grovesofacadem
29 Aug 2007
Real Estate / The current property boom in Poland is a bubble [342]
Basically, the non-US financial institutions that were buying the sub-prime mortgages kept on buying and others in turn were attracted to the high initial returns (some lured by pure greed, no doubt, but having little idea of the riskiness of the venture).
However, the US economy is still pretty strong, unemployment is low, creditworthy borrowers can still get home loans at comparatively low rates (remember the Carter administration, anyone?), and in some areas home sales are now actually rising. Here in the Midwest, we had seen in the past year or so some folks sell their tiny California or Northeast homes on postage-stamp size lots for, say, $900K, then buy a home here with twice the sq. footage on about 20 acres on a lake in the Ozarks, and still have half the proceeds to play around with or invest! Now California homes are getting harder to sell, so we are not seeing so many out of state buyers for our high-end homes.
Flying into Gdansk last week, I saw tons of building going on in subdivisions - large homes on big lots. However, Bubbawoo is "right on the money" in buying older properties and refurbishing them either for resale or rental. I am seeing formerly rundown parts of town here in Missouri becoming revitalized by such developers, with gang members moving out as young families move in. 85% of the real estate transactions here are for properties listed at $150,000 or less. 4 years ago, I bought a 600sqft one bedroom house for $30,000, gutted it, rewired it, etc. and could now get double if I put it on the market. Our waterfront acre on the Gulf of Mexico we bought 10 years ago for $18K. Last year a guy bought his acre (not on the water) for $750K.
So either buy it and sit on it till it appreciates, or buy run-down properties and use your own sweat equity to help them appreciate. The old mantra is still true, though - "Location, location, location", and I have to say that the Tri-Cities is one of the nicest locations I have seen in a while! I'll be back, but first I'll do my research and get my team together.
I'm new to this forum, but I do appreciate it when members refrain from personal attacks.
Basically, the non-US financial institutions that were buying the sub-prime mortgages kept on buying and others in turn were attracted to the high initial returns (some lured by pure greed, no doubt, but having little idea of the riskiness of the venture).
However, the US economy is still pretty strong, unemployment is low, creditworthy borrowers can still get home loans at comparatively low rates (remember the Carter administration, anyone?), and in some areas home sales are now actually rising. Here in the Midwest, we had seen in the past year or so some folks sell their tiny California or Northeast homes on postage-stamp size lots for, say, $900K, then buy a home here with twice the sq. footage on about 20 acres on a lake in the Ozarks, and still have half the proceeds to play around with or invest! Now California homes are getting harder to sell, so we are not seeing so many out of state buyers for our high-end homes.
Flying into Gdansk last week, I saw tons of building going on in subdivisions - large homes on big lots. However, Bubbawoo is "right on the money" in buying older properties and refurbishing them either for resale or rental. I am seeing formerly rundown parts of town here in Missouri becoming revitalized by such developers, with gang members moving out as young families move in. 85% of the real estate transactions here are for properties listed at $150,000 or less. 4 years ago, I bought a 600sqft one bedroom house for $30,000, gutted it, rewired it, etc. and could now get double if I put it on the market. Our waterfront acre on the Gulf of Mexico we bought 10 years ago for $18K. Last year a guy bought his acre (not on the water) for $750K.
So either buy it and sit on it till it appreciates, or buy run-down properties and use your own sweat equity to help them appreciate. The old mantra is still true, though - "Location, location, location", and I have to say that the Tri-Cities is one of the nicest locations I have seen in a while! I'll be back, but first I'll do my research and get my team together.
I'm new to this forum, but I do appreciate it when members refrain from personal attacks.