House Buying Thread

[mac5155]

My mortgage is now owned by PHH Mortgage. They keep trying to get me to refinance, again

[NTP66]

Prompted by a recent thread on Reddit, where somebody said Zillow offered them $30k above listing for their house, and did the same for a neighbor (20% over), I came across this:

Zillow responds to viral Tik Tok video claiming housing market manipulation

The popular real estate website Zillow was criticized on social media after a TikTok video decrying an unnamed real estate company’s potentially nefarious business strategies went viral.

Las Vegas-based real estate agent Sean Gotcher (@seangotcher) posted a two-and-a-half minute video to TikTok earlier this month, describing a scenario where a so-called iBuyer uses its massive, user-generated database to scheme the local housing market. An iBuyer, according to Zillow, is “a company that buys homes almost instantly by relying on technology to determine a market-based cash offer.”

“Let’s say that that company buys 30 homes within a two-mile radius, and let’s say the price is $300,000. So, they buy all of these homes for $300,000,” Gotcher says in the video. “Then on the 31st home, they buy it for $340,000.”

In his video, Gotcher suggests the unnamed company is purposefully driving up home values in order to drastically increase its own profits and thus manipulate market value.

The housing market is already bad enough as it is, and good luck to anyone looking to purchase their first home. I know this is bigger than this stuff with Zillow, but this doesn't exactly help.

[nocera]

I wonder if that's why my Zestimate is 105k more than what we paid for it 6 years ago...

[dodint]

We sold our house in Allison Park in the year when their home buying service was taken down to be relaunched. Even if they had matched the $30k over offer we got from the market we would have come out farther ahead on account of not having had to pay a realtor for that one day listing.

[skullman80]

I just looked at ours for fun and the Zestimate is 50k more than we paid about a year ago hahaha.

[NTP66]

Yeah, Zillow is much closer to others when looking at my house now. They had always been $50-75k lower, but now they're within $20k.

Redfin:

[robbiestoupe]

According to realtor.com, my house has gone up $30k since June 2021. That bubble is going to burst

[nocera]

House across the street just went contingent. It was listed ridiculously high but I guess we won't know what it sold for until the sale is completed. If it actually did sell for about 200k more than what we paid for our house, that's nothing but good news for us.

[NTP66]

Realtor.com is low balling me, those bastards.

[NTP66]

A house on my street sold a month ago, and every site values it about $30k more than what it was sold for.

[skullman80]

Earlier this summer houses on our street and in our "plan" were going for 25-30k over asking price within 2-3 days of going up at most. It was crazy.

[nocera]

The house across the street has been on the market for about 3 months which is unusual. They were also asking literally double than what most houses were listed at.

[NTP66]

Sounds like we know why it has gone unsold.

[Dickie Dunn]

House in our development just sold for $100k more than it's closing price as a new build all of three years ago. Nice house and the staging pictures were beautiful, but the yard is super tiny and the soon to be previous owner's didn't invest in any of the "big" new build upgrades like a deck, patio, or finished basement. Based on their $/Sqft we would be looking at $150k over our closing price from three years ago. If all of that, and then some, wouldn't have to immediately go into this overpriced housing market I would be tempted.

[NTP66]

Source of the post If all of that, and then some, wouldn't have to immediately go into this overpriced housing market I would be tempted.

Double-edged sword. We have more equity in our house than we owe, and I think I'd consider a move to a house with a pool if I didn't think I'd get burnt on the new house purchase.

[nocera]

I always thought a pool was kind of like a boat. It's better to have a friend or family member with one than it is to actually own it.

[skullman80]

Yeah I'd want no part of actually having a pool.. too much upkeep. Not that I'm much of a swimmer anyways. We do have a community pool literally right across the street from our house that costs a couple hundred to join for the season or what not.

[robbiestoupe]

My parents bought a house with an above ground pool when I was a kid. My brothers and I absolutely loved it. My parents, not so much. Next owners ripped it out within a few months of moving in

[dodint]

My parents bought a place with a pool when I was a teenager. They bought it off a family whose daughters were collegiate divers, so it was a nice pool. They had it for one year and realized they could save a lot on insurance payments so my Dad broke it up and filled it in with dirt.

It still baffles me because they move every few years. Nothing like torpedoing the property value to save a few bucks. Seems like draining it and covering it with a hardcover might've been more prudent.

[NTP66]

I'm aware of what it costs to maintain a pool, and I'd be okay with it.

[shafnutz05]

Insane

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Angeles/4 ... me/7081232

[skullman80]

Our old house sold for like 128k or whatever it was when we moved in April of 2020. The house next to our old house was about 150 sqft smaller so like 1100 sqft...and it sold like 2 months ago for 202k! A two bedroom one bathroom house. They did redo some stuff, but not the whole house. 202k...in a crappy school district with the 2nd highest school taxes in the county. Just insane.

[robbiestoupe]

Insane

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Angeles/4 ... me/7081232

Is that tif's old weed shack?

[skullman80]

Also I was wrong about the house next to our old house above... it didn't sell for 202k, it sold for 242k! More than the house we bought here which is 900sq ft bigger and has a two car garage, was remolded from top to bottom etc.

[DigitalGypsy66]

What is the outlook for home prices in six months? That's when we'll be buying/selling. I think we'll do well with our current house, but I have concerns about the area we're moving to. Like, we're likely going to have to downsize to get into the neighborhoods with the good schools.