Cynthia, I know you're going to pin my ears back, but now you understand why I told you that you may want to start looking now, and that it could take a LONG time to find what you're looking for. Yes, I know you were a realtor, but I know how crazy the market has become too. Another thing to keep in mind is that they can ask what they want for a place, but that doesn't mean they'll get it.
When you go to sell your place, see if it will qualify for a VA loan. That helps a lot too. We bought this place with a VA loan. There were so many places that didn't qualify. To some degree, that seemed to be where the "rubber met the road" so to speak. So many homes asking high prices, but they were not in good enough condition to pass the VA inspection, and criteria. The sad thing is, the banks will loan the money for these "needs some TLC" run down places, knowing darn well they aren't worth it.
Something else that affects it all; many people bought homes on the upswing before the housing bubble burst. Suddenly their homes were worth a little over half of what they paid for them, but they were stuck with the mortgage payments just the same. There are a lot of "upside down mortgage" homes on the market, which accounts for some of the crazy pricing. Notice that a lot of the overpriced home sit on the market, and don't sell.
Around the time we got our home, interest rates were very low, but the market had recovered some, so rates began climbing. Fortunately, I insisted on locking into our interest rate when our lender first began doing our paperwork. Yeah, I heard the "don't lock it in, because the interest rates could go back down, and you'd be locked into a higher rate" speech. I didn't buy into it, and it paid off big time for us. Interest rates have been steadily climbing every since then. Had we not locked in, we'd be paying half a percent higher in interest. Now, interest is at least 1 percent higher than what we're paying. While that may not sound like much, it translates into a lot of money overall.
When you go to sell your place, see if it will qualify for a VA loan. That helps a lot too. We bought this place with a VA loan. There were so many places that didn't qualify. To some degree, that seemed to be where the "rubber met the road" so to speak. So many homes asking high prices, but they were not in good enough condition to pass the VA inspection, and criteria. The sad thing is, the banks will loan the money for these "needs some TLC" run down places, knowing darn well they aren't worth it.
Something else that affects it all; many people bought homes on the upswing before the housing bubble burst. Suddenly their homes were worth a little over half of what they paid for them, but they were stuck with the mortgage payments just the same. There are a lot of "upside down mortgage" homes on the market, which accounts for some of the crazy pricing. Notice that a lot of the overpriced home sit on the market, and don't sell.
Around the time we got our home, interest rates were very low, but the market had recovered some, so rates began climbing. Fortunately, I insisted on locking into our interest rate when our lender first began doing our paperwork. Yeah, I heard the "don't lock it in, because the interest rates could go back down, and you'd be locked into a higher rate" speech. I didn't buy into it, and it paid off big time for us. Interest rates have been steadily climbing every since then. Had we not locked in, we'd be paying half a percent higher in interest. Now, interest is at least 1 percent higher than what we're paying. While that may not sound like much, it translates into a lot of money overall.
