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I'm a Bay area home owner. We bought 4 years ago. For us it was a great choice. Our our first child was 2 years old and were looking to find a place to settle d

by hijinks 10y ago

I'm a Bay area home owner. We bought 4 years ago. For us it was a great choice. Our our first child was 2 years old and were looking to find a place to settle down and live. We didn't want to worry about rent going up 30% to re-sign a lease. We wanted a place where she could go to school and not have to move around each time a lease is up. In the end it turned into a great decision for us. The house went up 350k in 4 years and we are looking to cash out and move to a cheaper area where I can take my remote job and pretty much buy a house in all cash and not worry about a mortgage anymore. So it really depends on your situation. Are you willing to stay in a house for 5+ years. If you want to sell.. can you ride out a dip in the market?

gigatexal 10y ago
That's such an awesome position to be in.
- hijinks 10y ago
  We got super lucky. Bought a house at the lowest rates possible and pretty much have been living house poor for 4 years now.
zazpowered 10y ago
What was the original price of the house?
- hijinks 10y ago
  it was on the market at 660k we bought it for 700k. This is way out in the East Bay of SF
  - bogomipz 10y ago
    Is it common for places to go over ask in the East Bay/SF? I'm assuming there were multiple offers at ask which is why you went over by 40K?
    - seanp2k2 10y ago
      Almost all property in the Bay Area for the past few years has multiple bids over asking price. Many of them are also all cash from foreign investors. Rich Chinese are trying to move money out of their country. Many are also investors looking to rent it out or flippers. Many times, flippers sell to other flippers, so a property will have gone through multiple bad "lipstick remodels" in a few years, and each flipper will want to make a profit. You'll get a $1m 1800sqft single family house on a block next to a bunch of rundown POS properties that's been sold once a year. It's crazy and idiotic.
      - bogomipz 10y ago
        So this insanity is going on everywhere. I mentioned something about real estate being the new Swiss bank account in another thread. I wonder how long this can continue? Is there no flip tax there? Or maybe the flip tax is insignificant compared to the profit made in flipping the property?
    - hijinks 10y ago
      When we bought it was the peak time for oversea investors coming in with all cash. When I was at the open house there were a few Chinese people that were alone that you could tell were buying houses for people in China. We looked for 18 months before that and were outbid 12 other times. So we overbid on this one. If I remember there were 18 other offers on the house with at least 20% down. The market has cooled down in the Bay area a bit where you aren't seeing 30-40 bids on a house but they still move fast if priced right.

by hijinks 10y ago

gigatexal 10y ago

That's such an awesome position to be in.

hijinks 10y ago
We got super lucky. Bought a house at the lowest rates possible and pretty much have been living house poor for 4 years now.

zazpowered 10y ago

What was the original price of the house?

hijinks 10y ago
it was on the market at 660k we bought it for 700k. This is way out in the East Bay of SF
- bogomipz 10y ago
  Is it common for places to go over ask in the East Bay/SF? I'm assuming there were multiple offers at ask which is why you went over by 40K?
  - seanp2k2 10y ago
    Almost all property in the Bay Area for the past few years has multiple bids over asking price. Many of them are also all cash from foreign investors. Rich Chinese are trying to move money out of their country. Many are also investors looking to rent it out or flippers. Many times, flippers sell to other flippers, so a property will have gone through multiple bad "lipstick remodels" in a few years, and each flipper will want to make a profit. You'll get a $1m 1800sqft single family house on a block next to a bunch of rundown POS properties that's been sold once a year. It's crazy and idiotic.
    - bogomipz 10y ago
      So this insanity is going on everywhere. I mentioned something about real estate being the new Swiss bank account in another thread. I wonder how long this can continue? Is there no flip tax there? Or maybe the flip tax is insignificant compared to the profit made in flipping the property?
  - hijinks 10y ago
    When we bought it was the peak time for oversea investors coming in with all cash. When I was at the open house there were a few Chinese people that were alone that you could tell were buying houses for people in China. We looked for 18 months before that and were outbid 12 other times. So we overbid on this one. If I remember there were 18 other offers on the house with at least 20% down. The market has cooled down in the Bay area a bit where you aren't seeing 30-40 bids on a house but they still move fast if priced right.