https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 17 Apr 2026 22:31:37 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/real-estate-strategy-right-now#post-2927026 Mon, 09 May 2022 21:48:42 +0000 Portboston 2927026@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@karenbme: blah it sucks right now!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/real-estate-strategy-right-now#post-2927025 Mon, 09 May 2022 18:44:22 +0000 karenbme 2927025@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Portboston: yeah, our plan is to stay for this year at least. Right now the only way to get a home here is to waive all contingencies, which we’re not comfortable with. We might wind up building down the line because supply is so tight. I don’t expect prices to drop, or if even stop rising, but I do expect the cash, no inspection, no appraisal offers to die down once people are settled post-pandemic. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/real-estate-strategy-right-now#post-2927022 Mon, 09 May 2022 10:48:49 +0000 Portboston 2927022@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our market has been hot for almost 10 years and it’s just getting worse. I bought my first house in 2013 and it was our 4th house offering on. For my area, the supply is low and will not be changing quickly enough to keep up with the population growth. The market may cool a bit with the rise of interest rates but it will never be a market where homes are sitting for weeks or months. Now that remote work is more common, this issue has spread to suburban and rural areas.<br /> I wouldn’t bank on the market coming down too much, if at all. I think you have to decide if you are ok with staying or not. If not, you might want to bite the bullet and try to find something soon. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/real-estate-strategy-right-now#post-2926901 Tue, 26 Apr 2022 13:40:30 +0000 DillonLion 2926901@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We're also waiting and sending up a prayer, lol. I'm keeping an eye on what's for sale around us, getting really well versed in different neighborhoods, etc. Just biding our time until we are ready to take the plunge, and hoping the market cools off at some point in the next few years. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/real-estate-strategy-right-now#post-2926891 Tue, 26 Apr 2022 10:41:21 +0000 karenbme 2926891@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Bluemasonjar: Ugh, this sort of thing is so common right now! I know someone who has lost out on 10 houses since February. On the most recent one they offered 15% over asking with an escalation clause to 25% over asking. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/real-estate-strategy-right-now#post-2926869 Sat, 23 Apr 2022 17:47:34 +0000 Bluemasonjar 2926869@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We moved in July and it was crazy. We lost out on two homes due to multiple offers. We ended up including an escalation clause and had to raise our offer amount to match a competitive offer. I did not want to pay above the appraised value so we were strategic in the amount we were willing to pay above asking and thankfully it fell within the appraisal value.</p> <p>@krispi: We were in a similar place with the equity in our previous home. We put 5% down on our new home and paid 1 month of PMI, our old house sold quickly and we were able to put a lump sum (more than 20%) towards our new mortgage and recast the loan to reduce the monthly payment. We sold for more than 2x what we paid originally. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/real-estate-strategy-right-now#post-2926868 Sat, 23 Apr 2022 16:24:26 +0000 bhbee 2926868@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@karenbme: ugh family and their demands! So they want two separate rooms? Maybe once new baby arrives they either get an air mattress in a room with a child or a hotel! Definitely do what works for you and let them figure it out. </p> <p>Everyone is just stuck in such a hard place in this market. I hope a good option comes your way! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/real-estate-strategy-right-now#post-2926864 Fri, 22 Apr 2022 20:02:01 +0000 karenbme 2926864@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@krispi: Lol, that’s what we said last year about 2022. We can do 20% without tapping into equity if we can find something under 7, but 4 bedrooms at that price is really rare in our target area. If we moved further north it’s a bit cheaper, but DH wants to be onsite and he already has a 45 min commute.</p> <p>@bhbee: I shared with my sister when we were little, but our house is small—only 1100 sqft on the main level plus 500ish sqft of finished basement (including a pull out couch)—so the bedrooms are small for sharing unless we got bunk beds, which doesn’t help when they’re both in cribs. I would say pull out in the basement is fine for guests except that MIL and FIL refuse to share space but are not divorced and visit together.</p> <p>@nwm: Thanks! Theoretically that’s what we were doing last year. I don’t really expect our market to get more affordable this year even if it cools a little bit because there are so many locals who’ve been locked out for so long. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/real-estate-strategy-right-now#post-2926863 Fri, 22 Apr 2022 16:56:51 +0000 nwm 2926863@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>yay for number 2!!! </p> <p>obviously it's hard to predict how these things will go, and maybe the WFH changes make it unlikely the market will fall all the way back down, but i have to think with the fed raising rates that the real estate market will start to cool a little bit. i'd probably keep an eye on it and if there's something you LOVE you can jump, but otherwise it might be worth playing things out for a while. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/real-estate-strategy-right-now#post-2926858 Fri, 22 Apr 2022 13:30:45 +0000 krispi 2926858@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We'll be moving in the next year or 2, most likely summer of 2023. We briefly talked about moving this summer but decided to hold off for now because of some other personal reasons. The market here is crazy too! I'm not sure if it will be calmer or not by next summer, but we hope so!</p> <p>We currently live in a smaller house in a big city. We're looking to move further out to gain more space. Now that we're both working permanently from home, the house feels a lot more cramped. My mother-in-law is also aging, is a widow who lives alone, and may eventually need space to stay with us more often. And we've run out of space here. We've had 3 kids, 2 adults, and 2 home offices in 1600 sf. It's doable, but space would be nice. We could basically trade our house for a much bigger house further from the city for about the same sales price. </p> <p>We talked to our good friend who's a real estate agent when we were debating moving this summer. We have a lot of equity built up in our house, but we'd have to sell it to tap into it. And houses where we want to move are going so quick - multiple offers, over asking price, no contingencies. What he recommended is to go ahead and get pre-approved for financing and see if we could qualify without selling our current house first, using what liquid cash we have to put down. Or if not, get a home equity line of credit to put down, then pay it off once this house sells. We have well over 20% to put down if we use the equity in this house. But in liquid cash, we could do about 5%. We've decided to wait until next year, so we haven't contacted a lender yet. In the meantime, we're trying to save extra so we could get to 8% or more in liquid cash in case the market is still crazy next year. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/real-estate-strategy-right-now#post-2926853 Fri, 22 Apr 2022 12:44:16 +0000 agold 2926853@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'd wait. In fact, I am waiting. I want a bigger yard. Despite the astronomical amount I can get for my house, the houses I want are double astronomical. And the property taxes that will attached to that. Oy vey. Thus, even with a lower interest rate (which is no longer as low as it recently was), I can't wrap my head around what I will need to pay to get what I want. Since I can "make do" with what I have, I'm staying put. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/real-estate-strategy-right-now#post-2926848 Fri, 22 Apr 2022 06:55:32 +0000 Lahela017 2926848@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have 3 bedrooms with our second kiddo on the way as well. For now, our plan is to have the two kids share a room for awhile. The room they'll share is a pretty good size, but they are mix gender, so I know it's not a permanent solution. I'm hoping it'll work for a few years at least.<br /> We do have some extra space in our basement, so eventually well have to move the guest bed down there. It won't be nearly as nice of a place to stay, but will work out for an option for our guests. Both my parents and my father in law stay with us on a semi regular basis. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/real-estate-strategy-right-now#post-2926846 Thu, 21 Apr 2022 22:34:45 +0000 bhbee 2926846@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We’re in the deal with it camp. I would love to have a bigger place but then we look at prices (or the hassle+cost of reno) and are like nope!! Our market is also insane. The main strategy near us is renting for a year while you totally redo or add on. Or move way out to afford more house. We don’t feel totally set on our area/state so are also waiting to see if life happens and we move out of state. </p> <p>But we live in a 3/2 that is under 1800 sqft with 5 people and I can’t imagine it with teenagers. Right now my mom is visiting and she has my oldest’s room and the 5 of us sleep in the other two. The only other person who visits is my FIL who would stay at a hotel because that’s way too close quarters for him. We don’t have a ton of family which I guess makes it easier. I would absolutely love to have another bedroom and bath, and more storage space. </p> <p>This market can’t be crazy forever right? We just got our tax appraisals and I looked at a lot of appraisal histories in our neighborhood and it’s just insane how it’s jumped and what people are doing to buy.</p> <p>ETA because we live in an area with lots of small older homes and many 3+ kid families, tons of people room share 2-3 kids. It’s doable if you want to keep your guest room! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/real-estate-strategy-right-now#post-2926842 Thu, 21 Apr 2022 21:21:13 +0000 karenbme 2926842@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So the housing market in my area is INSANE right now (as it is in lots of other places) but my family kind of needs a bigger house with baby #2 on the way and I’m wondering how others are navigating these sorts of things right now. </p> <p>Because we bought our current house in a weak market as a fixer we have several hundred thousand dollars of equity, but to upgrade and be as close or closer to DH’s office (I’m permanently remote) we would need to come close to doubling the sale price of our current home, which is in a neighborhood we love but is cheap for our area. We have a decent amount of cash/liquid assets on hand, and could probably swing the cost, but I definitely don’t want to get involved in waiving things like inspections and appraisals, and yet I also don’t want to wait and have rates go up another 2%. 🙁 Really I’m regretting not offering on a house in our ideal neighborhood that sat on the market last summer because of the *choices* the owners had made, but we weren’t ready at that point and who could’ve predicted the way the market continued to go. </p> <p>I would love to add on to our current house, but we would spend the same money as buying someplace new and not get the investment back because of the neighborhood. The other option is to stay where we are, convert the guest room to a second nursery and tell family to get a hotel if they want to visit (probably the most likely outcome 😂) and either wait for the market to cool or save enough money to compete with cash offers on million dollar properties 😭 </p>