Buying a home in these tough times??

Question

I live in Oklahoma, where the market is said to be 'not too bad.' We have been looking at a neighboorhood for about the last 1.5 years and are finally at a place where, financially, we can move. We drove through this neighborhood last weekend to find that at least 35-40 percent of the homes were listed for sale. On one coldesac, EVERY home was for sale. I would say probably half of them were listed for sale by owner.

We called one of the homes that seemed to be listed at a lower price than the neighborhood median. He said he needed to get out fast, so he listed the home for $35000 less than what it appraised for.

My question is, should we now be concerned about this area? Does all the homes being for sale present an opportunity, or a warning to beware?

I think the average home price is about 275,000.

Thanks!!!

Answer 1

It depends on the area and how long you plan on living there.

If the town has a lot of businesses or it is a suburb, you should be ok. Now if the town is being held together by a single factory, then that's something to be concerned about. If it closes, the town goes straight down the toilet.

How long do you plan on living in that home? With rising cost of living, lower wages, outsourcing, illegal immigration, etc - I think we have a very difficult road ahead of us. I believe houses are going to either depreciate or stay stable in the next 10 years.

For example what makes you think a 50 year old house for 150k now is going to be worth anymore in 10 years when brand new home of the same size are selling for the same price???

I think most of us have a bleek future. But you need a place to live and a house is still better than renting.

You just need to buy cheap enough so that if you have to sell in the middle of this slump, you won't get hurt too bad.

And I got to say, 35k below appraisal is still to high --- especially in the market you are in.