My sister’s gated community has many owners who don’t live there and often have the huge homes unoccupied. Our neighborhood, thankfully doesn’t have that.
I would not worry about ghost homes in a gated community. 
The ghost homes in Vancouver have become an issue.
Oahu taxes out of staters differently. If a condo is under $1M and is not located in the hotel (or whatever it is called) zone, then the tax rate is the same as for the residents. On properties over $1M, and the tax goes up for non-residents of the county. IMO, a good idea.
This is third upswing in house prices that DH and I have experienced as homeowners. Our first home in San Diego had appreciated by 33% in 1989 when we sold it to buy a larger house. Then we found ourselves upside down… We held on to it as a rental for 10 years (we moved for work) and sold it for a profit in 2003. (Still kicking myself for selling it!)
At the same time during the 10 years, we repeated the process in our new city and bought low, sold high to buy our present home and were lucky that we could buy before prices climbed again. Timing is important. I’m not sure DS would be able to do that as a single person on a modest salary. It took DH and me on new teachers’ salaries and an FHA loan to get started. DH and I have discussed helping (or “investing in”) DS buying his first home once he decides where he’d like to live for a while.
Yes, Oahu has just started taxing $1M plus homes that are not owner-occupied higher. This surprised a lot of residents because it isn’t hard to end up having your home worth that much due to the scarcity of land and appreciation of just the land alone.
Some relief may be on the way:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-san-gabriel-housing-20170223-story.html
In the last 40 years we have seen so many high and low markets. We got in to the SoCal market at high prices and high interest. We sold a few years later and left the area, but I do follow my little tract home on zillow, crazy prices.
In general you won’t lose money on real estate, IF you can afford to hold it. But, my parents house, which they bought at a low price during the low priced early 90s, the housing prices doubled from that time to 2006. But then came the crash, summer of 2006 for their area and that house current value is barely above the 1992 low purchase price. They are in a small town, and when the Bay Area prices soar and then people leave the city, that’s when they see appreciation. But so many houses were foreclosed in 2008 etc., it’s taking forever to see values return.
I will advise my DD not to buy a place just to get in the market, not to get a place she would not be happy keeping if the market turned.
From SyrAlum’s link:
:))
Just for kicks, I looked at condos for sale in the core of San Francisco & Boston, to compare to Seattle. They were higher, but not by as much as expected! I had always believed those 2 cities were examples of outrageous RE. Of course I don’t know the nuances of specific neighborhoods, so that may affect things greatly. However, I think my D partially feels pressured to purchase because she sees recent Seattle costs spiraling out of control, and is frightened that it will turn into another San.Fran. or Boston. But heck, if Seattle is almost there already, it should reduce some of the pressure, and just admit the opportunity has already passed.
Has anyone heard anything about the Phoenix market? We’ve been looking and I’m shocked at how fast things sell there. At first I thought it was all the baby boomers looking to retire, but then I heard it was Californians looking for more affordable housing. Maybe it is the Asians. Maybe all of the above.
Homes in my Midwest town sell very fast as well – just not for the same super-high prices seen on the two coasts. I think it is partially the result of baby boomers deciding to age in place as long as they can (holding on to homes longer than previous generations), combined w/ Gen/X families now less interested in urban cores, and more interested in school districts, small green lawns, and nearby parks. I also see far less developer-produced suburban housing, further limiting supply. I’m guessing part of that is due to builders burned in the great recession, combined with less popularity. Perfect storm for lack of supply with increased demand .
I’m curious if we’ll see future movement in the popular cities as young single professionals turn into couples and families. Will they stay in the urban cores, or gravitate to the inner suburbs for space, schools, as well as affordability?
Sad news for our kiddos:
Thanks for the link. The prices boggle my mind. Sadly, I don’t think it is at all realistic for us to retire in the Seattle area to be near our daughter.
I think it’s still very possible, you just have to be further in the outskirts of Seattle. If you are outside of commuting distance to Bellevue or Seattle, the prices go down a lot. There are still many places that would be nice to retire in.
Yes, the prices drop dramatically. There are beautiful places like Bellingham that have not seen the craze, so if you don’t need to be absolutely within a daily commuting distance of your daughter’s place, you can still have some nice options to be close (within an hour car or train ride).
Our neighbor sold their house down the street with NO open houses! There was a sign and now it’s gone! Yes, there is very little inventory in the neighborhood and yes, prices are high!
We just rented an adorable little VRBO place in SoCal. Checked out the zillow comparables . . . umm these homes were in the $800K-$1.1M range. Shocked me even though the street was cute. Tiny.
If you want to retire in the area look at Poulsbo or Gig Harbor or Edmonds. Nice places near Seattle priced much better. On the water too.
So…we too are in SoCal. We got into the market four months after we were married. Interest rates were beserk. We paid $117,000 for a1600 sq foot home. It was sweet. We moved and it became a bad luck house. For several cycles the house went into bankruptcy several times. I just googled it. It was on the market (and) sold for 559,000. Wow…
Ellebud, the 1600 sft house identical to the one we bought in 1996 for $175k has recently sold for close to $500k. We are talking the boonies of Seattle here. Not bad? Maybe not so outrageous compared to Comcast that raised their prices from $10 to $110 in the same period of time.