What People Expect To Get For The Price
Readers suggested a topic on what to expect for the money. “I want to know just what people expect to get for the price that they are willing to purchase a house for. Let’s take for example something in the $400K to $600K price range. This can be a norm for places like CA. Are we talking a bare bones structure tract house here or are your expectations for this range elevated to a custom one of a kind house? Do you expect to get more land at these lofty prices? What about a view (I know every house has a view of something), will you pay extra for a view and if so what of and how much has to be viewable? (I have a friend who has a house in Cambria, CA who says she has an ocean view, if you go to one corner of the house and look at a very small corner you see some ocean water).”
“I recently set in on a RE negotiation who stated that he just sold a house (cash) in Seaside, CA for $20K over asking because it has an ocean view (two miles away and 90% of the view is crappy house rooftops? For me a beach house is on the beach or within a block or two away. For an ocean view I want to hear and see the waves crashing on the shore otherwise it is just a view of water in the distance. A view in a city high rise like SF doesn’t do it for me as all I see are roof tops but at night the city lights aren’t bad.”
“Do you expect to have a house in this price range furnished according to the price you paid? Here in Salinas, CA most of the houses I’ve been in a furnished like a frat house and people living in them are living like slobs. Do you plan on making the house your own and if so does that mean balanced color and art work or does it mean slab counter tops and stainless refrig and stove top? Does it mean swimming pool, spa, fancy BBQ and pizza oven?”
“I ask because RE use selling points as slab tops, stainless appliances, fans, views, as a means to require higher selling prices.”
One said, “I would not buy a house for $400K. I would pack up and leave to a lower cost area. Oh, wait. I already did that.”
A reply, “We have looked into this. The hitch: jobs.”
One had this. “This is one of the hidden benefits of working from home. It allowed me to get the hell out of California, and added about 25k a year to my bottom line. I was renting there and am here… I think if I bought in both places, that savings would be on the order of 40k a year.”
“The weather isn’t THAT nice, and what nature you’re allowed on is fairly trampled.”
And another. “I lived in both Phoenix and Moorpark CA. Moorpark =400K 1650 sq ft. Phoenix = 200K >2000 sq ft.”
“I used to walk in Phoenix under the power lines next to the tracks between Chandler and Ray even in the summer at over 115F it was sureal like being on a moon base, power lines crackling, water flowing in a cement culvert, nothing alive out not even red ants. Had to wear a big hat. Bring water. Phoenix was alright. Main thing I didn’t like about Phoenix was the air pollution.”
Finally, “Sounds awful. I am living on the Kawartha Lakes right now, free of real estate, if you don’t count the square foot of earth beneath my CQR. It is ironic, the money you pay over 30 years to buy that $400,000 house, so that you can have that prestigious job in a cube farm, would support not owning anything for many lifetimes.”
The Merimbula News Weekly, “It’s the sort of news that bunk-bed manufacturers won’t want to hear, but Sydneysiders have entrenched their love affair with the four-bedroom house, to the point where some experts believe it has replaced the three-bedder as the traditional family home. Harley Dale, the chief economist at the Housing Industry Association, said the preference for four bedrooms was a trend that had been under way since the 1990s, pushed along by rising household incomes that had created ‘an aspirational element’ in buyers’ housing choices. While the overall size of homes had plateaued several years ago, the desire for each occupant to have their own room hadn’t, he said.”
“Strong overseas migration was another factor, which ‘reflected people having a preference for intergenerational living under one roof, which requires more bedrooms’, as was the growing trend of caring for sick relatives, Mr Dale said.”
“A flat market and high transaction costs of selling a house were also encouraging many who might have upgraded to a bigger house to renovate instead and add more bedrooms. Architects report this is a common request among clients. Four-bedroom houses are now preferred in new estates, too, such as Greenhills Beach near Cronulla where almost every house on the 95 lots sold so far will be a four-bedder.”
“Dr Andrew Wilson, the senior economist at Australian Property Monitors, said these houses were the ‘minimum expectation’ among new-home buyers.”
The Calgary Herald. “Along with new docks, two luxury condo buildings are being built overlooking the new marina, with some of the balconies actually hanging over the water above it. WatersEdge Condominiums and Marina encompasses two opportunities for buyers — condominiums and ‘dockominiums.’ The condos each come with a slip, with more slips separately for sale.”
“Crystal and Danny Dokken, who own a home in Sylvan Lake’s Points West Resort, had been leasing space for their boat at the old marina, so when the opportunity to buy it permanently came up, they jumped on it. With hectic lives, it just makes sense to the family to have the boat at the ready through the summer, allowing them to just hop aboard, unhitch and head out onto the lake.”
“‘It’s an excellent investment and opportunity,’ says Dokken, who invests in agricultural land in Saskatchewan. Her husband, Danny, is a manager with Haliburton Service Industries. The dockominium slips will have monthly fees of about $45 to cover locker storage, showers, change rooms and electrical hookups. WatersEdge condo suites range from 1,235 to 2,118 square feet and are priced from $490,000 to more than $1 million.”
“The four-storey buildings will have heated underground parking. The top-floor suites each have a loft and a 26-foot glass wall with cathedral ceiling facing the lake in the great room.”
The Manteca Bulletin. “Back in the 1950s, the typical new Manteca home consisted of a one-car garage, a little over 850 square feet and had two bedrooms and one bath. Today, Manteca tract homes are surpassing 4,000 square feet and can offer up to eight bedrooms, five bathrooms, three-car garages and a rotunda if you’re so inclined.”
“And if you think 4,000 square feet for a tract home is pushing the envelope, just look to the southeast of those subdivision monsters that cast shadows over streets in Woodward Park and Rose Garden and take in ‘The Mansion’ - a 28,000-square-foot custom home resembling an Embassy Suites hotel that includes a home gym and the ultimate option package of underground parking and elevators.”
“Somehow, the idea of building a McMansion - a larger version of homes built in the early 1990s without losing some of the nice exterior architectural touches - went out the window in at least three new developments that started in the early days of the decade. They were of the McMansion genre but they look more like the same architecture of Home Depot and Wal-Mart than a home - big box, blah side and rear walls and little, if any, architectural relief on the front elevations.”
“Side setbacks were minimized and homes built in a perfect rigid line adding an ever flatter dimension to the concept of row houses. And what would you expect to pay for these big box charmers? Believe it or not, they were a lot more per square foot than the McMansions with character. It wasn’t unusual to see the tributes to the box come in at just under $500,000 or the price of roughly 70 Manteca flat tops 50 years prior.”
The Mercury News. “Bay Area home sales in June erased any doubt that it’s a sellers’ market, with some frantic buyers even sweetening their offers with a timeshare vacation or a couple of months of free rent. Real estate agents said low inventory is driving up prices in some areas as people try to outbid each other for more expensive homes while ultralow interest rates are drawing in first-time homebuyer.”
“‘Some people are offering free rent back, or a vacation for a week anywhere in the world for the seller,’ said Mark Wong, with Alain Pinel Realtors. ‘It’s crazy. But you’re talking about less than 10 grand. If you get the house, that’s a good deal.’”
“Wong said the craziest offer he’d heard of was from a buyer who simply offered to pay $200,000 more than the highest bidder. ‘This guy probably had been outbid 10 times and was desperate.’”
“In Sunnyvale, a homebuilder held a ‘Bingo style’ drawing last weekend for 12 homes with 60 potential buyers. ‘The market has just really heated up in Silicon Valley,’ said Susie Frimel, marketing manager for the developer, Foster City-based O’Brien Homes. ‘Inventory is really tight and a lot of people are very well qualified and want to take advantage of those low interest rates.’”
“One frustrated home shopper is Henry Chan. The 34-year-old mechanical engineer entered the Bingo-style lottery last weekend. The developer drew marked pingpong balls to determine the winners. Chan didn’t win, but said he hasn’t given up. He made an offer of $20,000 over asking price on another home last weekend and lost out to an even higher bid. ‘We continue to shop around,’ he said.”
