Zack, you have a point there. I suppose the fact that some of these houses are not selling just means that they are not reasonably priced. I only said "reasonable" because the 3 houses that we're considering, they were built in the last 7 years and I did some research into how much the initial buyers paid for the house. I found out that for these 3 houses, the present owners are willing to sell at the price they bought it or built it (or either at a very small profit). So that seems reasonable to me. But like you, we're actively looking but are unwilling to pull the trigger because I feel like the longer we wait, the more the housing prices will go down. I really think that the market is going to fall hard because I agree with you that the market (stock and real estate) had been hyper inflated for the last 5 years. In fact, I think it's going to fall very hard in the next 6 months if the Feds and govt don't keep bailing distressed companies out.

Gail, which area are you talking about when you say that there were multiple offers. I think perhaps that may be the case in Scarsdale area due to its proximity to NYC, good neighborhood, and great schools, but I don't believe that is the case with other areas. Brokers keep telling me that the market is getting hotter but I have no idea where they are getting this from because my observation has been that houses are not selling. Why do you say that houses are priced right when most of them still aren't selling? (I have to agree with Zack on this point).

I check Houlihan Lawrence site, Prudential site, etc. all the time and almost all the houses are still available and my research into Westchester market shows only a few sales in the last few months. I also noticed that brokers always say that you'll know when you find the perfect house or buying a house is an emotional purchase (I heard this from 3 different brokers) but, for the financially cautious, I do think it's a trade off between finding a nice house and how much you're paying for it. We only started looking about 3 months ago and saw about 20 houses (that's not that long, is it?)

Mon Mar 17 2008, 14:59

Gizmo,
Just curious, what are you using to decide they're priced reasonably. When we first started, I was using asking price vs others we've seen and going based on the discount off of that, but after watching a number of houses i was using as a reference not sell, I've been trying to be a lot more objective. Its tough though as every house is different. We're moving back to the sidelines especially with the events in the economy recently. Interest rates on jumbos has been increasing for the past month but with the prime rate being cut again tomorrow, almost certainly by at least 75 bps, these will start coming down at some point. Plus when Fannie and Freddie can buy jumbos, you may get a boost from that although as I've seen from your other posts, you're price range is well over the cutoff.

Gail mentioned that houses are priced right and rates are low, but I'm not finding this to be true. I'm finding that very few houses are priced right, and they sell quickly, but the vast majority are priced at the high end of what may be reasonable and higher up into ridiculous range. Even the nicest of these tend to sit for a while because buyers know its a buyer's market. The more I see of the economy and the monopoly money that propped it up the past 4+ years, the more I realize how hard this is going to fall and since housing was the ATM that funded the monopoly money, its gonna be the one to fall the hardest.

Just my thoughts as we start looking at renting until this recession takes its pound of flesh.

Mon Mar 17 2008, 14:16

I apologize, I know you asked for buyer opinions, but I work with buyers every day. Buyers have started coming out in droves and we have been seeing multiple offers on houses for the past couple of months. This is because houses are priced right and the market is low.

I love my home...I go into dozens of houses a week and love every one of them...I would be happy to live in any of them. There will always be something out there that might "look" better from the outside...the grass is always greener.

When you walk into the house that's perfect for you, you will know it at the front door and will not want to look at any other homes. It would seem to me that you have not found that perfect house for you yet...keep looking until you don't want to look any further. You are not buying a used car...you are buying a home; a place to live and raise your family.

Mon Mar 17 2008, 11:27