OKC Real Estate Market

[Pete]

Houses in my neighborhood are staying on the market longer but the $/SF keeps going up.

For nicely remodeled homes, prices are at least $180/SF and some have sold for over $200/SF.

Six years ago I bought my house for about $125/SF.

[TheTravellers]

Houses in my neighborhood are staying on the market longer but the $/SF keeps going up.

For nicely remodeled homes, prices are at least $180/SF and some have sold for over $200/SF.

Six years ago I bought my house for about $125/SF.

Eight years ago we got ours for $88/SF (on Venice Blvd), supposedly valued around $125/SF now.

[FighttheGoodFight]

I think there are a lot of people still over leveraged on their homes. Gotta sell it at the right price to get out from under it.

[gjl]

And things like property taxes and home owners insurance that are based on home valuations will continue going up.

[warreng88]

When I lived in our smaller house years ago, we saw our mortgage payment go up because our escrow went up. When I pulled the statement to find out why, our property taxes went up pretty substantially. I called Oklahoma County assessor and told them they have the size of our house and number of rooms wrong, which caused the increase. We had added a deck on the back and they thought it was a room and the usable square footage had changed so the price per sf changed as well. They said they could lower it, but it would lower the value of our house on the county assessor. I said I didn't care about that and so the next year, the property taxes went back down. I have told that to other people and most people said they don't think that would work now.

[aDark]

There is a house down the street from me was listed for sale on 7/10/2024 at $499,900. It is a 3/3 2,783 sf built in 1929. On Saturday, they dropped the price down for the fourth time to $429,900.

I think this comment would be very helpful if you are comfortable sharing what neighborhood you live in. Prices across different parts of OKC vary like crazy.

[T. Jamison]

When I lived in our smaller house years ago, we saw our mortgage payment go up because our escrow went up. When I pulled the statement to find out why, our property taxes went up pretty substantially. I called Oklahoma County assessor and told them they have the size of our house and number of rooms wrong, which caused the increase. We had added a deck on the back and they thought it was a room and the usable square footage had changed so the price per sf changed as well. They said they could lower it, but it would lower the value of our house on the county assessor. I said I didn't care about that and so the next year, the property taxes went back down. I have told that to other people and most people said they don't think that would work now.

While your situation is different, this is not uncommon in general. A transaction triggers a revaluation from the Assessor. If the property was undervalued at say $100,000 before you purchased the property for $200,000, the Assessor will revalue the property at $200,000 effective the following tax year. So people pay their mortgage for the first 6+/- months with the taxes at the $100K valuation. Then, the following year their taxes go up substantially and they want to protest them with the Assessor. But then they have a hard time convincing the Assessor's office the property is worth less than they paid for it 6+/- months ago.

[Teo9969]

When I lived in our smaller house years ago, we saw our mortgage payment go up because our escrow went up. When I pulled the statement to find out why, our property taxes went up pretty substantially. I called Oklahoma County assessor and told them they have the size of our house and number of rooms wrong, which caused the increase. We had added a deck on the back and they thought it was a room and the usable square footage had changed so the price per sf changed as well. They said they could lower it, but it would lower the value of our house on the county assessor. I said I didn't care about that and so the next year, the property taxes went back down. I have told that to other people and most people said they don't think that would work now.

I mean it would work today if it were the same situation. They can't assess your home with square footage that doesn't exist. But you can't jus protest only because you don't like the tax.

[gjl]

What are some other web sites for estimated house valuations besides Zillow or the County Assessor?

[warreng88]

I think this comment would be very helpful if you are comfortable sharing what neighborhood you live in. Prices across different parts of OKC vary like crazy.

Crestwood addition. It is bounded by NW 16th/NW 23rd, May/Villa.

[warreng88]

While your situation is different, this is not uncommon in general. A transaction triggers a revaluation from the Assessor. If the property was undervalued at say $100,000 before you purchased the property for $200,000, the Assessor will revalue the property at $200,000 effective the following tax year. So people pay their mortgage for the first 6+/- months with the taxes at the $100K valuation. Then, the following year their taxes go up substantially and they want to protest them with the Assessor. But then they have a hard time convincing the Assessor's office the property is worth less than they paid for it 6+/- months ago.

I was thinking it was years after we bought it because we didn't build a deck until two years after we bought the house. We bought it in October of 2007 and built the deck in Summer of 2009. I noticed our taxes go up in 2010 when we got an escrow letter. Not sure if that helps or not.

[Pete]

Keep in mind that in Oklahoma County, your property tax cannot increase more than 3% a year, regardless of the increase in assessed value.

When you buy a new house, the new assessed value is then set very close to the purchase price.

[T. Jamison]

I was thinking it was years after we bought it because we didn't build a deck until two years after we bought the house. We bought it in October of 2007 and built the deck in Summer of 2009. I noticed our taxes go up in 2010 when we got an escrow letter. Not sure if that helps or not.

I assume your increase was due to the incorrect classification of the deck. I'm just saying that in general this happens to people. A friend of mine in the Tulsa metro bought a house that was taxed as land only when he bought it and was shocked that his taxes went up so much. He asked me to look at it and I had to explain to him that the only way he could get his taxes lowered is if he could convince then that the property was worth less than he paid for it.

I just wanted to add this to the conversation for the benefit of first-time home buyers. Calculate your taxes based on what you will pay for the property, not historical taxes on the property.

[Pete]

I just wanted to add this to the conversation for the benefit of first-time home buyers. Calculate your taxes based on what you will pay for the property, not historical taxes on the property.

Absolutely right.

[gjl]

The Assessor list's both market value and taxable market value by year. Zillow has my market value at 281.4K which I think is stupid low, Assessor has my market value at 361.5K which is probably close to what's right and insurance requires me to carry 420K worth of insurance.

[OKCRealtor]

Also on new construction you want to make sure the lender has property taxes estimated not just the value of the lot.

I had a listing a few months ago where the sellers had bought brand new 2 years ago (closed in early 22) and there property taxes weren't reassessed until '23. Long story short between property taxes going from virtually nothing to $400/mo + homeowners insurance going crazy there payment went from like 1500 --> 2400 basically overnight so they had to sell the house.

I'm not sure how the lender didn't have taxes escrowed in, they seemed to be unaware of the fact and didn't have a large chunk down initially. I wasn't involved in the purchase & it was with a reputable local lender but I was shocked.

[gjl]

I'm hearing of people struggling to stay in their houses just from insurance increases alone.

[FighttheGoodFight]

Ya I shop home and car insurance yearly now. The increases were getting out of hand.

It'll only get worse.

[Teo9969]

Keep in mind that in Oklahoma County, your property tax cannot increase more than 3% a year, regardless of the increase in assessed value.

When you buy a new house, the new assessed value is then set very close to the purchase price.

I believe that it can if material improvements are made to the home.

So if you remodel a kitchen and do it by the book (i.e. you take out a permit), then they can reset your taxable value.

[OKCRealtor]

As we navigate election volatility and really a 2024 that nobody thought we would have I thought you guys might find this article interesting on the state of the overall market:

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/04/home...hip-costs.html

Average homebuyer is now 56 years old!

Median age of first time buyers moved up to 38!

And perhaps the most sobering statistic of all 1st time buyers now make up just 24% of the market, an all time low since that metric has been tracked since 1981!

2024 is setting all sorts of housing records in a bad way. Hopefully things get better after the election regardless of outcome.

[Pete]

The rapid appreciation is great if you own a home but makes it so hard for younger people to enter the market.

However, I will repeat this point yet again, there are plenty of affordable homes all around OKC as long as you don't expect to buy an Instagram dream home right out of the gate.

Plenty of good quality homes under 2,000 SF that can easily be renovated over time and most people can do a lot of the work themselves. It just seems very few people are willing to do this and instead want something fully renovated, and for that you are going to pay a lot more than you have to.

[OKCRealtor]

No doubt we are very fortunate that prices are still much cheaper here than most major cities so there's still plenty of opportunity. However, with the affordability challenges now we can clearly see the trend is to delay ownership several years or maybe even a decade or more. This of course has significant negative effects on net worth and financial security over time as people avoid buying. I think the average homeowner has something like 40x the net worth of a renter & I bet that gap is growing significantly over the last couple years and looking forward.

[FighttheGoodFight]

I'm glad my wife convinced me to spend a little more and buy a house we could raise a family in, back in 2013. Now we can stay here until the kids are out of the house then downsize and move out of Oklahoma.

I don't think we could afford the house we live in today if it sold for what it is worth now. Been 10 years of slowly upgrading and doing a little bit piece by piece. It has been a great learning experience.

[Pete]

No doubt we are very fortunate that prices are still much cheaper here than most major cities so there's still plenty of opportunity. However, with the affordability challenges now we can clearly see the trend is to delay ownership several years or maybe even a decade or more. This of course has significant negative effects on net worth and financial security over time as people avoid buying. I think the average homeowner has something like 40x the net worth of a renter & I bet that gap is growing significantly over the last couple years and looking forward.

This is exactly what has been going on in California and most larger metros, we're just late to the party because our housing costs have been so much lower.

What I always tell people is this: you have to enter the market, because it's only going to go up and owning will become increasingly difficult.

I broke down and did this in California after living there over 10 years. I hated the prices and didn't want to leave the beach, but while I was on the sidelines, things were getting worse right before my eyes.

I would look and then get completely depressed: the homes were super expensive, nowhere near the water, and far below my previous standards. I had to finally shift my expectations and I ended up buying a house in Thousand Oaks, which is pretty far out by L.A. standards, and it needed a lot of work. I literally moved from a bluff-top dream home in Malibu (which was just a rental) into a place with bad carpet, a cheap kitchen, and popcorn ceilings.

I cried like a baby and had enormous buyer's remorse.

But then I settled in, had a great view atop a hill, could walk to a small college that had a fantastic swim complex and workout facilities, had nearly unlimited open space right outside my door, and discovered T.O. was an incredibly nice place to live.

Over the 13 years I was there, I remodeled the entire place inside and out and did a ton of the work myself, like replacing all the interior doors, all the flooring, all the casings and baseboards, scraping ceilings, painting, landscaping, etc.

That house tripled in value in that time and by the time I left, I cried just as hard as when I left Malibu.


With a little creativity and elbow grease, you can have a really nice home in OKC that is affordable to almost everyone.

[OKCRealtor]

This is exactly what has been going on in California and most larger metros, we're just late to the party because our housing costs have been so much lower.

What I always tell people is this: you have to enter the market, because it's only going to go up and owning will become increasingly difficult.

I broke down and did this in California after living there over 10 years. I hated the prices and didn't want to leave the beach, but while I was on the sidelines, things were getting worse right before my eyes.

I would look and then get completely depressed: the homes were super expensive, nowhere near the water, and far below my previous standards. I had to finally shift my expectations and I ended up buying a house in Thousand Oaks, which is pretty far out by L.A. standards, and it needed a lot of work. I literally moved from a bluff-top dream home in Malibu (which was just a rental) into a place with bad carpet, a cheap kitchen, and popcorn ceilings.

I cried like a baby and had enormous buyer's remorse.

But then I settled in, had a great view atop a hill, could walk to a small college that had a fantastic swim complex and workout facilities, had nearly unlimited open space right outside my door, and discovered T.O. was an incredibly nice place to live.

Over the 13 years I was there, I remodeled the entire place inside and out and did a ton of the work myself, like replacing all the interior doors, all the flooring, all the casings and baseboards, scraping ceilings, painting, landscaping, etc.

That house tripled in value in that time and by the time I left, I cried just as hard as when I left Malibu.


With a little creativity and elbow grease, you can have a really nice home in OKC that is affordable to almost everyone.

Good stuff! I wish more people understood the sacrifice in the beginning but alas we're in an instant gratification world.