<p>Last year the press tried to scare people into a panic. So far i have seen on average a gently leveling off for SF homes with some drops in condos in a few over-heated areas.<br>
In Seattle and Lynchburg the market is still up at a slower pace. Maybe up 5% this year after over 10% gain last year. I’ll take that any year on average.</p>
<p>It seems slow in the Boston area. Even the condo market has cooled. I’ve been following house prices, thinking about downsizing eventually, and I see that many houses remain on the market for months, even after price reductions. It is still a very expensive area to live in, however.</p>
<p>Northern Florida is finally catching up to the rest of the country as far as housing goes. The market is busy here with many condo conversions. We hear what’s going on down in Miami but haven’t felt it here. Alot of South Floridians are moving up here, too, because of the lesser threat of hurricane activity, plus companies continue to relo here, bringing in new families. Well priced houses are snapped up pretty quickly. On the other hand, we’re getting ready to put my mother’s house on the market in northern NJ and we’ve been warned that things are quite slow up there.</p>
<p>Still inexpensive here - and they’ve built faster than population growth. The result is that housing prices have grown, but basically only because the new houses are larger. Sell a dozen or so of the large ones, and it impacts average prices. We are now beginning to sneak into the Seattle penumbra. But things are quite affordable, and nice!</p>
<p>The hurricane thing certainly has me spooked. That and higher prices for insurance might make some coastal areas softer than they have been.</p>
<p>I don’t know about the hurricane impact - in our recent trip to FL, we priced out the real estate. The values on the Gulf coast have really gone up even during the last two years of peak hurricane activity with coastal properties leading the way. They appear to be leveling off a bit now according to local real estate people, but I don’t think it has anything to do with hurricanes; probably more of a deflating bubble.</p>
<p>Have you all discovered zillow.com? It’s a real estate value estimator that supposedly tracks the market, does comparables, etc. Put in your address and you’ll get an aerial view of your neighborhood with price estimates for your house plus all the surrounding ones. Apparently it’s pretty good in major metro areas.</p>
<p>What I’ve noticed in Southern California is that not only are the resales remaining on the market longer, but some builders are once again offering incentives on new homes which weren’t being offered just 3-4 months ago. These incentives range from $5,000 toward closing costs up to $100,000 for upgrades. The average price for a new single-family home is $1,320,836 for an average size of 3570 square feet with an average current sales rate of 0.68 units sold per week.</p>
<p>The data that zillow has for my area is worthless - I think it uses assed valuation which in our area is about half of true valuation. Plus the property specific data is way off - for example,it has my house as a single story.</p>
<p>yes, zillow can be alot of fun, but you need to do the advanced search where you can revise your property or upgrades.</p>
<p>momof only
pricing in Seattle must be a lot more sq ft than in socal
example a 850 sqft home up the street just sold for 650,000 ( this is about a 1950s home?)
It might have even sold for more than that- there was a bidding war ( starter home you know)
I think the starter- less than 2000sq ft homes are going the quickest- the larger homes much slower because if you are spending well over a million for a house you are naturally going to be fairly picky</p>
<p>Our resale housing market (northern Alabama) is rather soft. There is so much land available to build on so there is no pressure for resale home prices to increase very rapidly. The only thing that is helping new home prices rise is the demand for more “latest gadgets” to be put in homes which cause the home prices to reflect those luxuries.</p>
<p>Here, virtually anyone can have a custom built home.</p>
<p>Housing prices are definitely softening in Boston area. You can now buy an old Cape to knock down for $850K instead of a $million. </p>
<p>Seriously, things are sitting a lonnnnngggg time, including the new bohemoths, with all their bells and whistles.</p>
<p>EK4–out in Snoqualmie you can still get a nice 4 year old custom quality 3,000sf house with a view for $650,000 or less. But the drive gets a little longer every day.</p>
<p>Re: Zillow.com: I checked out its estimated value of a house that had recently sold. Zillow’s estimate was off by $300k. Yep.</p>
<p>Funny. Ours was within 3% of the correct sale price for all the houses I know of in our neighborhood. But it might be a less dynamic marketplace.</p>
<p>I’m curious as to what people believe are the most affordable coastal areas in the US today. After #2 starts college, and we have to cash in the Socal home that has probably gone up 10 fold in 15 years, we would like something small and cozy with an ocean view. We should be able to afford the kind where you crane your head out of the bathroom window and you’re pretty sure you see water! Serious question though.</p>
<p>Washington coast. If you like sunshine, go to Sequim/Port Townsend; if you like waves and wild, Ocean Shores, etc.</p>
<p>Mini:</p>
<p>Dynamic is one way to put it.<br>
Zillow’s estimated lowest price was still higher than what the house sold for, the actual sale price being $300k lower than the mid-range price (the one that is highlighted).</p>
<p>I’m guessing the Texas coast might be cheaper but I have no info. I have checked even small towns along the east coast and they are all high as in $1M plus for waterfront.
To me there is nothing more useless than Washington oceanfront. Too darn cold ever to go in the water. Lots of storms and wind.</p>