment about timing, circumstance and the weirdness of real estate in this region.

It's a really bizarre market. A lot of people are saying the market is strong and getting stronger and that's why there are bidding wars, sharp increases. But that's hooey.

The issue is low inventory. That is combined with sellers who have bizarre notions about property values and desperate buyers who make those bizarre notions reality by buying for the inflated price, which then pushes everything else up.

I think the reality for the next decade is that real estate will constantly be a sort of rapidly expanding/deflating bubble. There's no "good time" to buy or sell. There's just luck.

Rates are low, but they'll likely be low for a while. The best you can do is think about what you can afford, where you want to live for the next 10 years and go from there.

You never know how long it will take to sell your house or how long it will take to find a new one. So have a contingency plan. If you sell first and then buy, make sure you have a temporary place to live. If you buy first and then sell, make sure you have the financial means to pay two mortgages for an extended period of time, because you never know what will happen or how long it will take to sell. Sometimes deals fall through because people can't get financing. So even though you might get a buyer, there's no guaranty the deal will go through.

And then, when all is said and done, let go of the resentment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear you OP. We couldn't act until mid-February for some work reasons, but we were looking a few months before that and there were some great options in our price range. Now there's so little on the market and everything that's even decent is both more expensive and worse than what was selling just a few months ago. Ugh.

this is normal in a healthy environment, prices go up, duh

Prices don't normally go up 50k or more in the course of a few months. Duh.

If the market was under valued due to irrational fear than yes

And you think there's not irrational fear currently due to sequestration, etc.? If anything the economic climate is worse now, not better.

OP here - THAT's what I was thinking!!! Another house is about to go on the market, and the price they are planning to ask is INSANE compared to the comps. And I have seen it inside! Unbelievable.

You'll believe it when the house goes under contract for asking and in 3 months it's the comp. Stop bitching and start bidding.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear you OP. We couldn't act until mid-February for some work reasons, but we were looking a few months before that and there were some great options in our price range. Now there's so little on the market and everything that's even decent is both more expensive and worse than what was selling just a few months ago. Ugh.

this is normal in a healthy environment, prices go up, duh

Prices don't normally go up 50k or more in the course of a few months. Duh.

If the market was under valued due to irrational fear than yes

And you think there's not irrational fear currently due to sequestration, etc.? If anything the economic climate is worse now, not better.

OP here - THAT's what I was thinking!!! Another house is about to go on the market, and the price they are planning to ask is INSANE compared to the comps. And I have seen it inside! Unbelievable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear you OP. We couldn't act until mid-February for some work reasons, but we were looking a few months before that and there were some great options in our price range. Now there's so little on the market and everything that's even decent is both more expensive and worse than what was selling just a few months ago. Ugh.

this is normal in a healthy environment, prices go up, duh

Prices don't normally go up 50k or more in the course of a few months. Duh.

If the market was under valued due to irrational fear than yes

And you think there's not irrational fear currently due to sequestration, etc.? If anything the economic climate is worse now, not better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear you OP. We couldn't act until mid-February for some work reasons, but we were looking a few months before that and there were some great options in our price range. Now there's so little on the market and everything that's even decent is both more expensive and worse than what was selling just a few months ago. Ugh.

this is normal in a healthy environment, prices go up, duh

Prices don't normally go up 50k or more in the course of a few months. Duh.

If the market was under valued due to irrational fear than yes

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear you OP. We couldn't act until mid-February for some work reasons, but we were looking a few months before that and there were some great options in our price range. Now there's so little on the market and everything that's even decent is both more expensive and worse than what was selling just a few months ago. Ugh.

this is normal in a healthy environment, prices go up, duh

Prices don't normally go up 50k or more in the course of a few months. Duh.

Anonymous wrote:I hear you OP. We couldn't act until mid-February for some work reasons, but we were looking a few months before that and there were some great options in our price range. Now there's so little on the market and everything that's even decent is both more expensive and worse than what was selling just a few months ago. Ugh.

this is normal in a healthy environment, prices go up, duh

I hear you OP. We couldn't act until mid-February for some work reasons, but we were looking a few months before that and there were some great options in our price range. Now there's so little on the market and everything that's even decent is both more expensive and worse than what was selling just a few months ago. Ugh.

Another vote for "it wasn't meant to be." Let go of the resentment towards your husband. It's dripping off of my iPad screen and not very healthy for your marriage.

I would just ignore the 50k loss and buy asap. If it goes up another 50k you'll be happier then waiting another 6 months and feeling worse that you lost 100k.

On another note, it's not like you are first time home buyer so whatever appreciation the market is experiencing you will also experience when you sell your home.

Don't get bummed out. If "houses keep going up," that's a sign that the market is going to go kersploosh again at some point.

In the meantime, save save save for your almost-dream home. One will appear again.

It wasn't meant to be

We do own. We bought in 2005 too, but I happened to have a condo at the time that I sold at a ridiculous profit. So we are finally within $50K of what we paid for this place in terms of selling price. Prob $35k.

Well, one can never predict what will happen in the future. We pressured ourselves to get into the market in 2005 because we were "missing out". Lot of good that did us! We ended up selling in 2009 for a significant loss.

On the plus side for you, it sounds like you own something, so if prices are rising, presumably the place you own is rising at the same time....

At the end of last year, DH and I found a home that would have been perfect for our family. The price was right, the size and lot were awesome, it was all right. But he couldn't "deal" with a move at the end of the year. The house sold, and I just saw the closing price - exactly what I wanted to pay.

Now, he's finally ready to sell, and I'm seeing a lot of similar properties coming on the market for about $50k more in our area. And they seem to be selling. I am so frustrated. We could have had a great place, and I am confident we could have sold our place at a good price.

I feel like the ship has sailed and we missed out and now I am stuck in this house for another year at a minimum - if prices continue to rise.

Am I right? This market is just going to keep going up. but the SFHs are just out of our reach now. Dammit.