Pat Riot Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 I cannot find his post, but yesterday our esteemed @bgavin made a comment about interest rates possibly dropping as it’s an election year. I thought this was a very interesting point. I did a little research and found home loan rates have gone down a little and I thought “bgavin may be on to something” This morning I did a search and found some more info that the Fed intends to relax rates soon. What a coincidence! https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/02/economy/interest-rate-cuts-inflation-fed-2024/index.html https://abcnews.go.com/Business/interest-rate-cuts-2024-election/story?id=105752108 The best stories I encountered were on “pay to play” news sources, such as; the NYT, Barrons and a couple of others. When I began my retirement process in earnest housing interest rates weren’t bad at all, but my wife and I decided to rent a house rather than trust realtor’s photos to buy a house. I hope no one reading this is a realtor, but in my opinion realtors are…Know what, never mind. Anyway, the plan was to rent for a year then buy a house. With interest rates higher than they used to be we are still living in the rented house. Maybe because of interesting market manipulation in an election year we might just buy us a house this year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyesa Horg Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Kinda like they said gas was going down. It did for week here and now heading back up! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgavin Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 (edited) The Fed reducing interest rates was attributed to a Trump comment, published on Fox News. I am the perpetual cynic, and believe these tactics are commonplace to manipulate elections. The debt officially hit $34 trillion, meaning the gov't continues to print fiat currency fueled by debt. This behavior is artificial, because M1/M2 continue to increase and an increase in the money supply triggers inflation. Edited January 6 by bgavin 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Mike Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Inflation will go higher because shipping companies now have to avoid the Red Sea and go around Africa because cargo ships are being attacked. This adds a month to the trip and increases fuel usage raising fuel cost . The consumer pays that cost. This will force the federal reserve to not lower rates as planned and may force them to raise them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted January 6 Author Share Posted January 6 Well, my wife and I have decided that staying in this little rental house isn’t the worst thing that could happen. I would prefer that rather than pay a grand a month for a rental I would prefer to buy a small house with a garage around here for $75-$100K and have a lower monthly payment on a house with a garage that I can permanently adapt to. We’ll see. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chantry Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 1 minute ago, Pat Riot said: Well, my wife and I have decided that staying in this little rental house isn’t the worst thing that could happen. I would prefer that rather than pay a grand a month for a rental I would prefer to buy a small house with a garage around here for $75-$100K and have a lower monthly payment on a house with a garage that I can permanently adapt to. We’ll see. 1 bedroom, with a basement, 820 sq feet condo's are selling for $135,000 and renting for $1450 a month here and I know CA and parts of NY & NJ are even worse. I'm wondering when the residential prices are going to drop and leave a lot of people underwater on their mortgages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted January 6 Author Share Posted January 6 44 minutes ago, Chantry said: 1 bedroom, with a basement, 820 sq feet condo's are selling for $135,000 and renting for $1450 a month here and I know CA and parts of NY & NJ are even worse. I'm wondering when the residential prices are going to drop and leave a lot of people underwater on their mortgages. We have a 2 bedroom house, 950 sq ft, full basement (heated/lighting) 1.5 car garage on a treed lot 100x100 feet for a grand a month. I have no intention of moving away from WV. This house would probably sell for $90-100K as is. If I went across the border into Greene County Pennsylvania I could buy a house just like this for $50K, but then I would be in PA. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted January 6 Author Share Posted January 6 2 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said: Kinda like they said gas was going down. It did for week here and now heading back up! I paid $2.56 per gallon yesterday. In PA gas was around $3.39 per gallon. When I was in CA over Christmas I actually forgot to look at the prices of gas. I guess I just didn’t care. We did not rent a car so I bought no gas. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyesa Horg Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 I think your wise Pat in holding on a purchase, at least for a bit. Visions of the late 80's or so dance in my head! Really thankful for my 2.8 percent mortgage! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irish Pat Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 but you can get 5% on savings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duffield, SASS #23454 Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Find a realtor who is a buyer's agent! DO NOT let the realtor who is listing the house handle all the paperwork or you WILL be screwed. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 1 hour ago, Irish Pat said: but you can get 5% on savings Just renewed a jumbo cd for 12 months @ 5%. Beats the 3 1/2% I was getting last year and the 1 1/2% 2 years ago. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckshot Bob Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 12 hours ago, Pat Riot said: We have a 2 bedroom house, 950 sq ft, full basement (heated/lighting) 1.5 car garage on a treed lot 100x100 feet for a grand a month. I have no intention of moving away from WV. This house would probably sell for $90-100K as is. If I went across the border into Greene County Pennsylvania I could buy a house just like this for $50K, but then I would be in PA. If houses aren’t moving in the area you want right now because of the high interest rates. You might want to consider buying now to save money on the house and re finance in a year or two. When rates “hopefully” drop 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted January 7 Author Share Posted January 7 7 hours ago, Buckshot Bob said: If houses aren’t moving in the area you want right now because of the high interest rates. You might want to consider buying now to save money on the house and re finance in a year or two. When rates “hopefully” drop That’s a good point, except here in northern WV I find houses that have been for sale for months with no drop in price. Often the house will be pulled off the market 2 or 3 times and relisted with the same or higher price after upgrading the house or property. It’s kind of odd. I think that the idea here is “It’s a University town and area, it will sell for what we want…eventually.” I was looking at houses in areas 15-30 miles south of us, but my wife loves being near her family in PA. We have a kind of agreement that we’ll stay in WV to make me happy but close to PA to make her happy and that’s fine with me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckshot Bob Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 58 minutes ago, Pat Riot said: That’s a good point, except here in northern WV I find houses that have been for sale for months with no drop in price. Often the house will be pulled off the market 2 or 3 times and relisted with the same or higher price after upgrading the house or property. It’s kind of odd. I think that the idea here is “It’s a University town and area, it will sell for what we want…eventually.” I was looking at houses in areas 15-30 miles south of us, but my wife loves being near her family in PA. We have a kind of agreement that we’ll stay in WV to make me happy but close to PA to make her happy and that’s fine with me. Happy wife happy life 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pb Mark Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 Buy the old way. Do your own research. Look at the public available information about the house of interest. Taxes, previous prices etc. The primary person on your side could be the title company you choose. They do all the paperwork. Listen to their advice vs any realtor. Sometimes they can be a good friend if chosen wisely. They know the home inspectors if you don't. Twenty percent down, skip the mortgage insurance costs. Get your loan prequalified. Negotiate with the seller's realtor, you do not need one. Be prepared to walk away if your gut tells you to as it is your biggest expense in life. Hire a good inspector. Plumbing, HVAC, roof, foundation, electrical, windows.... everything is going up. I'd buy in VW or PA before all of the homes are purchased by investors. It is happening everywhere. Personal opinion only. Home and car interest rates in affordable areas are not going down too much even if recession hits. Too much free money still floating around. Try for a 10- or 15-year mortgage if possible. Actually, the Fed just said the opposite of what they said the day before...we sell our dept, mostly to ourselves. My guess is no more very low rates. Banksters will prefer to sell 50-year mortgages. We have been conditioned to only care what the monthly payment is, not what it costs. Just the way it is. Good luck. Home ownership is a great thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyesa Horg Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 34 minutes ago, Pb Mark said: Home ownership is a great thing. Yeh, you get to repair it instead of the landlord! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted January 7 Author Share Posted January 7 48 minutes ago, Pb Mark said: Home ownership is a great thing. Thanks. I have purchased 4 homes using my VA benefits. You are definitely correct about real estate agents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watab kid Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 yup - if you listen to the lies on the news conferences there is no inflation , rates are falling and all is well in bidenomics , but we all know different dont we ? one lie cannot change the fact nether can all the lies change all of the facts , keep lying see where it gets you , 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgavin Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 (edited) When Idaho got Californicated, the teenie weenie 1940s homes in the Boise North End jumped up to $600k. This priced the locals out of the market (again), and gave the property tax collector a real thrill. After Dad passed in the early 90s, his estate instructions required the sale of his house after his wife died. It was a half acre or more, full basement, bomb shelter below that, and a view of the entire Boise valley and mountains. It went in 2006 for $137k to a local who is still in it today. Zillow currently lists it at $570k for 1600 sq ft. Edited January 8 by bgavin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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