Corresponding areas in the U.S. West Coast are AT LEAST as expensive, to the point where you can buy an entire 10 bedroom mansion in Vancouver's British Properties for *less* than what a 2 bedroom condo costs in a similarly upscale part of San Francisco. Granted, they have a lot more cheaper but still somewhat desirable alternatives, not this nonsense we have where a house in a 5th tier city like Regina can cost upwards of $400K for what passes a decent area.

House prices around here seem to be pretty stagnate right now. I know, I know, it's the Detroit area. A strange "housing shortage" is happening. There is a shortage of available apartments and rents have started to rise at a pretty good rate. There are plenty off houses to rent, but very few apartment vacancies. I have never seen this around here in my lifetime. Houses are renting in my neighborhood for $1,500 a month for a 1,200 square foot brick ranch. Won't be long before there are more renters than mortgage holders ( I hate the term homeowner, because until you pay it off you don't "own" squat).

Since I posted my house earlier in thread...

Ultimately it's working out for us, with my parents almost moved in (their house going on the market next week) and our place now becoming the family hub (I have out-of-town/state siblings). But we didn't know this when we bought it (other than my late mother-in-law already living with us). We would have gladly settled for a smaller house, especially with a smaller yard to maintain. But when you buy in the boonies, choices are *extremely* limited and we were in a time crunch (wife's company directing our move/storage/realtors, etc.)! We were lucky the property was already subdivided (we added ~.5 to the 1 acre), it's hard to find anything less than 5 acres around here and even rural property isn't so cheap for those size lots.

Eh, not really, depends where you're at on your mortgage. For example, if you put a good bit down and finance the rest for 15 years at a super low APR, you pretty much own it or you could at least let it go for something else if you needed to. You don't have to pay cash for *everything*!

Sure, that is a good way to do it, but you don't own it until that mortgage balance says zero. I saw something a while back that said a large number of existing home sales in this country are cash purchases by foreign buyers (can't provide source, so I could be wrong). I have even seen news stories about new subdivisions being built for the sole purpose of renting the homes.

Noooooo! So I have to wait a while before I can say, "Get off of my lawn!"

But do you ever *really* own your property? For example, what happens if you quit paying your property tax?

Louisiana fortunately has homestead exemption (one property only) so property taxes are dirt cheap.

I can't provide a source either, but I can say you're right.

This is how America is REALLY being invaded.

This is most definitely true for many areas in the US. For example, foreign buyers drive the condo market in the downtown Miami and Miami Beach areas.

Foreign investment in US real estate is much, much higher now than it was 20-30 years ago and it has contributed significantly to the rising cost of getting a house.

I believe I heard that in the last 5 years almost 60% of all existing home sales in the U.S. were cash purchases by foreign buyers. Someone in Washington is trying to pass a bill to help curb this trend. It is driving up costs for sure. The mortgage companies can't be happy about that. They want people to be paying interest on a house for thirty years.

As with most things in economics, there's an upside and a downside to so many foreigners buying real estate in the US. The downside is that it makes homes for first time buyers out of reach but it also drives up property values which is good for current home owners and for municipal/local governments that rely heavily on property taxes to fund different things. Higher property values = higher property tax revenue.

Watched a little of a PBS Frontline episode the other night about affordable housing. I saw the part about people who in a nice, new subdivision were upset about a large low income section 8 apartment complex that was being built right across the street from them. I can feel their frustration. Those apartment complexes always bring in crime, affect the local schools, and bring down home prices. Many people are under water or don't have enough equity to up and move if the value of their house starts to decline. Neighborhoods seem to change so quickly these days. I can definitely see a young couple's fear about buying a house today.

Before buying a house people need to do their homework - you cannot depend entirely on your real estate agent.

Pre-Purchase Home-work assignment:

1. Check the history of the neighborhood - crime, pollution, flooding, forest fires, etc.
2. Take a good tour of the land areas within 10 mile radius of the neighborhood you're interested in - what do you see .... many vacant lots ready to develop ? ....... how far are you from work ? ....... how many access roads are there to your neighborhood ?
3. Is your neighborhood already a well established one - in other words what's the likelihood they'll build a busy road across the street ?
4. What industries are nearby ? Hospitals, police, fire stations, commercial developments ?
5. How long do you plan on staying in your home ? You're not likely to build much equity in a house in only 5 years or less and if that's the case you might be better off in just renting from a financial point of view
6. Hire master plumber and electrician in addition to a home inspector to inspect the home (this may seem excessive but it's what i do)

My wife and I occasionally watch these home flipping/shopping TV shows. It continually amazes me when I see seemingly middle class people paying $400 - $500 thousand for a 1500 sq ft, or smaller, house on a 1/4 acre lot.

I had a house in escrow when I was 22 and that was the closest I ever came to owning a home in CA. I took a major hit to my business at the time and was forced to let it go back. I figured in a couple of years I could give it another go. Things didn't quite work out that way and at my age and income level it will never be a possibility now.


Wheels

I was pretty fortunate - in 1999 I found out that the condo I was renting was going to be sold and I had to find a new place, and just before that, a woman I know had bought a townhome, and since I never thought of her as a great money-manager, I figured if she could buy a place, so could I. I was able to buy a very small (780 sqft) single-family home with an initial investment of only $7,000 (down payment, closing costs, etc.). I had to get a variable rate loan, but it was tied to prime, so it was never going to be crazy. After a couple of years its value had gone up enough that I had enough equity to refinance and get a 30-year fixed at a lower rate. A few years after that, I refinanced again and got a shorter term and lower rate.

While living there, I wasn't happy with the size and was saving up. In 2010, after the housing market went bust, I tried to time buying a new house at the bottom of the market trough, and bought maybe one year too early to hit the absolute bottom, but still did OK, I think. I was able to put 20% down and get a decent rate, but still refied a year later for an even better rate. I was able to buy the second place without selling the first, so I still have it as a rental property. The first place has more than doubled in value since I bought it, and the second place has gone up about 50%. I don't feel the need to buy a new place anytime soon, but if I did try to buy a place today, it would probably require that I sell both places to get enough of a down payment to keep my payments manageable. I spoke to a guy where I work and he just bought a house similar to my first place, and it was about 3 times what I paid for mine - I can't imagine spending that much on such a small place.

It's nice to know I've got property that's gone up in value, but prices are so nuts it's really limiting for anyone looking to buy now.

Really depends on where one is in the country.

Here in Shelby County - one of the fastest growing counties in Alabama - a really good house in a decent neighborhood is around 150K.

You can go up or down, of course, but that's the median.

So if one is making 40-50K a year it's actually doable to buy a house on a 30 year fixed, and pay less than if one were renting....just have to really knuckle down and save up for that down payment.

Now, then, I have friends and relatives in the sticks of NE Alabama where 150K will get one a mini-mansion.

And Dart's post further illustrates the old cliche of "location, location, location". There are plenty of places in the US where you can get cheap houses. The problem is that you may not want to live there.

You can get a house in Detroit for $1.

Panzer, what's not to love?

http://livability.com/top-10/political-cities/best-cities-for-conservatives/2016/al/alabaster

Okay, seriously, if one is in their early 20's it's kind of square - in the other rankings of cities we fall to number 10 or so due to a lack of "nightlife."

But we're talking about buying a house, which implies starting a family. And that is my little town, too far away from Birmingham to be a suburb, too close to be a country town.

Yep, that's why I was lucky when I started - the San Diego market has gone crazy since 1999. Even during the housing crunch, it didn't drop below the 1999 values.