2023 Real Estate Observations (Boston, Nantucket, Warwick: high schools, best areas, reviews)

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by gf2020

I'm a moderator on a prominent boating forum and I would ban the whole lot of you for these frivolous posts if I were a moderator here. Personal attacks are way out of bounds.

No one's attacking, we're just asking questions.

[simplexsimon]

Originally Posted by redplum33

Of course there will be downturns.

But 900k houses aren't going back to 500k. Just like a $20 decent burger isn't going back to $8 to $12.

We always hear about the businesses that couldn't survive the pandemic, but we rarely hear about the ones that ended up absolutely thriving. The latter is the majority. Massive wealth has been built since the pandemic started. Much of which came from all of the bogus forgiven PPP loans and taking advantage of supply chain issues (not lowering prices when the supply chain issues were fixed).

At the end of the day, it's foolish to think housing will go back to pre-pandemic levels when just about everything else has nearly doubled.

I was thinking about this after seeing an article about the "Fed put", basically interest rate cuts in response to a falling market.

https://www.wsj.com/economy/central-...folio-72cc28d7

The basic idea: By cutting rates in response to a drop in the stock market, the Fed had in effect provided investors with something similar to a put option, an instrument used by traders to insure against losses. Moreover, because the Fed was slow to raise rates again even as stocks surged, it was as though that put kept getting repriced higher, giving investors a pass to take on risks they wouldn’t otherwise stomach.

Other episodes followed, such as the rate cuts following the dot-com bust, and the cuts and enormous liquidity infusions that came following the 2008 financial crisis. Now maybe—just maybe—the Fed is weaning the market off of Fed-put thinking. It has only taken a quarter century.

We would need a lots of job losses to turn the supply/demand dynamic around and no corresponding interest rate cuts. It depends on how long Powell is willing to keep rates high. "Marry the house, date the mortgage rate" sayings seem to have disappeared.

[msRB311]

The grocery prices are depressing as those are things people need to purchase weekly or more. I feel like the price of cheese goes up every week lately...ugh. Why?

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by gf2020

I'm a moderator on a prominent boating forum and I would ban the whole lot of you for these frivolous posts if I were a moderator here. Personal attacks are way out of bounds.

Those varnish vs Cetol flame wars are brutal! LOL

Zillow thinks I’m a bit less rich this week than a month ago. My next door neighbor who closed last October still hasn’t moved in. I shudder to think what he’s spending fixing problems on a small house that should have been torn down. I did that in 2010 through 2013 when costs were lower. I don’t recommend that form of financial insanity to anyone.

Our new cedar plank fence across the back lot line looks nice and puts the invisibly cloak over that neighbor but was almost $100/foot. I can’t believe what things cost now.

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Those varnish vs Cetol flame wars are brutal! LOL

Zillow thinks I’m a bit less rich this week than a month ago. My next door neighbor who closed last October still hasn’t moved in. I shudder to think what he’s spending fixing problems on a small house that should have been torn down. I did that in 2010 through 2013 when costs were lower. I don’t recommend that form of financial insanity to anyone.

Our new cedar plank fence across the back lot line looks nice and puts the invisibly cloak over that neighbor but was almost $100/foot. I can’t believe what things cost now.

I have a problem neighbor too. You're lucky you can put a fence up. I technically can but won't b/c the neighbor's trees always have big limbs that crack and break off during windy storms and they land on my property. I'm afraid I'd be wasting lots of money only to have a crashed/broken fence. I'm waiting for the whole tree(s) to come down or snap one of these days. The guy won't let me take them down and I offered to pay for all of them! Nut jobs out there, I'm telling you!

[gf2020]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Those varnish vs Cetol flame wars are brutal!

GeoffD, you know the web site!

[newenglandgal123]

I guess the higher mortgage rates are having little impact on the over list bidders in Hingham. $100+k over list for this starter home just sold....https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...56640742_zpid/


Bonus: new owners get a two tone house! lol Front looks like gray painted clapboard and I'd be willing to bet the white siding on the back of the house is the original asbestos siding!

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by gf2020

GeoffD, you know the web site!

That’s every sailing message board I’ve ever seen.

[simplexsimon]

Originally Posted by newenglandgal123

I guess the higher mortgage rates are having little impact on the over list bidders in Hingham. $100+k over list for this starter home just sold....https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...56640742_zpid/


Bonus: new owners get a two tone house! lol Front looks like gray painted clapboard and I'd be willing to bet the white siding on the back of the house is the original asbestos siding!

If rates were 3%, it would sell for much higher. If they plan to live there 7-10 years and the rest of the finances work then they’ll be okay. Just don’t look at rates and prices from 4 years ago.

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by simplexsimon

If rates were 3%, it would sell for much higher. If they plan to live there 7-10 years and the rest of the finances work then they’ll be okay. Just don’t look at rates and prices from 4 years ago.

The price as it is right now seems high to me for what it is. If rates were still 3% and it sold for that it would still seem high to me. To me that should be like a $500K house max and that's just because it's in Hingham.