The economic fallout from COVID has been limited so far due to fine work from our Democratic representatives.

No further comment, as it may get me in trouble.

all the people buying... and in my area the prices are going up

in a flooded market where people have to sell.

We are moving there this fall and houses are selling in a day...it is crazy. We are hoping to sell ours quickly here in PA.

...told me that a quality department guy was moving because he got a much bigger job.
His house was listed for...............40 minutes.
20% above asking price.
Since he'd rather sell fast so the whole family can move he grabbed it!
It was listed for 40 MINUTES!!
I've never heard anything like that, before.

I look at realtor.com. all day...thing are selling within hours. Insane

and my Realtor friend tells me that the market here is hot too. Low interest rates and people moving out of LA. Homes here are less expensive than in Southern California.

The stock market is rebounding like crazy and houses are selling, while unemployment is at 11%....

Two hundred and fifty thousand people are gathering in Sturgis this weekend, presumably mostly maskless, while millions of us worry about the risks of going to the drugstore....

So much cognitive dissonance. Everything feels off balance. I don't like 2020.

But I'm glad about your son's good fortune!

I wonder if the buyers are actually private equity firms buying the houses cheap in the hope of renting them out at jacked up prices.

Not a lot of bargains.

realtor they didn't want to loose another one. Dhe said "You know how to make sure don't you?" They offered my son $5,000 more than the listing price. It sounds to me like these are real people buying the houses at least here.

If you have cash but think the dollar will be decimated and/or the market will plunge, you buy gold or you buy land.

low inventory and very high demand (mostly from California)

they can’t build houses fast enough in Reno

people from California are selling their houses and buying homes about twice the size in places like Nevada

depends on the local market conditions

(this spring was our intention after a failed attempt last year and a sewage system that decided to back up), there's no way in hell I want people marching through my home. We've had 138% state spike in virus cases in the last month. Nor do I have any desire to run up to Philly--a 700 mile trip--and run through other people's homes.

Because Covid-19 and . . . I like breathing in and out. Without a ventilator.

I'm sure there are many people not yet affected but that doesn't mean they haven't been exposed nor that they couldn't carry the virus right into my living room. Or that I couldn't walk into someone's house where the virus hasn't yet manifested but is there nonetheless.

So, we're sitting tight for the moment.

I just sold my house in Palo Alto, Ca last month. There was a bidding war and I sold for 600k over asking, which is about par for the SF Bay Area where demand is much greater than the supply. The total home sales are down but the prices are rising!

How many mil did you get?

You have to understand that in my city the median listing price is about 3.2 million. Plenty of high paying jobs with little available housing. The official poverty line is about $250k per household. Yup I sold because I am now working from home indefinitely. Idaho here I come.

Income ranges have NOT been hurt economically by this pandemic. Some (such as certain employees of Amazon, Apple, etc.) are doing better than ever. Meanwhile interest rates are making housing more affordable.

As with most crises, it is the lower income and unemployed who are hit the hardest.

Don't kill me for saying that. But, there is a situation created where, if you're essential, you're making money.

I'm a manager in a very essential industry. I work everyday. I've gotten three raises since March. My company does not want us leaving no matter what.

Of course, I feel awful. I've seen friends laid off, furloughed, etc. And I've been making crazy amounts of money (also putting in 80 hour weeks sometimes).

It's a completely fucked up reality.

"Isn't this the worst?" Yes . . . the worst . . . I'ma go figure out my home theater now.

Demented, but true.

16 hour days,directly in contact with covid. Our thanks? Revocation of our already promised raise and a 3% pay cut across the board.

Fvck Mike Parson.

Which absolutely floors me.

Trying to convince people to sell. He said offers are almost immediate and people are offering 110%+ of asking price.

I would love to sell and gtf out of this shithole slummy region, but I'm afraid banks will pull the draw strngs on their collective purses and not loan any money.

Another effect of the tRump virus.

Both large and small. They are buying houses and then fixing them up a little, and selling them for a profit or renting them out at inflated prices. I have seen this all over. A friend of mine just bought a house after getting outbid numerous times by these types, and she only got one because of a realtor friend who made the first bid at a higher price then what was being asked, and then talked the sellers into doing it in a day after they got 30 more offers. So regular people are once again getting screwed in trying to find affordable rentals or houses to buy.

but I'd like to get back to work after my military retirement in January. I'm waiting for COVID to settle down and go into teaching next Fall or if an attorney job I like pops up before then I'll take that.

I have the money saved up to put down a six digit deposit, and my retirement pay is pretty decent, so I could buy a house at any time once my lease is up next Summer for my apartment.

Those that can afford a house before COVID are probably doing well enough during COVID to still be able to afford a house in many cases. It's the folks who were scrimping and saving up who, per usual, most affected negatively.

Also, you may have people selling vice falling behind on the mortgage and using that money to downsize or whatnot, which lowers costs and motivates buyers.

Most of those people work from home now, an likely occasionally did so before Covid.

I your case, why not buy some old farmland and build a spec house on it? I know around where I live in Florida, farmland is being sold off left and right. Sometimes estates are build on it, other times housing developments. A farmer who has been busting his or her chops on 125 acres and barely getting by see a chance to sellout for enough to live the rest of his or her life comfortably aren’t turning down those land sale offers. Their land sell for a premium because it has been cleared for many generations in most cases, so there is no need to cut down trees and clear brush.

And there are plenty of cheap houses here to buy. I just don't want to buy one on one side of the city and then get a job on the opposite side.

To put on the market. Word got out and they sold it right away. Never even engaged a realtor.

I quarantined as long as I could but I’m back at it. Everyone is masked up and there haven’t been any cases at all in my job with more than 100 people manning it.

Nationwide people are moving out of the cities and heading to the suburbs. People in the suburbs are moving out of the suburbs and heading to the country. People are moving to small towns if they can.

I think it is persons who can move from more densely populated areas to ones less so due to covid. Bonus low interest rates.

soaking up what is near them. As cities grow, companies locate on the outskirts, offering jobs that pay as well as jobs in the city for certain professions. Then shopping and entertainment pop up in the expanded places. Older residents who wanted a slower pace of life sell out, bay and move farther out, and buy less expensive housing and bank left over money. At least, that is what is happening in my area.

A lot of people did fine back then and I’m sure plenty are doing fine right now.

Last edited Thu Aug 6, 2020, 08:33 PM - Edit history (1)

I am hoping to buy another house in Southern Vermont and it is CRAZY out there... a realtor told me "you can't make this up" the day houses are listed there are multiple offers...

I'm waiting... I will not play the bidding game

buyers even seeing them in person. Apparently there is flight from the cities.

one buyer paid 7 figures for a house up here in the NorthEast Kingdom sight unseen... good luck this winter

realtor also said instead of 2nd homes (condos, etc) people are buying single family homes so they have option of settling in with option of work at home and distance learning for kids

chatting with local the other day and he predicts that a winter or two will put those homes back on the market

I'd kind of like to sell right now and move back to VT, but even though I could get top dollar for what I've got, I couldn't afford what I want. Same boat you're in I guess. But you're right. When this all settles down they'll be a drop in prices again.

4 days and he received three offers. Sold very fast.

This was just like 2 weeks ago or so.

There are a coupon factors. Work from home and room to relax. Both wars about space.

and inflationary pressure is driving up prices of just about everything including food and many consumer goods.

In times of high inflation, if you have money, then real estate, gold and stocks are safer than cash or bonds.

And they had like 20 potential buyers too. I was like WTF!

Another point I would like to make is that it's easier to protect yourself from the coronavirus if you live in a house instead of an apartment building.

Sold to the first people that looked at it, 15K over asking price.

I was so happy to get my equity out of the ground before the recession.