Every market is different pure and simple. In the area he is talking about (where I grew up so I can speak about it) a basic 3 BR house on a city lot can be had from the mid 20's to the mid 30's.
What if anything could be purchased in your area for that amount? Most likely not much. It is basic supply and demand. There are (were) more people willing to move to AZ than were willing to move to Kittaning or Butler PA by a long shot.

The whole issue is not parasitic in any means it is basic good business sense. As soon as the market started to correct itself the smart people turned and burned, un fortunely someone always gets caught. It is the basic economic cycle that has been going on since the 1930s.

BUT the issue is because of govt meddling in the market (since the 30's) we have never gotten the 4th step of an economic cycle which is prosperity. We are held in recovery,recession or stagnation. Remember the Dot com bubble? Same thing. You could make a mint in a very short time.

Jim Cramer (a financial guy "Mad Money") has an expression: Bears make money bulls make money and pigs get slaughtered.
That is exactly what happen to you and every one else that bought a house based on the current cycle with out looking down the road. What goes up must come down. There are very few areas in the country that never have a housing issue. NYC (and surrounding burbs) Boston, Hartford CT, and Chicago come to mind. Not that there are not housing issues BUT those market dont lose money.

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86 300SDL. 250,xxx on #14 Head. One eye always on temp gauge.. Cruising towards 300K

[QUOTE=buffa98;2690986]Every market is different pure and simple. In the area he is talking about (where I grew up so I can speak about it) a basic 3 BR house on a city lot can be had from the mid 20's to the mid 30's.
What if anything could be purchased in your area for that amount? Most likely not much.[QUOTE]

Quite a few four bd two bath, 1800 to 2000sqft for around 30 to 50K. But these will likely decrease even further in value in the next couple of years.

That may not be the case any more. AZ has had a net outflow for the last couple of years, mostly back to Mexico, but an outflow none the less.

I disagree. Plenty of people became prosperous post WWII. The point is they didnt' do so by "investing" in the property market. Most prosperity came from their incomes from their jobs. Property investment was secondary to this and could only occur on the foundation of good jobs outside the property market.

What people dont understand is that this is not part of a "cycle" like they've seen in the past. Certainly around here it will not likely recover for at least fifteen to twenty years, if then. Hell, if I had gobs of money floating around I'd be tempted to become one myself in this market... But I'd still be a parasite.

- Peter.

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2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

Extremely well put, Buffa98.

People unhappy with their financial situation sometimes turn to the government to reset their lives. That's exactly the wrong place to look for help, since they were a major source of scr#wing up the gameboard in the firstplace.

Assess the situation you are in and improvise to reset it to your liking. -Not the exact wording, one of the branches of the U.S. Military drives into their recruits so they don't end up sitting in a foxhole crying. In essence the Military pounds into the heads of their soldiers to improvise, improvise, improvise to overcome - doing something, not just sit on your hands waiting for help (the government) to arrive to do it for you. If you wait for them to help you, help will never arrive.

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'06 E320 CDI
'17 Corvette Stingray Vert

Our home sits on the hill, overlooking the Allegheny and butts up to Bull Creek. The modest prices up here are in the mid 40s and up. Go down the hill, and the prices drop considerably. Ours is one of the only in the neighborhood with a driveway, as it sits on a lot and a half. Most of these houses have on street parking only.

New Kenn has a few places we are looking at, but I'm not seeing that area as a viable investment, as there are too many section 8s there, and prospects for future sales don't look too well.

In the Pitts, I can pick up a row house for about $7k, invest a few bucks and rent it out at a comparable rate to the surrounding area. Knowing what the same properties were listed at 2 years ago, I should be able to double my investment within the next 5 years, as well as generate a monthly income while waiting on the market.

Here in Tarentum, things are looking up. There are 8 renovations in a 2 block radius from my home...and decent number of them are on the auction block and can be had for less than 10k, fixed up and resold for more than the initial investment.

Allow me to put it this way...My employer paid to move me from UT to here, and have done the same to 4 other employees in the last 4 months. Our production and hiring numbers are up, reflecting growth in the manufacturing sector here. I know of 2 other medium to large companies in the area that are doing the same. These are indicators to better times in the near future. Let's not forget the fact, that after a mere 4 months of employment with this company, I received a raise equal to 14% in my wages, and we have been working 50+ hours per week since May of last year.

Those indicators are telling me that between now and the next 6 months is the time to invest in real estate here.

It truly is a buyer's market...you just have to be willing to take the risk and and hold it for a while til the time is right to sell.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

I am jealous right now. If I could buy a decent house in my area for 40 grand, I'd get two (for cash), rent one out and share the other with a rent-paying roomate. I just checked the real estate ads. Median home price here is still 283,000. The good news is that prices seem to have come down from the last time I checked only a month ago. I'm seeing stuff that I can almost afford.

Bad news-I walked into my bank today and found they're offering mortgages at 3% down. Will they never learn?

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

Again ther are a lot more people that would live in Carson City NV than Bradford PA( where I grew up)

Case in point:

http://www.colliganrealty.com/proppages/17_Derrick_Road.htm
http://www.colliganrealty.com/proppages/58_Clarence_Street.htm

This is just 2 that are for sale, How ever there has been a steady decline in this area since the late 70's. If the GOVT would get out of the oil business this area would blossom again

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86 300SDL. 250,xxx on #14 Head. One eye always on temp gauge.. Cruising towards 300K