Current economy,housing market,classic car market-------Buyers Market?

I don't think the economy is doing as hot as they would like us to believe.

I'm seeing quite a few houses go unsold month after month, with price drops.

See a lot of the same cars for sale for long periods of time, It seems like the car market is still ratcheting back down from the crazy high's of the mid-late 2000's. Yes, the ultra rare concourse cars are still pulling good money, but the run of the mill muscle cars, 396, 383, 350, and even some 400 and non hi perf 450+ cube cars can be had for reasonable prices. Especially project cars, or anything needing work in order to be made into a driver.

What are you guys noticing?

 

Tom: Last June I purchased a gallon of bleach for $1.00 at Dollar Tree. A couple of weeks ago,I purchased the same label bleach at the same Dollar Tree. Three quarts in the container. Daily consumables have taken a significant leap in per unit cost although gas is still hovering at a decent price. Archie

 

I live in an area with a usually HOT housing market. I do land development engineering and planning. Real Estate agent for a client calls today and we talk about the market 'cuz my client has 100 lots to eventually sell. He said in our region about 3,500 homes were built in the last year compared to 8,000 in 2007 and 12,000 in 2005. He called ours a pretty cold market.

 

Government keeps telling us no inflation. I think we all can point to most groceries and consumables with the exception of gas have risen. POTUS gave federal employees a 1.6 hit last year, and I believe that is what he is looking for this year. Last year my SSI check went up 0%, and this year they are saying .2%. Have you noticed how much shipping has jumped. Used to be able to ship heavy stuff for about $1 lb, now I'm seeing $2lb. Real estate in my area is slow, and prices dropped. A house on my street is selling for $335k, when the person bought it several years ago paid $406k I think partially because people want out of NY because of the high cost of living.

 

Tom;
In my hood, ranch homes are hot. Selling at list or above. Condo I rent out in Rochester has gone from 198k in 2010, to just over 300k now. Location & zip code. The condo is only 1,550 Sq ft.

Had a real estate agent I talk to from time to time, stop buy my house with a client looking for a ranch. She walked thru mine and wants to buy! I don't even have it up 4 sale!!!

Hope it stays positive for when I do decide to sell.

And I just noticed this should be in the BENCH section.:laugh:

 

I just moved from Fargo ND to AZ. The economy and housing market in Fargo seemingly is nothing but up up up regardless of the general US economy. Houses sell in days, not weeks or months. I got more than asking price for my house last summer, after 3 days on the market. This has been going on for as long as I lived in Fargo, about 32 years. Oil and Ag prices are down??? Doesn't seem to matter in Fargo.

 

I live in Orange County, California and the housing market is doing very well. Then again this is the right time of year to be selling a house.

 

OIL. It's gonna tank soon, and it ain't gonna be pretty. It's already weakening in the US market, with layoffs.

I had my wife look at our last house's sales to see what they looked like. We bought in '88 for $143k, 2 BR 1 BA, 850 Sq Ft. I built (myself, with some framing help, tough to raise a wall alone) 650 Sq Ft onto it and sold it 18 years later for $260k. The first day it was up for sale, the buyer had an offer. At the peak of the market in '09, it sold for $550k. That was a 4 BR 2 full Ba with AC. It's now on the market for $350k. Crazy. I should have waited until '09 to sell it, and rented for a few years. I could have paid cash for my current house. If one only knew.

 

My area has slowed down a bit as we were helped by shale oil finds to the south and west of us. And those have fallen off big time. On the other hand, a friend of mine in Seattle offered 60k above list(600k) and was too low. Not once, but twice. I hear things in Dallas are pretty strong too.

 

Around here, homes are selling as fast as they are listed. On the other hand, our unSocial Security has risen 0% while the cost of everything, except fuel, has gone up. But don't worry. the same asshats in D.C., that dictated the 0% increase, have been granting themselves raises, so all is well.

 

Hmm interesting, maybe it's finally time to sell my second home. But its nice getting the rent on time for the last 5 years. And they actually keep the place nice.
Will have to check our market out...

 

We sold one rental house when the market was soft. The tenant bought it. We sold our last rental so that a Dollar General could go up on the property. It was ready for a new roof on the garage, new windows and siding. The offer was good, so we unloaded it. If your rental is in great shape, I'd keep it for the income, unless you are getting ready to downsize everything, like we did. If we were younger, we would have taken the $$$ from the last house and purchased a couple more. But, we are retired and done with all that.

 

Michigan is as funny as any state on values....I guess to answer the question(buyers market?).....My opinion would be that "THEY" want us to believe that. We are paying more on perceived value than actual values on property taxes in many circumstances. If you buy it cheap....does not matter because it had a loan value of 425K eight years ago,and you just got lucky buying it for 189K....is the assessors logic. It is OK,if you are going to sell it in a few years,but over time your DEAL turns into a money pit. This is one of the many reasons people are selling and moving to other states. If I showed you a picture of my neighbors house and what it is listed for....you would not believe me. They are asking half of what they put into it. It has been FOR SALE for two years. Near the Detroit area...where the yuppies compete...the same house would sell for double the asking price,but the taxes would be even scarier.

 

Housing in my area (shelby township, utica, sterling heights, troy) seems to be selling very quickly for what i personally think are high prices. And they have been going up since 2012.
Mike

 

Homes in my area don't last long on the market. Has been that way for well over a year. Everything except gas has gone up in price this year. Classic cars for sale[ the popular models & in the right condition] seem to be moving without much problem here in the Philly area.

 

Demographics are playing a big role in old car prices.

The folks who like them are getting into retirement age.

Look around and count the Model A and Model T guys....most are 75+ in age.

In the metro Boston area, house prices are way up, and sell quickly.

Average house price is above $400k, with some of the Boston suburbs at $800k or more.

 

I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth north Texas area (Fort Worth) and the housing market is nuts because of all the new folks moving in from other states and cities. Houses don't stay on the market very long and the prices keep going up. Tax appraisers have bumped property valuations 20, 30, and 40%. Folks are saying the elected politicians better think about tax rate reduction rather than collecting the increased tax payments. If they don't, folks with little or no wage increases and those of us on fixed incomes who are retired will be forced to sell our property since we can not keep up with the taxes. :af:

 

The problem is, the politicians could care less about those of us who are retired and receiving social security. They consider us to be non-productive and living off the system (like the ones who get our $$$ and have never worked a day). They would rather we live in any other jurisdiction than the one they "represent". Stats look better when more productive, working people reside in the area. If people are migrating to the DFW to retire, that will slow way down once they find the ridiculous taxes don't work well with their fixed income. The market may correct itself. Then, good luck getting the taxes lowered to more reasonable rates. Taxes are the exception to the rule of "What goes up, must come down".:laugh:

 

ya taxes have a ratchet on them, kinda like a zip tie.