SA housing market is screaming hot...

[CosmicCowboy]

Damn...been following houses in the central north area (between I-10 and 281 inside 1604) in the $200,000 price range...damn things are listing for X amount of dollars and going for X+? in bidding wars. I just made an offer on one that listed Friday for $200,000. By Sunday there were 'multiple offers" and they told everyone to have their "highest and best" offer in by midnight last night. This is the third house I have been interested in that turned into a bidding war...historically December is the worst month to try and sell a house...obviously not here...

[Sportcamper]

Investors? 1st time buyers?...SA is an attractive market…

[boutons_deux]

Nationwide, housing prices are about the same now as in the 2006/07 bubble.

[rmt]

Interest rates will be going up. They wanna lock in the low rates now - the extra in price is less than extra interest.

[Sportcamper]

Nationwide, housing prices are about the same now as in the 2006/07 bubble.

I don’t know nationwide data…I do know that So Cal housing is ridiculously over priced…Average house hold incomes 55k in LA…70 year old homes in need of renovation 700k…This will end badly….

[CosmicCowboy]

I don’t know nationwide data…I do know that So Cal housing is ridiculously over priced…Average house hold incomes 55k in LA…70 year old homes in need of renovation 700k…This will end badly….

Yeah, my sons house in Culver City was over a million and not as nice as the $200,000 ones I'm looking at here in SA in good neighborhoods.

[rmt]

Rent is crazy high in Silicon Valley. Google gives 9K for 3 month housing stipend (iirc about $4600 after taxes) per intern. Thankfully there's Airbnb.

[DMX7]

Rent is crazy high in Silicon Valley. Google gives 9K for 3 month housing stipend (iirc about $4600 after taxes) per intern. Thankfully there's Airbnb.

Yeah, there and Manhattan have insane rent prices. Do you have a friend or family member interning there?

[rmt]

Yeah, there and Manhattan have insane rent prices. Do you have a friend or family member interning there?

Dd interned there last summer. Don't know where she'll be next summer - she's got to go through host-matching and is hoping for Seattle/Kirkland, WA.

[Nbadan]

Damn...been following houses in the central north area (between I-10 and 281 inside 1604) in the $200,000 price range...damn things are listing for X amount of dollars and going for X+? in bidding wars. I just made an offer on one that listed Friday for $200,000. By Sunday there were 'multiple offers" and they told everyone to have their "highest and best" offer in by midnight last night. This is the third house I have been interested in that turned into a bidding war...historically December is the worst month to try and sell a house...obviously not here...

Home-buyers are competing against Investors for homes in the 200k range in San Antonio. Some families have decent incomes now, but bad credit, so they have to rent until they can get together a down payment and build up there credit.....Investors have already run up the rent on apartments, so renting a home instead isn't absurd...plus, it gives investors some kinda security instead of throwing it into the market and losing your ass.....

[Nbadan]

...but, because average household income in SA is a meager 50K, this does not work with houses over 300K......in my neighborhood there are quite a bit of homes available in the 300k-600K range...they are hard to buy and rent....

[rmt]

...but, because average household income in SA is a meager 50K, this does not work with houses over 300K......in my neighborhood there are quite a bit of homes available in the 300k-600K range...they are hard to buy and rent....

Yep - anyone who can afford rent on those houses can afford to buy.

[Nbadan]

Yep - anyone who can afford rent on those houses can afford to buy.

Preciously, but try and buy a house for about 200K between I10 and 281....now try 250K...

[CosmicCowboy]

Home-buyers are competing against Investors for homes in the 200k range in San Antonio. Some families have decent incomes now, but bad credit, so they have to rent until they can get together a down payment and build up there credit.....Investors have already run up the rent on apartments, so renting a home instead isn't absurd...plus, it gives investors some kinda security instead of throwing it into the market and losing your ass.....

That's why I'm buying...as an investment. House listed Friday and there were 5 freaking offers on it above list price by Sunday...I beat the #2 by $500.

[Nbadan]

That's why I'm buying...as an investment. House listed Friday and there were 5 freaking offers on it above list price by Sunday...I beat the #2 by $500.

You seem to be a man of means, why not buy, fix, and flip?

[rmt]

You seem to be a man of means, why not buy, fix, and flip?

Nah - the smart bet is to borrow while interest rates are still low, leverage that down payment, rent out, write off the expenses & depreciation, have renters pay for the house (rinse and repeat) and 30 years later - free and clear - pass on to heirs.

[CosmicCowboy]

You seem to be a man of means, why not buy, fix, and flip?

Why? Why not buy, rent, and hold? I'm out 20% and rent pays note, insurance, taxes, and maintenance while it builds equity and increases in value. I can depreciate 1/27.5 of the purchase price against my "real" income taxed at 35%. Final sale recovers the depreciation but many "inflation" years down the road and profit is taxed at cap gains rate or passed on to heirs tax free. Seems like a win/win to me.

[rmt]

Why? Why not buy, rent, and hold? I'm out 20% and rent pays note, insurance, taxes, and maintenance while it builds equity and increases in value. I can depreciate 1/27.5 of the purchase price against my "real" income taxed at 35%. Final sale recovers the depreciation but many "inflation" years down the road and profit is taxed at cap gains rate. Seems like a win/win to me.

Uncle Sam doesn't recover depreciation if you leave to heirs when you pass.

[CosmicCowboy]

yeah, I went back and put more detail in the post.