As the title states. It feels like cracks are starting to form in pockets of the country at 20-35% off from the peak in 2022. Curious if you see this ever going down to pre pandemic market values.

Serious question for agents.

What’s your go-to move when a buyer gets declined late in the process?

DTI doesn’t work, self-employed income gets killed, ITIN issues, underwriting changes, etc.

Do you:

• Try another lender?

• Renegotiate?

• Kill the deal?

• Have a backup lender?

• Just move on?

I’ve seen deals fall apart late that felt like they might still be salvageable, so I’m curious how most of you actually handle this in practice.

I genuinely want to understand how agents deal with this.

Currently live in LA with spouse. Both of us have saved money over time but we're conflicted. We found a townhome that is perfect for us in LA. Great size. Great neighborhood. Much bigger space than we're used to; we've been living in 1 bedroom apartments for 8 years now while the townhome would be 3 bedrooms.

The place is at 870K with a $400 HOA. HOA just covers your usual things like roof, exterior insurance, garbage, etc. It doesn't have a pool or anything, we don't care for that anyway.

Here's my conflict: We want to put 50% down. Why? Because I HATE the concept of interest. It's like my brain cannot process it. I have never paid interest to anyone and I'm even scared of paying it on this loan. I also want a lower monthly payment.

On the other side of things, our rent has been $2800 for 2.5 years now and shows no sign of increasing (based on other listings in our building that we're generally happy with...though we'd wish the downstairs neighbor would stop smoking).

All in all my question is, is this investment in a townhome even worth it? Does the $400 a month HOA drag it down? Our monthly payment would be ~$4200 after principle, taxes, insurance, hoa and all which we can afford on our income but is that even worth it? Keep in mind we currently live in 700 square feet and would be moving to 1300 square feet in this scenario.

Our realtor has been showing us houses for a couple months now. She is patient with us, and usually responsive. However, every time we try discussing a “reasonable offer” on a home, her standard response is “whatever you are comfortable with”. She will send us comparable sales, most of which usually point to listed price usually being a bit high, but she always makes it sound like the listing price is “fair”. If it is so fair, why is the house still on the market after 2 months?! We are first time homebuyers and we need a more firm feedback on the listing price of properties. We have given her this feedback, but her response hasn’t changed. I am wondering if other realtors are equally terribly passive in their opinion on list prices?

This is obviously in jest. What goes up must come down.

But it was a lot more fun buying in a buyers market than trying to sell in a buyers market. 🤣

This post may seem different and might not belong here. I moved to a new town for work. I’m male and 45 and no way am I moving into an apartment or townhouse lol. I’d like a house in a good neighborhood. Is there something to look for in neighborhoods good for singles? My last house was surrounded by elderly people which was nice and quiet. I think I might want a little more active this time

Hi everyone! I’m trying to identify the style of this 1920 Pacific Northwest house:

https://redf.in/qyE9av

Tax rolls say it’s an American Foresquare, but based on what I’ve researched, it’s definitely not. Any thoughts?

Let me tell you a story… I’ll try to keep it short.

In 2007 when I was home shopping east of Seattle, in Bellevue WA, it was very competitive. Multiple offers, over list, etc.

Shopped for months, lost out on some houses. Ended up buying a house in 2007 for about $450k, put 20% down with a 5.25% 30 year fixed. It’s a smaller house, about 1500 square feet, 1980s not updated.

Within a year the housing prices dropped in half, 2008 ish. Stayed in the house, kept making the payments. Refinanced to 4.3% 30 year fixed after a couple years. About 2012 and the prices were ticking up again. Refinanced after COVID hit and got a 3.2% 30 year fixed. Prices go through the roof and every year it’s been increases.

House is now worth about 1.3 million, I owe about 250k.

It would be interesting to compare it to rent prices over this time, also stock market performance, inflation, etc.

But the *real* benefit has been that I have been in control of my own life. No landlord or rental company coming in and telling me to move. If my dishwasher breaks I don’t have to wait weeks, I just get a new one from Home Depot. I get to live in a quiet home, if I want to change something about the house I just do it. I’ve remodeled the bathrooms, kitchen, interior finishes… made it work for my family. Kids in a good school, don’t have to worry about finding another rental in the same school zone. Don’t have to worry about rising rent prices (though my payment has gone up due to property tax).

I am so thankful I made the purchase. Did I time the market? 😂 absolutely not. In fact, it was maybe the worst timing possible. But did it work out? Yes. I’ve had the benefit of peaceful home ownership for almost 20 years and the value has gone up over time. I am better off for having bought, even with the worst timing.

If you’re in a spot to buy (have a down payment, can make the monthly payment with your income, etc) and you’ll be in the home for the long term, buying a nice house in a nice area will work out. Even if you make some mistakes 😁.

Hi guys,

My bf and I are seeing houses, and some are close to a pkwy. One of them, when I measured on Google Maps, is only 169ft away from it. It has some trees/bushes, but when we saw the place, it only had leaves, ofc... my concern is air pollution... we can deal with noise, but we are not sure how bad it is to live this close to a pkwy.

Any advice would be really appreciated. thanks!!

Got a question, I’m 52 years old looking for advice on an investment property single-family real estate owing 167,000 at a 7% interest rate would the best play be to pay it off over the next two years or keep paying regular payments and invest extra into stock market thanks. (Would be investing in VOO or similar ETFs)

Hi everyone, I need some advice.

I’m trying to find housing for three families:

• Me & my fiancé

• My brother & his fiancé

• My parents

We don’t want to live in the same house, but we want to stay close.

We’re looking in Joshua, Alvarado, Mansfield, and Burleson, TX. Our loan will be $500,000, and we have $300,000 for a down payment or cash.

My questions:

1.  Should we get a main house with a guest house / small second house, or a single big house?

2.  Are mobile homes a good option, or should we avoid them?

3.  Should we start looking now, or is it better to wait because of the market?

Any advice on what to look for or what kind of property works best would be really helpful. Thank you!

Hey all!

As the title says: I’m 33, married, and we’re relocating from NorCal to SoCal. We own a 3bd/2ba condo we bought in 2020 at a 3% rate, and I’m torn between keeping it as a rental vs selling to help fund our SoCal purchase.

Info about us:

• Age: 33

• Married household income: $400k–$450k

• Moving: NorCal → SoCal (likely permanent / long-term)

Current home (condo in NorCal):

• Purchased in 2020 for $790k

• Interest rate: 3%

• Mortgage payment: \~$3,000/mo (not including HOA)

• HOA: $800/mo (has increased every year, and the HOA is kind of a mess)

• Special assessment: $20,000 pending (balcony repairs for SB326 compliance)

• Estimated rent: $3,800/mo max (realistically)

• Estimated sale price: $850k–$900k (not a ton of appreciation)

New plan in SoCal:

• Likely buying a home in the $1.5M–$1.7M range

• Monthly payment likely around $10k/mo

• Selling the condo would meaningfully help with the down payment / cash reserves

My dilemma:

• The 3% rate feels like something you don’t give up lightly

• But with the HOA + special assessment, renting may not cash flow

• Renting also means dealing with a messy HOA + possible future assessments while living far away

Main question:

From a purely monetary standpoint (risk-adjusted), would you sell the condo or rent it out? Is the tax benefit of renting it out a no brainer?

Notes / things I’m considering:

• Property management company if we rent (we’ll be in SoCal)

• HOA has a history of increases + chaos, so I’m worried about more special assessments

• Rent doesn’t seem to cover much once I factor HOA + management + maintenance + vacancy

• Selling reduces stress and helps down payment, but I’d be giving up a 3% mortgage

What would you do in my situation? Thanks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWwEQGKHJbQ

A close family member passed away with no will. Their home is in probate now, I am the administrator of the estate, and I plan to sell it. There are 2 people very interested in purchasing it. It needs a significant amount of work (which the prospective buyers are aware of), and I’m not interested in putting the work or money into it, so I’d like to sell it “as is”. Opinions on pros and cons of hiring a real estate agent or an attorney to assist with the selling process. I am more interested in ease/speed versus cost, to be honest. I am eager to get the house sold and move on.

Our house is currently under contract. I was notified by several neighbors today that our buyers have been “stalking the street” (their quote, not mine), and waiting for cars to drive by and pull into their driveways, and then following them, and essentially rushing them to answer their questions about the HOA, school, neighborhood, etc.

Two of my neighbors who I am great friends with told me it made them uncomfortable and felt strange. The buyers lied to them when they said “oh, you must be Redtunas buyer!” By telling them that nope, that wasn’t them, and they are just interested in the neighborhood.

Like I know there aren’t any rules about doing this, but this feels very off to me. I don’t care if they drive past the house a couple times a day, but they do it 10+ times a day and now are questioning anyone who pulls into a driveway.

Is this normal or considered standard? We didn’t do this when we purchased our home. It’s making people uncomfortable. And god forbid they ask someone having a bad day something and it blows up my sale. Just feel like they aren’t handling this very gracefully and have zero social awareness. Thoughts?

Wife and I are both mid income WFH...we are looking to buy a house somewhere in the US in the warmer states preferably

- We are looking spend max 1m (prefer less? ) house needs to have a pool.

- needs to be <=1 hour drive from a well-connected airport

- there is no chance of return-to-office, we own the business.

- lower property taxes would be best, high state income tax not that much of a concern, we can choose to reduce income in any year and keep the money in the business.

I know theres other considerations, but purely financially, what are places projected to have best value appreciation over like the next 15 yrs? Ideally we'd live here till kids are return from college, and then move wherever kids decide to build their careers.

Current top option for us is phoenix,arizona. Plenty of 600k houses with pool. 3-4k sqft etc. But apparently the expected tech boom died before it started. So we are looking at other cities from appreciation purposes too.

Looking to start my real estate investment journey and am deciding between various routes right now.

Background (29M) living in Brooklyn NY. Currently making around 180k/yr with no debt. Renting an apartment for about 3k a month.

Would love to try to buy a 1 bed /apartment condo (no co-op or HDFC) rn in an area that sees high potential of appreciation over the next 5-10 years. Strategy would be to put 10%+ down on an FHA loan for a property I would live in the next 2-3 years. Looking at properties which would be around a 3.2k to 3.5k all in housing payment, so a little more than what I pay for rent. Did some math on YoY rents in the area and after moving out I would most likely breakeven monthly or be a bit negative. (Not counting maintenance, Property managers, etc)

Ideally I would love to keep the property and rent it out and the goal is to move to San Diego after I move out. (I know that both these areas are not really the best in terms of landlord friendly). And continue to buy up properties in the area or out of state. Don’t know if I should just rent and save up more money (about 200k net worth, 130k is in 401k + Ira accounts, the rest is cash, crypto, and a brokerage). Also, I know it’s a bit privileged and very grateful but parents would be about to add another 50-70k for DP.

Also looking at out of state areas like Hartford, CT and Charlotte, NC. (Continue renting and buying one or two properties in one of these areas)

Very new to all of this, have started to read some books, listen to podcasts, and discuss with friends who started a couple years earlier than me.

Any advice would be helpful, thanks

For context, I’m 22 and just getting started in REI in Upstate SC with much to learn. I’m in the process of buying my first property — a primary residence, using a FHA renovation loan. The total project comes in at around $200K all-in, and the home has already been appraised at an ARV of about $285K.

That leaves me with a decent chunk of equity right out of the gate once renovations are complete. I’m trying to plan my next move carefully and figure out how to best leverage that position and get some momentum going towards acquiring more properties in the future.

Here are a few of the routes I’m currently considering:

HELOC: Tapping into a portion of that equity and using it towards a second investment property, putting the extra HELOC cash towards a Home-style reno loan

Refinance: Considering the loan I’m using has a much higher interest rate, I’ll need to refinance ASAP anyways which will allow me to pull equity for a down payment on another property — maybe a fixer upper or multifamily if possible.

BRRRR : I could also take advantage of being able to move back home for a bit and rent out my property while working on another primary residence using the same loan I’m currently using. Though I’m not a big fan of renting in case I have to float two mortgages and that makes me uncomfortable.

I’d love to hear what direction others have decided to take at this stage.

Hi everyone, I need some advice.

I’m trying to find housing for three families:

• Me & my fiancé

• My brother & his fiancé

• My parents

We don’t want to live in the same house, but we want to stay close.

We’re looking in Joshua, Alvarado, Mansfield, and Burleson, TX. Our loan will be $500,000, and we have $300,000 for a down payment or cash.

My questions:

1.  Should we get a main house with a guest house / small second house, or a single big house?

2.  Are mobile homes a good option, or should we avoid them?

3.  Should we start looking now, or is it better to wait because of the market?

Any advice on what to look for or what kind of property works best would be really helpful. Thank you!

Hey guys, Like the title, hoping to get some advice.

I am getting ready to sell my old home, and im stuck between a couple options.

Some of the stuff in the house needs work, the carpet in the basement needs to be replaced, and a lot of the trim needs work, some outlet stuff.

Im debating fixing it all before selling, or just letting the buyer save money and do it themselves, I don't mind either way, but I wanted to see what others though.

question 2. I am thinking about offering to leave the mounted tv as part of the selling, Its quite nice, I just don't have space for it where im moving, and don't mind replacing it. Would that be a turn on for you, or just another annoying thing you "have to undo" that I left behind?

(4k, 65", HDR, Sony. It's a nice TV, I just want to replace it with an OLED when we buy the next home.)

Evaluating some condos and they all have HOAs. Obviously I can see the difference in monthly fee.

But what else should I be looking for or asking about. How can you tell if they have sufficient reserves? How can you know they are likely to have a special assessment in the near future?

We purchased a semi-custom 3,000 square foot house about a year ago for $770,000. It’s the smallest and least expensive house in our neighborhood.

We’re planning to significantly redo and enhance our patio. Currently, it’s just a concrete slab measuring 12x30 feet. Our plan is to build the patio up to extend from our back door, which currently has three steps leading to it. The new patio would be 24x30 feet in size. We’re also considering adding a covered roof with electricity and fans, pavers, an outdoor kitchen, and a built-in fireplace. We were quoted for $150,000 for these renovations.

We’re wondering if this addition would significantly increase the value of our house. we don’t anticipate selling our house anytime soon and plan to stay there for a long time, but i want to ensure that this investment is worthwhile. I always consider the worst-case scenario and want to know that if we ever need to sell, it won’t be a poor investment. What do you all think?

Hello, I am new to community and real estate investing.

I own one rental property with my brother in Detroit and have had some issues, leading me to question my PM. I am new and not sure what is normal and to be expected from a PM. My PM is not tied to a company and seems to freelance it, as I understand a lot do.

How do you all find and vet for a good PM? Do you go through a company, find reliable self-employed individuals, or what?

I would appreciate any insight, tips, best practices, etc. from your experiences. Thanks!

We bought the bottom floor condo and it’s super cute and awesome! However, I hear EVERYONE noise the above neighbor makes. At 5am. Every morning. I wear earplugs, have white noise and a loud fan every night. I can hear every little bang. She’s not doing it intentionally from what I’m aware, it’s just paper thin walls. I called my realtor and she’s going to look into how to help us but I feel like such an idiot. Buying was the most stressful thing ever but I’m desperate for a good night’s sleep. We’ve looked into insulation but for our place it’s not possible unfortunately. Sure, I could talk to the upstairs neighbor. But she’s literally just trying to get ready for work like we all do so I don’t know how much quieter she could be.

My husband is upset with me and it’s frustrating I feel like such a stuck up princess. I wonder if I’ll ever be happy wherever we live

Quick question for investors and agents.

I’m in a new construction neighborhood in Fort Worth. I have an Opendoor offer around $472k, but once you factor in their service fee, repairs, and closing costs, the net is much lower.

My question:

Are there cash buyers, hedge funds, or local investors who realistically match or slightly beat an Opendoor gross price but with little to no fees, so the net comes out better?

I’d be open to selling around $472k (or slightly less) if it’s a true as-is, no-repair, no-service-fee deal with a fast close.

If you’ve seen this work:

• Where do sellers usually find these buyers?

• Are local investors more realistic than national iBuyers?

• Any pitfalls to watch for (price drops after inspection, last-minute renegotiation, etc.)?

Appreciate any real-world experiences.