Overheated

Published by

Clarissa

May 1, 2018

The real-estate market around here is so overheated that house owners don’t have the time to post for-sale signs before the house has a buyer. Folks who are trying to buy can’t get any showings for months because everything is sold the second it hits the market.

We are not a highly desirable economic area. No high-tech companies have moved into the region. There is no economic boom. We literally have nothing but the university in a deepening financial crisis and St Louis next door, which is not a hub of exciting economic activity, to put it very mildly.

This worries me. I don’t want to be a doomsayer but this smells like another real estate bubble to me. But yet again, nobody talks about it because folks are too busy moaning that a comic said “fuck” and “pussy” during a routine.

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10 responses to “Overheated”

Mike

May 1, 2018

Yeah, it’s definitely a bubble. Its popping won’t have quite the calamitous effect that it did in 2007-2009, but I’ve already heard people saying, “House prices will never fall again.” Of course they will, and not that far into the future. What’s happening now is unsustainable as people’s incomes can only stretch so far and a recession (at some point) is inevitable.

A few years ago, we were looking at a house and even put in an offer. Someone outbid us by $15,000 and grossly overpaid. We said, “No thank you” and walked away from any counteroffer. That will turn out to be a very good decision. A lot of people are going to be saddled with mortgages they can’t pay in houses that aren’t worth all that much.

That’s when we’ll buy.

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1. Clarissa
  
  May 1, 2018
  
  This bothers me a lot because two of the houses I’m familiar with are ridiculously overpriced. But they sold easily. I’m worried.
  
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cliff arroyo

May 1, 2018

I seem to recall articles a few months (or a year or so) ago that economists or financial ‘experts’ were hoping for a new bubble (or complaining that there wasn’t a new bubble yet).
Economics and finance have become so far removed from people’s lives that they’re essentially of negative value, an albatross on any society they have influence over.

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Anon

May 1, 2018

There’s a huge real-estate bubble in our part of California as well, and we are not close to any large technology hub or anything. The 2008 crash was very hard on us, but somehow people seem to have forgotten all about it.

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1. Clarissa
  
  May 1, 2018
  
  Short memories of the 1984 kind scare me. This is not going in a good direction.
  
  In Montreal, which used to be a lot saner than the rest of Canada, it’s going nuts, too. Like really nuts.
  
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TomW

May 2, 2018

My town is in the middle of a building boom that doesn’t entirely make sense. There are fancy apartments and new hotels going up all over the place. Our local economy is doing well, but it’s a stable sort of well, not growing wildly. But according to a a post someone shared, we will have added 13 hotels and nearly 3,000 new apartments in 2017and 2018 combined. The area population is around 100,000 and university events are the main tourist draw.

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1. Clarissa
  
  May 2, 2018
  
  We also have a new hotel being built, right next to another brand new hotel and one older one. Apparently, we are expecting a lot of visitors, although I can’t imagine who they are going to be.
  
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  1. TomW
    
    May 2, 2018
    
    I’m sure every new hotel room in my town will be filled on football weekends and at graduation, because people already get hotels in neighboring cities up to an hour away on those weekends, but that might add up to 25 or 30 nights a year. I know there was some talk of the university being able to apply to host additional athletic tournaments and other events now that there are more hotel rooms in the area. But that’s not consistent or reliable demand. Rents here are fairly high for the region, so some new apartments are probably needed, but the ones they are building are mostly VERY fancy and VERY expensive.
    
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    1. Clarissa
      
      May 2, 2018
      
      We don’t have any huge sporting events, thank goodness. And yes, the rents are skyrocketing, too, which is disturbing. A place that rented out at $480 9 years ago is now $750.
      
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      1. TomW
        
        May 2, 2018
        
        The big sporting events are a minor inconvenience. Football is the only thing that draws really huge crowds, and you just need to avoid the stadium area a couple of Saturdays in the fall.
        
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