Things here in The Dalles Oregon are still pretty strong, though houses with Pie in the Sky prices now sit on the market, where a year ago they would get immediate offers over asking price.

We are in a little bit different situation, in that Google is building a huge facility in town, and we are in the Columbia Gorge National Scenic area, which makes building anything outside the urban growth boundry pretty much off limits. There have been articles about this in New York Times and in the Oregonian, which put us on the map for speculators.

Personally, however, I see a reversal in the future. There just aren't that many jobs here that pay enough to keep up with a $2000 and up payment, and the market can't be fueled by flippers forever. Sooner or later the market has to balance with the people who live here and actually want houses to reside in... I doubt it will be a bursting bubble, but I think we will see a slow deflation over the next couple of years.

 

Stagflation here we come! Woohoo!

 

Rent here varies. You get what you pay for...$850 for small 2 bed 1 bath, very clean and very quiet on 1 acre...as an example.

Land - we got lucky to have bought our ~9 acres just before the trend(2 years ago). Payed 5k per on the mountain. You MIGHT find some clear cut land for $8500 with no creek or stream. I would not sell mine for $10k per acre. Going up fast here with no stopping in sight. Hope to buy more next year. - JKE

Edit to add - Montana and Wyoming seem to have gone up drastically in the last 5 years as far as land is comcerned. Long term goal is to purchase a small farm and cabin in either state.

 

Beautiful. That's a multi-million dollar property in my neck of the woods, so to speak. My little 1983 sq. ft. 2-story home on a 5500 sq ft lot just appraised for $493,000.

Home sales are stagnant in SoCal, and desperate investor sellers stuck with homes are hurting the market by dumping properties to avoid loosing their shirts.

 

Thanks for the kind words. Some guys I work with are from the UK. They have seen my home and tell me that in most parts of the UK, just the house and 1 acre would sell for over a million. I am fortunate to have a job that allows me to live anywhere I want. Fortunately that location is where I grew up. We still have pretty reasonable home prices around here. I really feel for the folks on the coasts as those prices are so outlandish. I think another area with reasonable home prices is the mid-south. Central and Northern Mississippi/Alabama/Louisiana/ Arkansas/Tennessee. I lived in South Louisiana for 5-1/2 years and had a very nice 4 bedroom home in a nice Subdivision. It was very nicely landscaped and we bought it for $72,000 16 years ago. When we left there 5 years later we sold it for $99,000. We had done a lot of fixing up on the inside. I think what hurts the market are all the flippers. It will all fall down someday. Eventually these flipping houses must land. When they do land, look out.

 

You spoke the truth right there. Out back home on the Outer Banks, real estate is ridiculous. It has slowed down some, my roommate's dad is a contractor on the beach, and they have built 7 houses over this year that havent sold yet. On some parts of the beach, 1/4 of an acre starts around 250k dollars, no house included. My neighbors just sold around 150 acres of farm land with a huge sand pit on it for 1.3 million. We have more land than that, but I hope my stepdad doesnt sell. My old boss has 600 acres for sale that has been on the market now for 2 years, and was offered 5.5 million for it, and didnt take it, wanted more, but I bet now hes wishing that he would have taken it.

Basically, the market back home on the beach sucks, but I do not forsee prices coming down for awhile. I guess its just the tourists, who pay OUTRAGEOUS amounts to stay for a week in a beach cottage. I wish I could turn back the pages of time, and go back and buy up every piece of land on the northern Outer Banks, who knows how much money I would be sitting on right now. Back in the 60's and such, land was dirt cheap on the beach, nobody believed it would get to the proportions it is now. My stepdad's grandpa once owned 5 miles of beachfront land on the beach but sold it a LONG LONG time ago for much of nothing. Thats just the way it goes.

Iron Mike, I absolutely love your house/land. Thats something like I want, probably wont get that anywhere near the coast of NC like where I want to live, might have to move out a little more westward