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Housing Anecdotes

Lake Hills RenterLake Hills Renter
edited March 2007 in Seattle Real Estate
After telling someone (in the finance industry) that I was a bear on the housing market this weekend, I was told that I should "get serious and start building equity". I didn't know whether to laugh or punch him in the mouth over the idea that because I hadn't bought yet that I wasn't serious. So I kept it to myself and let the conversation move on to other topics. It's just not worth the hassle discussing it sometimes.

Anyone else have similar experiences recently?

Comments

  • MatthewMatthew
    Everyday! My co-workers now know that the housingbubble to me, is like most other people's hot button political issues.

    Aka, housing to me is like abortion, gun owners rights, the environment etc.

    They usually don't even bring it up for fear of my wrath.
  • T, V & Mr. B.T, V & Mr. B.
    a couple of my co-workers recently bought a home and were too afraid to tell me about it as they know my stance. One of them even got 100% financing. This house is in Burien. they paid 600K for it, BUT did talk the seller into a brand new roof and pay all closing costs, So it will list as sold at 600k but in reality, 585K. My other co-worker is buying a condo and doesn't want to discuss it with me. I'm not even that vocal about my beliefs, but I guess the word gets around that I am some wacko who thinks prices are gonna drop. They think I'm the guy holding up the cardboard sign on the corner saying that "The End Is Near"
  • Lake Hills RenterLake Hills Renter
    People at work are a mixed bag in their response to by bearishness on the housing market. Some people listen and find it somewhat intersting. Some think I'm completely full of it. And some just roll their eyes, not because of my opinions, but because I am perfectly willing to go on and on talking about the housing market. :oops:
  • The_TimThe_Tim
    Only one of my coworkers knows that I run this blog. I intentionally don't talk about my thoughts about housing with the others, for two reasons:
    1. It would be waste of time that wouldn't change anyone's mind anyway.
    2. It would taint the kinds of conversations I'm able to hear and take part in.
    You just know nobody would want to talk housing around me if they knew I was "that bubble blogger."

    The coworker that does know about the blog found out unintentionally when I sent him our year-in-review letter (which turned out to be fairly amusing, IMHO). He and his wife are about 27 years old, proud homeowners of a tiny little house on a tiny little plot of land... in Sultan. We work in Redmond, and his wife works in Bellevue.
  • synthetiksynthetik
    A male friend of my wife who lives in Long Beach, CA blogged last night that he and his fiance were talking to realtors. They'd heard it was a "buyers market".

    Evidently he was under the strange notion that when you get married you must buy a house. He's currently living in a 1200 sq foot place in LB for only $1400/mo (rent control); normally that would be maybe 800+ more?

    He was thinking of cashing in his 401K for a 10% downpayment on a $450K starter condo but I think I talked him out of it. He said to me "Yeah, I'd been wondering why you guys have been renting all this time..."

    If it's difficult for people to understand there is a correction going on in California then you know how hard it must be here in Seattle where we're just getting underway.

    I'm sure that if I *did* have co-workers I'd probably drive them crazy with all the econ talk.

    I'll be talking with some of my clients tomorrow and Thursday... I'll try to remember to ask them their opinion of RE in their state - get some more anecdotes.
  • downpaymentdownpayment
    Lake Hills Renter wrote:
    It's just not worth the hassle discussing it sometimes.

    I hear you there, some of my friends last week were trying to pressure me into buying some vacation property in the North Cascades for way too much money. One of them owns a few properties in the area and when I mentioned I think prices are going to be going down, I received a bunch of "how can you say that!" or "you've been saying that for years, it's never going to happen"

    As a result, I shut up and changed the subject. There's no changing the minds of those who have already drank the Kool-aid.
  • EastSiderEastSider
    downpayment wrote:
    I received a bunch of "how can you say that!" or "you've been saying that for years, it's never going to happen"

    It's happened to my too often & I've learn to keep away from this topic. So far, all my friends and co-worked have been right. The homes they bought (on the eastisde) abt 3 yrs ago has gone up by over 50%. Some of them looking at buying a second home on the eastside, as an investment -- even though they can barely afford their first home using a traditional mortgage.
  • Lake Hills RenterLake Hills Renter
    A coworker put his townhome on the market this week (eastside I think) and he had three offers in two days, all of them with escalation clauses. I think he's taking the first offer, since the clauses were all pretty much the same. I didn't ask him about the price itself, but he did say he priced it "aggressively" to sell because he knew the market was soft and getting softer. He bought it back in the late 90's so he's really making bank.
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