Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One has to ask, how many of the posters now lamenting their failure to buy earlier didn’t buy because they thought prices would fall. Just last summer, this forum was filled with threads about how interest rate increases would bring prices down 20 percent or more. Trying to time the market is always a fool’s errand.

This 1000%. I remember those posters, gleefully stating that anyone who were buying at the “inflated” 2021 prices were dumb, stupid and foolish. Now, some of them are on this thread complaining and in need of understanding for missing the boat.

+1 Some posters here just look for excuses to go on the attack. There were legitimate reasons why someone might not have bought in 2021 when prices were much higher and many experts told us it was transitory.

Sorry, your tried to time the market and got burnt. Buy a home when you find one within your budget that meets most of your needs. Don’t wait for perfection. Last fall was a good time to buy because inventory increased in some neighborhoods locally.

If you have the flexibility, look at locations out west where buyer’s markets exist due to excess inventory.

Actually, I own two homes and made a lot of money buying and selling other homes, but I have compassion for people experiencing bad luck that negatively impacts their lives.

I overpaid in 2017 as wife wanted house and made me overbid.

In 2023 it appears I got a bargain.

Sadly overpaying from 2011-2021 still was a good choice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There could still be a recession and a price drop. No one knows what the market will do. Maybe all of us who bought in 2021 will be the depressed ones, no one knows for sure.

There's not enough homes for everyone who wants a house. We basically lost a decade of building activity from 2008-2018. You now have 4 generations actively buying homes, all competing with each other: Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and eldest portion of Gen Z.

Our demographics don’t look good for housing. Refer to Japan. Generally good to own a home for 15-30 years, but I doubt anyone buying now sees the returns their parents got.

Anonymous wrote:By comparison my parents house they bought in 1973 from an estate sale from original owners sons told me how his parents afforded house.

They got married young and saved every penny plus wedding money and bought a 40x100 lot in 1909.

From 1909 to 1923 couple worked two full time jobs and lived in a “cold water” walk up tiny run down apt. for 14 years till they could afford to buy a 1,300 square foot Sears house they had put up on the 40x100 plot. Then they had their two sons in the house.

And my parents house at time in 1923 was 160 feet from the coal fired train track that blew smoke on house and caused all the walls to crack. Cheap plot. Train was electrified in the 1950s.

And it still was a two hour round trip to work for Dad.

People forget there weren't any government guaranteed loans by then. You just had to save until you could afford to buy a house outright. My grandparents, who married in the 1920s, never could afford to buy a house and only inherited one when their parents died in the 1940s. They lived with their parents most of their adult lives.

My other grandmother and grandfather bought a two bedroom, one bath house in the late 1940s, because the downpayment was my dad's combat pay from WW2.

My dh's grandparents also bought their 3 bedroom, one bath house with his pay from WW2; he slept in one bedroom, his parents in another, and his four sisters shared the one extra room and the couch in the living room. Dh's granddad was still a farm laborer at age 65, but his dad was able to go to college on the GI bill and become middle class. All these people were white (for those who might not believe that).

I find it awful that some people want to go back to the 'good old days." They weren't even that good for white men, much less women or any POC.

Anonymous wrote:There could still be a recession and a price drop. No one knows what the market will do. Maybe all of us who bought in 2021 will be the depressed ones, no one knows for sure.

There's not enough homes for everyone who wants a house. We basically lost a decade of building activity from 2008-2018. You now have 4 generations actively buying homes, all competing with each other: Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and eldest portion of Gen Z.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One has to ask, how many of the posters now lamenting their failure to buy earlier didn’t buy because they thought prices would fall. Just last summer, this forum was filled with threads about how interest rate increases would bring prices down 20 percent or more. Trying to time the market is always a fool’s errand.

This 1000%. I remember those posters, gleefully stating that anyone who were buying at the “inflated” 2021 prices were dumb, stupid and foolish. Now, some of them are on this thread complaining and in need of understanding for missing the boat.

I was one of the 2021 buyers reading threads claiming I was buying at "the top of the market" and would regret it.

I don't fault people who read those threads and became convinced they should wait. I am with you that those who were gleefully predicting we'd be under water should not be complaining right now. But I definitely have sympathy for others who just chose to sit out the market. It's a horrible feeling. It's also all relative. We felt that horrible feeling in 2021, realizing we'd have to pay so much more for the same type of house because we chose to sit out the market in 2019 and 2020. Now, it's all in the past. We love our house and are just glad we landed somewhere we are happy.

Also, let this be a lesson - DCUM is just not a great place to get advice and blindly follow it. I've made that mistake and it blew up in my face. You don't know who is posting here or what their credentials or motivations are.

This is good advice. People needs common sense. I bought a small condo and paid (500K) cash. It is in a very desirable location, the layout is great and it has lots of character. I compromised on a few things, like not having an in unit washer/dryer, ugly laminate floors and a kitchen/bathroom that needs remodeling. But because of the location, low HOA fees and the curb appeal of the building, we already have 60k in equity based on recent comps in less than 6 months. The moral of this story is this, had I asked dcum their opinion about getting the place they would have told me I was bonkers or that the place was worthless. I absolutely love the place!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One has to ask, how many of the posters now lamenting their failure to buy earlier didn’t buy because they thought prices would fall. Just last summer, this forum was filled with threads about how interest rate increases would bring prices down 20 percent or more. Trying to time the market is always a fool’s errand.

This 1000%. I remember those posters, gleefully stating that anyone who were buying at the “inflated” 2021 prices were dumb, stupid and foolish. Now, some of them are on this thread complaining and in need of understanding for missing the boat.

I was one of the 2021 buyers reading threads claiming I was buying at "the top of the market" and would regret it.

I don't fault people who read those threads and became convinced they should wait. I am with you that those who were gleefully predicting we'd be under water should not be complaining right now. But I definitely have sympathy for others who just chose to sit out the market. It's a horrible feeling. It's also all relative. We felt that horrible feeling in 2021, realizing we'd have to pay so much more for the same type of house because we chose to sit out the market in 2019 and 2020. Now, it's all in the past. We love our house and are just glad we landed somewhere we are happy.

Also, let this be a lesson - DCUM is just not a great place to get advice and blindly follow it. I've made that mistake and it blew up in my face. You don't know who is posting here or what their credentials or motivations are.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One has to ask, how many of the posters now lamenting their failure to buy earlier didn’t buy because they thought prices would fall. Just last summer, this forum was filled with threads about how interest rate increases would bring prices down 20 percent or more. Trying to time the market is always a fool’s errand.

This 1000%. I remember those posters, gleefully stating that anyone who were buying at the “inflated” 2021 prices were dumb, stupid and foolish. Now, some of them are on this thread complaining and in need of understanding for missing the boat.

+1 Some posters here just look for excuses to go on the attack. There were legitimate reasons why someone might not have bought in 2021 when prices were much higher and many experts told us it was transitory.

Sorry, your tried to time the market and got burnt. Buy a home when you find one within your budget that meets most of your needs. Don’t wait for perfection. Last fall was a good time to buy because inventory increased in some neighborhoods locally.

If you have the flexibility, look at locations out west where buyer’s markets exist due to excess inventory.

Not all of us are paying cash. Remember that part about 2020-2022? It took an all cash over asking to get a house. Others truly needed another couple years to save for a down payment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One has to ask, how many of the posters now lamenting their failure to buy earlier didn’t buy because they thought prices would fall. Just last summer, this forum was filled with threads about how interest rate increases would bring prices down 20 percent or more. Trying to time the market is always a fool’s errand.

This 1000%. I remember those posters, gleefully stating that anyone who were buying at the “inflated” 2021 prices were dumb, stupid and foolish. Now, some of them are on this thread complaining and in need of understanding for missing the boat.

+1 Some posters here just look for excuses to go on the attack. There were legitimate reasons why someone might not have bought in 2021 when prices were much higher and many experts told us it was transitory.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One has to ask, how many of the posters now lamenting their failure to buy earlier didn’t buy because they thought prices would fall. Just last summer, this forum was filled with threads about how interest rate increases would bring prices down 20 percent or more. Trying to time the market is always a fool’s errand.

This 1000%. I remember those posters, gleefully stating that anyone who were buying at the “inflated” 2021 prices were dumb, stupid and foolish. Now, some of them are on this thread complaining and in need of understanding for missing the boat.

The gleeful posters could still be right. No one really knows. Just get a home you like that you can afford, don't think about trying to time the market

There could still be a recession and a price drop. No one knows what the market will do. Maybe all of us who bought in 2021 will be the depressed ones, no one knows for sure.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Middle aged first time buyer and I am practically suicidal over mistakes I made by not buying at what turned out to be the last possible time I could have afforded a nice house.

Its okay, just save and invest. After retiring you can move to a low cost area with no worries about commute, schools or rooms for your offspring and buy a cute little home.

It's too late for that solution. Life is now. My kids' life is now.

Far more than a nice house, your kids need you being present in the moment with them - this, everyday, moment.

Bullshit. They also need space to have friends over. A community. A home they feel proud of instead of their current shithole we have outgrown.

So find a nicer rental? They don't need a mortgage

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One has to ask, how many of the posters now lamenting their failure to buy earlier didn’t buy because they thought prices would fall. Just last summer, this forum was filled with threads about how interest rate increases would bring prices down 20 percent or more. Trying to time the market is always a fool’s errand.

This 1000%. I remember those posters, gleefully stating that anyone who were buying at the “inflated” 2021 prices were dumb, stupid and foolish. Now, some of them are on this thread complaining and in need of understanding for missing the boat.

History is never an exact repeat. But like 2008, there was a lot of speculation, this time in rental markets, with private lenders. No, I don’t think we’ll see mass foreclosures on regular people. But I don’t think we’ve bottomed either.

By comparison my parents house they bought in 1973 from an estate sale from original owners sons told me how his parents afforded house.

They got married young and saved every penny plus wedding money and bought a 40x100 lot in 1909.

From 1909 to 1923 couple worked two full time jobs and lived in a “cold water” walk up tiny run down apt. for 14 years till they could afford to buy a 1,300 square foot Sears house they had put up on the 40x100 plot. Then they had their two sons in the house.

And my parents house at time in 1923 was 160 feet from the coal fired train track that blew smoke on house and caused all the walls to crack. Cheap plot. Train was electrified in the 1950s.

And it still was a two hour round trip to work for Dad.