On Mon, 23 Feb 2004 04:03:21 CST, anoop[at]alumni.duke.edu (Anoop
Ghanwani) wrote:

I can offer one advice if you plan to purchase. Don't buy brand new
house outside of metro area. Buy the worst and cheapest house in the
best established (i.e highest appreciation area) neighborhood and as
time goes by fix it up. When you purchase a brand new house in the
outskirts you will be competing with newer developments continuously
going up if you decide to sell.
Nona

"Nashville Pete" <poremskinospam[at]comcast.net> wrote in message news:<LOqdncPsgNiQC6bdRVn-vA[at]comcast.com> ...
- quote -

Thanks for the pointer. It makes for an interesting read.

Anoop

Note to Moderator: My posts are still not showing up on google
groups even though the responses do. I'm not using X-no-archive
or any such settings in my messages.

- quote -

http://www.cepr.net/publications/Har...ing_Bubble.htm

"Anoop Ghanwani" <anoop[at]alumni.duke.edu> wrote in message
news:50bde0e6.0402231916.1ce2e559[at]posting.google.com...
- quote -

differential over time. On a National basis this difference is the greatest
it has been in many decades. You can find studies and links to studies in
the website below.

http://www.cepr.net/

Thanks for the response.

The rents have been steady at least for the last 1 year
that I have been around here, and there seems to be more
supply than demand at this point.

Can you point me to any of the studies that you mention?
I would assume if house prices start to drop, rents will
go up because it will mean that more people are choosing
to rent, assuming people aren't moving out of the area.

Anoop

"Nashville Pete" <poremskinospam[at]comcast.net> wrote in message news:<_9OdnRuctvExYaTdRVn-ug[at]comcast.com> ...
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Studies have been made about the relationship between 1. Apartment rental
rates and housing prices over time and 2. Housing prices and mortgage
interest rates.

Determine the situation in your area and decide. Frankly I sold my house
last year with mortgage rates at recent historic lows and apartment
rental/home ownership differentials in my area the greatest in 40 years and
rental rates continuing to drop.

Here, home prices have increased a bit but time on market has also increased
and high end sales are decreasing. In the event of a 3% increase in home
mortgage rates, say from 5 1/2 to 8 1/2, existing home prices would have to
drop 25% to keep monthly payments the same. Is this possible? Well, the
dollar has dropped 32% against the Euro in the last 6 months and the NASDAQ
has dropped 57% from it's 2000 high even after a strong 2003 recovery.


"Anoop Ghanwani" <anoop[at]alumni.duke.edu> wrote in message
news:50bde0e6.0402221728.2b0fd6ad[at]posting.google.com...
- quote -

I'm thinking of buying a house, but I'm not sure if
I'll be living in the same area long term -- I might,
but I don't know for sure. I live in the Sacramento area.
Out here, new construction seems to be going up like
5% every 3 months. The longer I wait, the more likely
things will get so expensive that I won't be able to
afford a house (at least not comfortably...it's already
somewhat of a stretch when you figure in property taxes
and maintenance costs).

Does it make sense to buy just because the prices are
escalating and I could get "priced out"? The total
cost -- mortgage + property tax + Mello-Roose bond +
estimated maintenance -- is already about twice what I
pay in rent for a 1 BR apt. I feel it's expensive and
there might be a correction coming, but if I'm wrong,
I could have lost the opportunity to own a house.

Any insights?

Anoop