<p>I know this is Palo Alto, but a friend said homes are selling for $1600 a foot.</p>
<p>What are you seeing out there?</p>
<p>Boston is one of the most expensive area in the country, but could be Palo Alto is twice as pricey.
<a href=“http://www.bestplaces.net/cost-of-living/boston-ma/palo-alto-ca/150000”>http://www.bestplaces.net/cost-of-living/boston-ma/palo-alto-ca/150000</a></p>
<p>No bubbles of any kind in our neck of the woods, just a normal market. </p>
<p>Normal market in Michigan, as well. Pricier homes are beginning to sell again, new builds are going up all around, prices are back to a reasonable level in most areas, and foreclosures have slowed down a lot. </p>
<p>Houses in my community are selling faster and for higher prices than in years past. My neighborhood is seeing some of the largest increases in property values–over 11% from 2012 to 2013. Prices are generally from $150-$200/sq. foot. Mixed in with the “regular” homes are several dozen (including mine) that were designed by prominent local architects–these obviously go for substantially more. I am hoping this trend continues till next year, when I plan to sell.</p>
<p>we are purchasing a condo in DC…about $520/sq ft, which apparently is low for our area in DC. Things here in DC seem to sell before they even hit the listings. That is how we bought our condo.</p>
<p>We just got our house appraised here in SE MI. We moved to this house in 04. The value has tripled in the last few years. </p>
<p>We had about four condo complexes crop up right next to me JUST before the housing crash. They’re now all filled, finally, and I see large construction projects again. </p>
<p>Seems back to normal.</p>
<p>Crawling back up from the depths in my neighborhood (primarily townhouses here), but still enough short sales and foreclosures pending to keep the prices from skyrocketing just yet.</p>
<p>I see it in my area of Los Angeles. I am sitting on the sidelines.</p>
<p>Changes vary here depending on the price range and whether the property is new construction or a resale.
New construction home prices <$500K are up and doing well while resale properties are still down from 2007. Resale houses <$500K are selling at about 80-90% of 2007 prices, when they can sell. </p>
<p>The hardest hit are large homes which sold in 1999 - 2008 for $1MM - $2MM+. We’ve seen houses that sold for >$1.5MM when new go for <$900K with some distressed properties selling for $600-700K. These houses are 6,000 -10,000+ SF, typically on 1 - 2 acre lots, and often have a pool and other extras. A few houses have sold for >$1MM, but my guess is that it’s less than 1/10 of the houses on the market in that price range. I’ve noticed dozens linger on the market for 3 - 5 years. </p>
<p>In HI, I don’t think it’s a bubble; just too much demand and very little inventory. Prices are pretty crazy around here. Tear-downs and fixer-uppers can go for $800,000 to $2M or more, depending on which nice neighborhood you’re interested in. It has always been crazy and is just getting higher.</p>
<p>VERY low inventory in central Denver is driving prices like crazy. Homes get multiple offers, usually at or above asking price, the first day on the market. Our house sold for asking (a high asking!) within an hour and a half of going on the market. We’ll be closing on a house I didn’t get to see before hubby put in an offer - with my blessing over the phone from work. Central Denver didn’t have the kind of bubble some areas experienced, so it didn’t experience a major burst, either. But the low inventory is creating problems: people are afraid of putting their house on the market because they have nowhere to go; poor first-time buyers get shut out by those paying cash, or close to it. There IS a sense of desperation in the marketplace.</p>
<p>We live in San Jose. Our Sunday newspaper gives the latest price per square foot for each zip code in the area. This morning’s paper puts Palo Alto at $1800/sq ft., which is by far the highest for any place in the Silicon Valley. Our zip in San Jose, by contrast, is listed at just under $500 per square foot.</p>
<p>“we are purchasing a condo in DC…about $520/sq ft, which apparently is low for our area in DC. Things here in DC seem to sell before they even hit the listings. That is how we bought our condo.”</p>
<p>Special interest lobbying, govt and political consulting and legal work are all growth industries in DC.</p>
<p>I thought the Boston market felt “bubbleish” when my son was buying a condo last summer. Everything was selling above the offer price with multiple offers, bidding wars, and you had to buy with no contingencies. My son ended up paying a very high price per sq ft, mainly because he bought a tiny 1br, and $$ per square foot tends to go up with the smaller place. But, his monthly payment is affordable and less than equivalent rent, so I don’t think it is a true bubble. Investors continue to snap up condos because they can be easily rented for positive cashflow. One of my criteria for defining a real estate bubble is people paying prices they can’t afford but justifying it by thinking they will just sell for a higher price in a year. I believe the problem in Palo Alto is too many high tech multi-millionaires (and billionaires) running around between facebook and google hqs. </p>
<p>“I believe the problem in Palo Alto is too many high tech multi-millionaires (and billionaires) running around between facebook and google hqs.”</p>
<p>Precisely. Can’t even drive in that area without hitting one or two! 
Who’s going to fry their burgers and clean those mega-buck teardowns?</p>
<p>And what do you think the impact of this is going to be?
<a href=“San Francisco now offering up to $200,000 in down payment assistance - Inman”>http://www.inman.com/wire/san-francisco-now-offering-up-to-200000-in-down-payment-assistance/</a></p>
<p>Nothing like the high priced areas in CA and the east coast, but prices are going up significantly around here in the Seattle area. Inventory is very low, and impossible to find short sales or foreclosures anymore. We are refinancing a HELOC, and the bank actually appraised our house for 200K more than we estimated it at, and we were aiming high.</p>
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<p>Isn’t that how WAMU got into trouble?</p>
<p>My D and son-in-law got lucky with their Boston condo–they sold a small place (950 Sq ft) in the South End (which is a very desirable area for young professionals) last summer for $50K over the selling price. After the first open house they had 4 offers above the selling price. Don’t know if other areas if Boston are like that or not. My town–which isn’t close to the city has a really low inventory of homes for sale right now and as a result homes are selling quickly. I have two friends who are downsizing and both of their homes sold in a matter of weeks. It helps that the town has excellent schools.</p>
<p>I think so, emerald. In our case, I don’t know why they appraised it so high, unless we were just way off. Now we’re still getting the same amount in our HELOC, but at a lower rate than expected.</p>