NFR How's the housing market where you live?

Non-fishing related
There's all sorts of small towns where prices are lower...some are within 3 hours of Seattle.
Being close to good, I said good, medical care becomes important as you get older. Having medivac insurance is a good idea also, at 79 bucks a year or so it's a no brainer out here on the perimeter. It all depends on how far you want to drive for groceries in the end...
:)
 
It used to be anywhere within a 90 minute commute of Downtown Seattle homes had a premium price. Prices dropped a lot when 2 hours away.

Nowadays with remote living and working, it is going to change a lot. Will be interesting to see how that develops...
 
When I lived in Kirkland, downtown Seattle was 2 hours away some days...often over an hour.
Lol
 
Aberdeen definitely has its issues, but its not as bad as it's reputation would lead one to believe. Well, it's not great. Lots of tweakers, but where aren't there lots of tweakers these days?

Were it me and I was interested in that area I'd take a look at Oakville, Elma, Montesano, Grayland, Copalis, even Westport....Basically all the surrounding areas. Honestly living in Aberdeen proper probably wouldn't be my first choice, but there's a lot of cool little communities in that area that might be worth checking out. I know nothing about the real estate market in the area, but I do love that general area very much.

Plenty of rivers in the area, and a surprising number of productive lakes. It's also not a terrible drive from the south sound. Oh, and the ocean fishing is pretty good.

I have zero plans to move from the Hansville area, as quite frankly reading through this thread makes the thought of selling and trying to find something new a very depressive task. But if I were to move, it would be out on the coast no doubt.
 
ARecher said:
I've never been there (Aberdeen) but I'm thinking of making an exploratory trip. I've been looking at listings there lately. You can get so much more for your money. Partner and I both work remotely. I guess it's also a floodplain if you don't buy the right property. Crime is supposed to be high too. I imagine the fishing opportunities aren't too bad. Another reason I like where I am now.
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stay away from east cushing st. in Aberdeen it flooded every year I lived there 1960 -1967. but the fishing & hunting is good in the area.
 
Long story and I don't mean to brag, but I believe that opportunities are still out there today if your willing to do some legwork and make a few sacrifices.

I bought my first house in 1970 in Clovis, NM while I was stationed at Cannon AFB.
My base pay was only 152$/month but I also worked other 'fulltime' parttime jobs to get ahead.
The house was a 2 bdrm, 1 bath with a crawl space and detached single car garage. I paid 7800$ with 800$ down which included 300$ that I borrowed from the realtor and paid back at 50$/month. I did alot of low budget stuff like interior and exterior paint, minor landscaping, etc.
A year later I got shipped to Mountain Home, ID so I sold the Clovis house by owner and got my original down payment plus 2000$ which was alot of money at that point in my life.
With less than a year left of my 4 year enlistment I hung onto my dough and rented in Mountain Home. Turned out that the elderly couple I rented from had a number of rentals so I used my construction skills working for them and ended up living rent free.
Upon my discharge I went back to Billings and started calling on single family rentals. I wasn't looking to rent but approached it as such hoping to find a disgruntled landlord that was fed up. It took a bit but I found a house that was similar to the Clovis house for 16,500$ and talked the owners into carrying a contract for the same amount as they were getting for monthly rent but headache free. After two years, a couple of thousand dollars in materials, and my sweat equity. I sold that house for 29,500$ and talked the contract holder into moving the contract to the house I was purchasing.
Being that I always made the payments early he was more than happy to oblige.
At that point I found a By Owner 3 bdrm, 1 3/4 bath with a full basement for 26,000$. Did a little spit 'n shine and sold it two years later for 52,000$ when we found out that our son had major medical needs that MT couldn't meet at the time.. After many visits to Children's Hospital Birth Defects Clinic we were urged to move to the Seattle area. At that time, 1975, the population of Billings was about 50,000 and this bumpkin was totally overwhelmed by Seattle. After discussing it the doctor mentioned Spokane with Shriners Hospital yet we would be close enough for outpatient Seattle trips.
We bought a new 3 bdrm, 2 bath house in Spokane for 48,900$, put in window coverings, a fence, sprinkler system, and some nice landscaping. A couple of years later I built a new house we sold the other one for 79,000$.

I'll stop at 1979 but I repeated this process a number of times over the next 30 years on one modest income and we now own 3 homes and
2 five-plexes that are debt free.
 
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Wetswinger said:
Because of the stratospheric home prices in Seattle, people thought they'd move to Tacoma and commute to save money. Of course now T-town has gone crazy with high prices and caused people there, wanting a new home to move to Lacey, Yelm or Olympia. Lacey especially is booming as the city seems to promote heavy grow in residential and commercial. No. Thurston county, being closest to the urban Sea/Tac and JBLM is the fastest growing. Two houses in my neighborhood, NE Oly, went up for sale last month with prices I thought bordered on gouging. To my amazement they both sold in less than a week for over the asking price. Looks like people will be headed to Centralia next as the housing shockwave continues to expand....The starter house we bought in 1978 on the Sammamish Plateau for $35k just sold for a cool $1,000,000 last week...
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You're about 3-4 years behind on the Centralia thing. I have coworkers who've gone through exactly what you've outlined and ended up not only in Centralia, but Chehalis as well and now commute to JBLM and Sumner daily.
 
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Outstanding! We are in our third house which we purchased four years ago. When we found it, the house was in serious disrepair but it was part of an estate sale and we bought it for a very low price. Our “in” was that I knew the executor of the estate. We put a lot of sweat equity into the house and had a great contractor that made it into a great home in a location that we could only have dreamed of when we started looking. The house next to us is on the market for 3X what they bought it for. I can’t imagine what our house is worth, but it doesn’t matter because we aren’t moving until old age forces us out. The house has a full basement (and a bomb shelter, a.k.a wine storage) but we made sure that the remodel allows us to live on the main floor as we age. By the way, we call it the Boat House and we are 9 houses from the boat launch on the Columbia River. We have a boat problem (see the show me your fleet thread). Life is good, but I feel sorry for people looking for a house in this market…
 
Bought a brand new starter house on 1 1/2 acres on the Sammamish Plateau in early 80's. 1200 sq.ft finished and 600 sq.ft upstairs unfinished. No landscaping at all. Finished off the house, put in landscaping and built a detached garage. 16 years later sold it and bought our current home in Renton Highlands. Due to price differences ($275 per sq.ft vs $100 per sq.ft) we bought 3 times the home for close to the same price. Our mortgage payment of $700/month never changed since 1983.

In 1985 bought raw land (5 acres with a pond) near Cape George (Pt Townsend) for $9k. Sold it 4 years later for 5x as much. Rolled that over for 10 acres with 800' of waterfront on Clark Fork. Sold it for a nice multiple 5 years later. Rolled that over for 40+ acres raw land in Bridger Bowl. When I retired sold it for a nice increase. After taxes it paid for both of our kid's education, set aside enough for Master degrees for both of our kids if they want that, paid off the mortgage and still put some money in our pocket. Not bad for a $9k investment. 1031 Exchanges work well - at least for us...
 
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We did well with our real estate investments over the decades, were a prime contributer to our retirement.
One of my happiest days, however, was when we sold our last rental and no longer had to deal with tenants.
Doctors, airline pilots, teachers, police and tenants.
Nothing better than a good one, northing worse than a bad one
 
SurfnFish said:
We did well with our real estate investments over the decades, were a prime contributer to our retirement.
One of my happiest days, however, was when we sold our last rental and no longer had to deal with tenants.
Doctors, airline pilots, teachers, police and tenants.
Nothing better than a good one, northing worse than a bad one
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That is why I bought raw land. No tenants and no maintenance - at least I did not. Property taxes less than $200 per year. Buy it and visit it once a year with an RV. Tax write off... :) Also, no messing with rental income yearly. Due to 1031 Exchanges the hard part is the larger tax bill on final sale. Our CPA always told my wife (to console her) ---> If you ain't making money you ain't paying tax money. Paying the money is a good thing!
 
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After reading so many horror stories in the preceding pages it has occurred to me that I am a virtual prisoner here on the frozen tundra. As an old man I am reaching the point that I no longer want to deal with a summer of mowing fields and a winter of plowing snow. I could easily sell my 20 acres of view property but would have to move somewhere that would have housing cost that are out of reason. I bought back in 1994, 20 bare acres with no services and paid $23,000. A 20 acre lot down at the bottom of the hill with no view and just scrub land is being advertised for $179,000. Inflated prices have come to Ione.

The barn was built before the house and the house paid off before we spent the first night in it. The well and septic were less than $12,000 back then, recent estimates for the next lot over are closer to $50K and water and perk are not guaranteed, especially the water. The one blessing is that I just received my 2022 property tax bill and it is just over $1,400 for the year. It has risen from about $870 years ago but is still affordable.

This winter has been really hard, both because of my age and the fact that there has been so much snow. It is the first year that I have had damage from the snow pack that is going to require work in the spring. I would like to get out of here around December 1st and not come back till March 1st, that would skip the worst of it. Where to go is the big issue....
 
iveofione said:
After reading so many horror stories in the preceding pages it has occurred to me that I am a virtual prisoner here on the frozen tundra. As an old man I am reaching the point that I no longer want to deal with a summer of mowing fields and a winter of plowing snow. I could easily sell my 20 acres of view property but would have to move somewhere that would have housing cost that are out of reason. I bought back in 1994, 20 bare acres with no services and paid $23,000. A 20 acre lot down at the bottom of the hill with no view and just scrub land is being advertised for $179,000. Inflated prices have come to Ione.

The barn was built before the house and the house paid off before we spent the first night in it. The well and septic were less than $12,000 back then, recent estimates for the next lot over are closer to $50K and water and perk are not guaranteed, especially the water. The one blessing is that I just received my 2022 property tax bill and it is just over $1,400 for the year. It has risen from about $870 years ago but is still affordable.

This winter has been really hard, both because of my age and the fact that there has been so much snow. It is the first year that I have had damage from the snow pack that is going to require work in the spring. I would like to get out of here around December 1st and not come back till March 1st, that would skip the worst of it. Where to go is the big issue....
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Belize...
Steve
 
@iveofione - you are doing real well and did it right! Pay as you go, prices are going in the right direction, appears you will not be taxed out of your home like many will. In the last 20 years my property taxes have gone from $2k to almost $15K.

Side question, can you sell the grass ( they maintain and cut it of course) from your field to pay for your winter getaway or trade the grass to have them maintain and cut it??
 
Cabezon said:
Belize...
Steve
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I have a couple of friends that go down there every year. They love it. Inexpensive too. Their only recommendation is to not stay near the beach due to heat and humidity. Go a few miles into the hills, nice temps and great breeze too. Also learn the local traditions - they say do not buy a lady a drink unless you want to stay up awhile. LOL..
 
I wonder what will happen when inflation & property taxes force retirees out of their homes & theirs nobody in the position to buy these houses because they cost so much. Will all us old-timers be bragging about how much we made on real estate then. When our retirements are inadequate due to inflation?
 
Breck said:
It's absolute garbage here in the Flathead Valley. A 2 BR, 1 BA shit box cabin on very little land will run you $600,000+. Rent for a studio apt is $1,200+. And that's just Kalispell. Whitefish buying/renting is even more absurd. Another huge problem is that there isn't any inventory. Everyone who owns a rental property here is leasing it as a VRBO for $1,000 per night (and getting it). Out-of-State newcomers here are hated with a passion, esp those from the West Coast. When I moved here from WA, the 1st thing I did was get MT plates on my rigs. All crime and traffic violations are blamed on "newcomers". It's a mess. I can't imagine that it's in any way sustainable. It's got to all come crashing down eventually.
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I left the Kalispell area after graduating high school in 1980. Between 1970 and 1980, there was essentially zero population growth! Imagine that. Certainly not the case from 1980 onward. Such a cool place. If there were jobs, I'd have stayed.

Here's a graph sowing the growth:

Kalispell, MT population

Population of Kalispell city, Montana state, Flathead County. Population density, maps, changes. Estimated population for 2026: 27,095
population.us population.us
 
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BriGuy said:
I left the Kalispell area after graduating high school in 1980. Between 1970 and 1980, there was essentially zero population growth! Imagine that. Certainly not the case from 1980 onward. Such a cool place. If there were jobs, I'd have stayed.

Here's a graph sowing the growth:

Kalispell, MT population

Population of Kalispell city, Montana state, Flathead County. Population density, maps, changes. Estimated population for 2026: 27,095
population.us population.us
Click to expand...
What's nuts and sad is how many younger people, 25-40 age bracket, are moving there with no advance living arrangements only to find none available.
Also, many of them have no more than minimum wage employment skills along with poor work habits.
 
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"Why won't these damn lazy kids get a good honest job losing the Vietnam War and just have their real estate agent front them the down payment on their two bedroom? Damn millennials! No wonder America's gone to shit. "

Genuinely delusional.

And a reminder... Home values aren't increasing because you put new tile in the bathroom or painted your fence or landscaped. They're increasing because there's not enough housing being constructed where it needs to be constructed, in the forms that it needs to be constructed. There isn't a shortage of quartz countertop installations or living rooms painted that specifically boring shade of HGTV gray, there's a shortage of middle density housing, driven by NIMBYs, who know that the sale price of their home increases when they can prevent the kinds of development needed for young professionals to comfortably enter the market.
 
cody- said:
"Why won't these damn lazy kids get a good honest job losing the Vietnam War and just have their real estate agent front them the down payment on their two bedroom? Damn millennials! No wonder America's gone to shit. "

Genuinely delusional.

And a reminder... Home values aren't increasing because you put new tile in the bathroom or painted your fence or landscaped. They're increasing because there's not enough housing being constructed where it needs to be constructed, in the forms that it needs to be constructed. There isn't a shortage of quartz countertop installations or living rooms painted that specifically boring shade of HGTV gray, there's a shortage of middle density housing, driven by NIMBYs, who know that the sale price of their home increases when they can prevent the kinds of development needed for young professionals to comfortably enter the market.
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Yeah, perspective is a funny thing. We've been able to save a significant amount of money over the past few years and have paid off my girlfriend's student loan and have been hammering mine. I could pay it off but feel like having a big down payment chunk is more important. We carry no other debt and have excellent credit. We've worked pretty hard to get where we are and don't care to set ourselves up for high mortgage payments that will require 7 day work weeks in perpetuity. My bootstrap are pretty stretched out and my arms are tired. All that said, I consider myself fortunate. There are a LOT of folks out there in much worse shape than me. I'll get there, somehow. Feels like home prices are rising faster than we can save though and the competition is so disheartening.
 
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