I bought a house with a cabin on five isolateed acres for $40k, remodelled it and sold it five years later for $225k, sight unseen and without inspection.
It's largely due to investment companies like Vanguard and Black Rock buying up all the real estate they can get their hands on by paying 20% over market value. Zillow is owned by the same companies so I'm sure there is manipulation of the algorithms as well. I feel bad for the younger generations, they are getting screwed over before they even have a chance to get started. I will never sell a property again. From now on I'm holding land so my grandchildren will have a place to live they can't be evicted from. I regret selling my Mother in law's home after she passed. We should have put it in a trust so it can never be sold by a greedy stupid descendant.
I watch real estate closely, and Zillow is an interesting data point. It's not always exactly right, but it's somewhat consistent in its margin of error, depending on the area.
Right now, at least in my area, it looks like we've cleared the bubble which started in 2021. Weird time to start a bubble, but I haven't tried to find a reason for that. I'm sure there is one. Whatever.
Anyway, observe the slope of value between about 2014 and 2021. That should be pretty straight and consistent. Now look at the bubble, and notice where we are now. If you continued that original slope through the bubble, you'll see we're right where we should be. Or reasonably close.
A lot of people are still caught up in the bubble we had.
So I bought my house in 2017 for $1.4M. That's actually not much for the area where I live. I'm not rich by any means (for where I live), but we pulled some strings in the family to make it work.
At the height of the bubble, in 2022, Zillow said my house was worth $2.4M. And actually, I'm pretty sure I could have sold it for $3M.
Right now, Zillow says my house is worth about $1.7M. I'm betting that if I sold it right now I could probably get $2M.
So follow the consistent slope.
Also, remember that realtors try to get you to sell your house for cheap - as fast as possible. Realtors DO NOT want to sit on a house for any length of time because it costs them money. Here's a little more math to consider:
If you sell a house for $1M, there might be a 6% commission for the realtor(s). That's $60,000. If they convince you to sell your house for $900k, their commission is $54,000. Think about it. You lose $100,000 and they only lose $6,000. But they get their money sooner. And given the expenses of keeping a house listed and staged, and showing it, they have a MASSIVE interest in dumping it as soon as they can.
Fuck real estate agents entirely. If you deal with them, understand what your property is really worth and hold fast to your numbers. Do not be duped by their attempts to make a fast grab for your money.
Houses are for sure sitting on the market longer. It's not a horrible thing - yet. People are cautious right now about investing because it's a fucked up election year and we're coming out of some ridiculous shit and also maybe going in to multiple wars. It's a rough time for economic speculation.
Finally, if you're buying, do not be bitter or spiteful about the behavior of those selling. Of course sellers will do whatever they can to get the most money. That's basic sales. Understand the market - the real market. And remember Zillow is just one data point.
It's very possible. But there is a growing swell of people who will not sell their house to a corporation. I know this first hand since the seller of our house had an offer from a corporation - oddly made two days before the house was officially on the market - and turned it down in favor of selling to a family (us). And that corporate offer was a bit more than our offer (not much, but a bit).
So I would say it is happening, but I'm not sure it's going as strong as it was.
This practice (government backed corporations buying up residential property) feels like it should be illegal to me. If anyone could actually prove this, I'd bet there's some kind of legal case which could be made against it. And while legal action against the government won't do shit, it would be interesting if laws prohibited residential property owners from selling to corporations.
Of course, people could always just start publishing WHO the Blackrock and Vanguard people are, WHERE they live, who their KIDS and LOVED ONES are, and other personal details of their lives. I'm sure people would be interested in this kind of information.
I would probably do the same thing. Sell it to a family instead of some faceless corporation. All of these properties under the control of corporations will not end well.
It's worth what someone will pay for it. Zestimate has never been accurate, its a guess and a guess only. Timing, location, structure, etc all have to do with finding only one buyer who fits the bill.
Exactly. A house down the street from mine sold 2 years ago for over $300k. I thought that was insane because mine was no where near that. I even factored in inflation from when I bought it until then, it still doesn't come to that. I suspect that poor bastard will be underwater when the housing market correct again. Or maybe the guy doesn't care and plans to stay there long them.
[ + ] Panic
[ - ] Panic 2 points 3 monthsFeb 3, 2024 17:14:20 ago (+2/-0)
It can happen.
[ + ] ItsOk2bArian
[ - ] ItsOk2bArian 2 points 3 monthsFeb 3, 2024 12:29:55 ago (+2/-0)
I feel bad for the younger generations, they are getting screwed over before they even have a chance to get started. I will never sell a property again. From now on I'm holding land so my grandchildren will have a place to live they can't be evicted from. I regret selling my Mother in law's home after she passed. We should have put it in a trust so it can never be sold by a greedy stupid descendant.
[ + ] StealthNinjaTaliban
[ - ] StealthNinjaTaliban 2 points 3 monthsFeb 3, 2024 10:13:43 ago (+2/-0)
15 years ago i rented an entire house for $850. Now that would be 3x as much.
[ + ] SocksOnCats
[ - ] SocksOnCats 1 point 3 monthsFeb 3, 2024 12:52:22 ago (+1/-0)*
I watch real estate closely, and Zillow is an interesting data point. It's not always exactly right, but it's somewhat consistent in its margin of error, depending on the area.
Right now, at least in my area, it looks like we've cleared the bubble which started in 2021. Weird time to start a bubble, but I haven't tried to find a reason for that. I'm sure there is one. Whatever.
Anyway, observe the slope of value between about 2014 and 2021. That should be pretty straight and consistent. Now look at the bubble, and notice where we are now. If you continued that original slope through the bubble, you'll see we're right where we should be. Or reasonably close.
A lot of people are still caught up in the bubble we had.
So I bought my house in 2017 for $1.4M. That's actually not much for the area where I live. I'm not rich by any means (for where I live), but we pulled some strings in the family to make it work.
At the height of the bubble, in 2022, Zillow said my house was worth $2.4M. And actually, I'm pretty sure I could have sold it for $3M.
Right now, Zillow says my house is worth about $1.7M. I'm betting that if I sold it right now I could probably get $2M.
So follow the consistent slope.
Also, remember that realtors try to get you to sell your house for cheap - as fast as possible. Realtors DO NOT want to sit on a house for any length of time because it costs them money. Here's a little more math to consider:
If you sell a house for $1M, there might be a 6% commission for the realtor(s). That's $60,000. If they convince you to sell your house for $900k, their commission is $54,000. Think about it. You lose $100,000 and they only lose $6,000. But they get their money sooner. And given the expenses of keeping a house listed and staged, and showing it, they have a MASSIVE interest in dumping it as soon as they can.
Fuck real estate agents entirely. If you deal with them, understand what your property is really worth and hold fast to your numbers. Do not be duped by their attempts to make a fast grab for your money.
Houses are for sure sitting on the market longer. It's not a horrible thing - yet. People are cautious right now about investing because it's a fucked up election year and we're coming out of some ridiculous shit and also maybe going in to multiple wars. It's a rough time for economic speculation.
Finally, if you're buying, do not be bitter or spiteful about the behavior of those selling. Of course sellers will do whatever they can to get the most money. That's basic sales. Understand the market - the real market. And remember Zillow is just one data point.
[ + ] RobertJHarsh
[ - ] RobertJHarsh 1 point 3 monthsFeb 3, 2024 15:19:44 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] SocksOnCats
[ - ] SocksOnCats 2 points 3 monthsFeb 3, 2024 15:37:23 ago (+2/-0)
So I would say it is happening, but I'm not sure it's going as strong as it was.
This practice (government backed corporations buying up residential property) feels like it should be illegal to me. If anyone could actually prove this, I'd bet there's some kind of legal case which could be made against it. And while legal action against the government won't do shit, it would be interesting if laws prohibited residential property owners from selling to corporations.
Of course, people could always just start publishing WHO the Blackrock and Vanguard people are, WHERE they live, who their KIDS and LOVED ONES are, and other personal details of their lives. I'm sure people would be interested in this kind of information.
[ + ] RobertJHarsh
[ - ] RobertJHarsh 0 points 3 monthsFeb 3, 2024 21:22:41 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] Leveraction
[ - ] Leveraction 0 points 3 monthsFeb 3, 2024 18:18:35 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] RobertJHarsh
[ - ] RobertJHarsh 0 points 3 monthsFeb 3, 2024 21:29:00 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] bobdole9
[ - ] bobdole9 0 points 3 monthsFeb 3, 2024 15:35:40 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] PhantomXLII
[ - ] PhantomXLII 0 points 3 monthsFeb 3, 2024 12:14:06 ago (+0/-0)
If you are wondering how much your property is worth, just get someone like me out there. Unlike zillow, we actually do research.
[ + ] TheOriginal1Icemonkey
[ - ] TheOriginal1Icemonkey 0 points 3 monthsFeb 3, 2024 11:16:13 ago (+0/-0)