Why Is Charlotte/Surrounding Area So Outrageously Overvalued and Expensive? (Washington: loans, houses)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Charlotte surrounding area as a whole never really experienced the crash from the recession that destroyed home values across the US. Most houses only lost a little equity if that. A realtor sends listings/sales in my general area (Fort Mill) and most people even to date can sell their homes for what they paid if not a tad more in a fairly short time (average about 1.5 months); to note, they are still building new homes in my community and a surrounding community.
You have moved to a desireable metro area and are trying to buy in one of the new trendy areas (union county). Most people factor that into their price. A good majority of people work with a real estate agent so they get help from them in pricing it based on comps.
For you, do realize it is a buyer's market here. You don't like the asking price so negiotiate. They don't like it, move onto the next. There are plenty of new home builders down there in addition to resales. Good luck on your search. If you are having issues finding property in that area for the price you want to pay, you might seek the help from a real estate agent.
When did these pp buy their homes....2001? Not sure I would rely on a realtor's prognosis of the market. Remember realtors are in the business of listing and selling homes. They are not going to get your listing if they if they focus on the negative. They will alwasys spin. Unless Fort Mill somehow bypassed the housing correction all together, I think you need to be realistic. I live on LI and our area weathered the housing correction fairly well (much better then Charlotte). We just do not have the land to build on, so there is limited (current or potential) capacity in the housing market. However, we still experienced some softness, i.e., anyone who bought between 2004ish and 2007ish can not sell for what they paid. We have very few, if any foreclosures in my immediate area, because desparate sellers can sell with a minor loss. My understanding of Charlotte and the surrounding area, particularly South Charlotte and Union Cty areas, is that there are tons of foreclosures and more to come. Sellers entering the market have to be aware of these conditions if they want to set a fair asking price for their home and sell in a relatively short time frame. I think an average of 1.5 months is a bit aggressive in any market and highly suspicious. Your realtor is selling "beauty products, and we got no need for beauty products"!
You're not qualified to write this letter - please allow me to explain why.
Union County isn't really that different then other major metros... You can find just about every price point represented. Yes, even if you constrain your search to the "Western" part of the county in Waxhaw / Weddington. It begs the question of whether you've really done your homework... and if you haven't, which I'm guessing you didn't - you're not even working with a buyer's agent?
Quote:
After searching countless hours of MLS queries, driving around, and reading numerous housing boards...
That's borderline laughable... I've done this x 1,000 AND working with a Buyer's agent. I can point you at several options if you let me know your price point. You haven't done enough research if this is the extent of your knowledge. Yes, the area was fed during the boom by folks taking huge windfalls on their previous sales in NY/NJ/CA/etc and rolled it to overpay for some McMansion type homes - yes, it was a builder's paradise for a while where they couldn't put them up fast enough. However, things have come down substantially since the peak.
I won't argue that some sellers are still in LaLa land - this is true. But deals are out there if you're looking in the right places, especially if you're willing to deal with distressed properties. Are you going to get something in Longview or custom home in Providence Downs for under $70/sqft? No... But True Homes would be happy to build you something in Cuthbertson for that... and they're not the only ones. What about Eastern UC?
Do your homework - get yourself a good buyer's agent - wake up to the reality that certain areas are going to have a premium... If you can't or won't pay that premium, move on or hold out. The best thing you can do as a prospective buyer is let your holding talk - it's a much better message then an anonymous rant on a forum.
Anyway, I am happy to share my research if you're serious about buying in the Waxhaw / Weddington area. I had always intended to write a blog on it, but work won't allow it... kind of regret I haven't been doing it since we started our relocation research back when I joined this board.
I agree with Mikey. If someone's holding out then either its worth it or they have more staying power or circumstances are such that they cant 'afford' to drop the price further. Home buying is a game of patience. One that can only be played after tons of research. And Mikey has provided lot of good points on how you can conduct your research.
Trust me it might be frustrating while you looking for that one elusive property. But once you land it you will agree it was all worth it.
Go for it, there is always one that you will like where the sellers will be willing to sell at your price point.
P.S. Mikey you need to write that blog if you can. CD proved quite helpful to me when I was looking. Though I bought in NJ the rules of the game were the same as other places.
Location, location, location! Supply and demand. Union County is one of the fastest growing counties in the United States and has been for years. Why? When you move here you never leave.
I think that says it all right there. Wait a few months and we'll get someone from Detroit saying the same thing.
well, I just moved from Michigan (south of Flint so even worse off than Detroit--or at least as bad as Detroit)
we bought in Union County
did I pay too much--no I don't think so
did I end up in an area I wanted --yes I did
do you sometimes get what you pay for--yes and in this case and then some
the list goes on and on about the life differences that are "included" in the housing price but it's all good to bad the OP is being this negative
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,698,410 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by mewith3
well, I just moved from Michigan (south of Flint so even worse off than Detroit--or at least as bad as Detroit)
we bought in Union County
did I pay too much--no I don't think so
did I end up in an area I wanted --yes I did
do you sometimes get what you pay for--yes and in this case and then some
the list goes on and on about the life differences that are "included" in the housing price but it's all good to bad the OP is being this negative
Follow the link that I posted in post 2 of this thread. The OP does not plan to use the schools, which is what most people who buy in Union County want. That said, apparently, the OP wants the bragging rights to living in Union County for dirt cheap.
now to the OP as I mentioned above I moved from MI..worse off than Ohio maybe but I am not sure how you can compare
I paid more for my house here than I would have paid in Michigan right now, but there is more going on here:
my observations
people are spending money here, restaurants are full on weekends, not like where I came from, people are out and about in the sunshine, no one looks depressed or on meds, most certainly more upbeat than they were in Michigan
We focused in on school districts and then an area with kids in the neighborhood, we found many subdivisions to look at, and many had a huge a price range within the sub, are the prices as low as they would have been in MI no -- but we did not expect them to be -- we were moving on to what we thought was best for the family
I think you need to re-evaluate, what you want and what it means to you
It's all perspective and what you want to make of it
Best of luck to you in your continued search
Follow the link that I posted in post 2 of this thread. The OP does not plan to use the schools, which is what most people who buy in Union County want. That said, apparently, the OP wants the bragging rights to living in Union County for dirt cheap.
I have many neighbors without children that bought in Union County for various reasons, they did not want the schools either, but like it was said before this isn't Ohio or Detroit, or some of the more depressed areas of the country
Can the OP get a deal like back where they came from no way, I did not either, but the recovery up there will take decades in some areas...they need to move on
When did these pp buy their homes....2001? Not sure I would rely on a realtor's prognosis of the market. Remember realtors are in the business of listing and selling homes. They are not going to get your listing if they if they focus on the negative. They will alwasys spin. Unless Fort Mill somehow bypassed the housing correction all together, I think you need to be realistic. I live on LI and our area weathered the housing correction fairly well (much better then Charlotte). We just do not have the land to build on, so there is limited (current or potential) capacity in the housing market. However, we still experienced some softness, i.e., anyone who bought between 2004ish and 2007ish can not sell for what they paid. We have very few, if any foreclosures in my immediate area, because desparate sellers can sell with a minor loss. My understanding of Charlotte and the surrounding area, particularly South Charlotte and Union Cty areas, is that there are tons of foreclosures and more to come. Sellers entering the market have to be aware of these conditions if they want to set a fair asking price for their home and sell in a relatively short time frame. I think an average of 1.5 months is a bit aggressive in any market and highly suspicious. Your realtor is selling "beauty products, and we got no need for beauty products"!
First off, I don't have a realtor. I am very happy with my home in Fort Mill. I get a mailing about every month or so where a realtor is just giving factual sales in our area (with the location, base stats of the home, listing price, sold price, and days listed); assumption is everyone in my neighborhood gets the same mailing. All this data is on the MLS so it can't be too suspicious. Since my builder is still building, I am aware of how much our homes in my community sell for (my builder's prices have pretty much stayed the same throughout the project). Thus, I can tell at least with the listing from my neighborhood that most people didn't lose really anything in the sale. In fact, some had a nice little profit. She sends them so if anyone was interested in selling their home they would think of her for their listing. Fully aware of that but again it is still factual information from the MLS.
For my area, there is little to zero Foreclosures and Short Sales. I guess you were not informed correctly.
From Friends and Family in Florida where there are tons of foreclosures and huge losses in equity (for instance, a friend got a beachside condo on N. Miami Beach that normally was 750,000 for 200,000), this was a total shock to see Charlotte not experience something similar. We were one of the few cities in the US that were still expanding during the recession.
As for the purchaser of homes, they need to also be aware that Charlotte's market as a whole (if you want to be in the desirable areas) didn't experience what the rest of the country did. The sellers here are aware of this; thus they price their homes the way they do and they sell pretty close to asking price (at least in the desirable areas).
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
