OKC Real Estate Market

[gjl]

When did the tile that looks like wood grain start becoming a common used flooring trend in Oklahoma?

You mean laminate flooring? Quite a while.

[Pete]

You mean laminate flooring? Quite a while.

No, he means actual ceramic tile with wood grain.

It's a relatively new thing. More durable but also much more difficult to install.

[gjl]

I wouldn't think that would look very good with grout lines. Is it installed somehow without that?

[KTB]

When did the tile that looks like wood grain start becoming a common used flooring trend in Oklahoma?

It's been around for a long time. I first installed it in my old house almost 20 years ago and it wasn't anything new at the time. It's difficult to install because you have to have almost no grout line to make it look good.

[Urbanized]

The upstairs room at Maker’s in Bricktown (R.I.P.) had ceramic tile that looked like hardwood when it first opened, about 25 years ago IIRC. I will say that I believe it was a fairly new innovation at the time.

[April in the Plaza]

I wouldn't think that would look very good with grout lines. Is it installed somehow without that?

they'll usually install at a 1/16th of an inch or at the manufacturer's minimum. of course, the high end LVPs (Karndean, for example) have progressed so much in recent years that a lot of builders / homeowners are simply going that route versus laying tile. very hard to beat a glue down lvp laid on a herringbone pattern.

[BoulderSooner]

The upstairs room at Maker’s in Bricktown (R.I.P.) had ceramic tile that looked like hardwood when it first opened, about 25 years ago IIRC. I will say that I believe it was a fairly new innovation at the time.

man i miss the up and down stairs of that place ..

[OKCRealtor]

Nice to see all the housing discussion lately!

While the market as a whole is still slow mortgage rates have settled down quite a bit and first time home buyer assistance rates are just a hair over 5% which is huge.

With the strategic focus on getting the 10 year treasury bond down housing should be a big beneficiary once a lot of this turmoil with tariffs & everything settles down.

I've had multiple offers on a couple listings this last week & seen others as well that buyers were interested in.

We aren't far from getting government FHA/VA rates into the 5's and that should help.

[Pete]

After a long, slow winter, houses in my neighborhood are starting to get snatched up again.

We should really see things accelerating in a couple of months as we head into the spring and summer.

[OKCRealtor]

After a long, slow winter, houses in my neighborhood are starting to get snatched up again.

We should really see things accelerating in a couple of months as we head into the spring and summer.

Hopefully so, last Spring & Summer were slower than anticipated but mostly because mortgage rates spent a lot of time in the 7's.

[Pete]

Hopefully so, last Spring & Summer were slower than anticipated but mostly because mortgage rates spent a lot of time in the 7's.

I would think people had to adjust to the new normal of mortgages, after being spoiled for a very long time with historically low rates.

6-7% is still darn good and it seems people are starting to realize that.

[OKCRealtor]

I would think people had to adjust to the new normal of mortgages, after being spoiled for a very long time with historically low rates.

6-7% is still darn good and it seems people are starting to realize that.

Yea adjusting to a degree I'd say but many just waiting & waiting only to realize that of course is detrimental if you don't already own.

Lock-in effect still playing a role but not as much as eventually people just have to move for various life events & reasons.

Affordability still the #1 challenge as a whole though with combination of appreciation + rates last few years effectively putting housing inflation at 100% cumulatively if you're financing which 70% of people are.

Prices of course aren't going to fall much, if any, although we did have nice little dip in the fall/winter so the only real lever on affordability is rates coming down unless something unexpected occurs.

[gjl]

Add to that the cost of homeowners insurance that is going up double digit percentages every year.

[bison34]

My homeowners policy premium went up 10%. Between the weather here, and the horrible tragedies in the Southeast and California, the cost of homeownership will go up significantly for most.

[OKCRealtor]

Yea insurance no doubt a big factor in affordability along with property taxes rising with valuations.

Wage growth as a whole has been on a downward decline as well since beginning of 22 with some small fluctuations and of course has nowhere near kept up with the increase in housing costs.

[gjl]

It is the ridiculous replacement cost valuations HO Insurance companies are making you insure for that is driving the rate increases.

[PoliSciGuy]

It is the ridiculous replacement cost valuations HO Insurance companies are making you insure for that is driving the rate increases.

Well, that and climate change cranking up the number of billion dollar disasters. That's not going to slow down anytime soon either.

https://www.preventionweb.net/news/w...plays-big-role

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/h...rance-markets/

[OKCRealtor]

It is the ridiculous replacement cost valuations HO Insurance companies are making you insure for that is driving the rate increases.

I had a seller who was a previous client when I helped her buy it that closed last month and her replacement value was something crazy like $125k more than the market value of the house. To go along with an insane deductible - 15k & policy that she somehow didn’t realize how it worked. She got screwed & may have some recourse the way it was explained to me but we had a roof issue so it was a big deal.

Mid 200’s price point so around our average sales price these days I should probably mention for clarity.

[Bits_Of_Real_Panther]

Nice to see all the housing discussion lately!

While the market as a whole is still slow mortgage rates have settled down quite a bit and first time home buyer assistance rates are just a hair over 5% which is huge.

With the strategic focus on getting the 10 year treasury bond down housing should be a big beneficiary once a lot of this turmoil with tariffs & everything settles down.

I've had multiple offers on a couple listings this last week & seen others as well that buyers were interested in.

We aren't far from getting government FHA/VA rates into the 5's and that should help.

What do you mean home assistance rates around 5% ?

Not something I have ever seen...

[gjl]

I had a seller who was a previous client when I helped her buy it that closed last month and her replacement value was something crazy like $125k more than the market value of the house. To go along with an insane deductible - 15k & policy that she somehow didn’t realize how it worked. She got screwed & may have some recourse the way it was explained to me but we had a roof issue so it was a big deal.

Mid 200’s price point so around our average sales price these days I should probably mention for clarity.

Mine has been over 100K more than my market value for several years now but I guess it's really climate change. ^^^^^

[OKCRealtor]

What do you mean home assistance rates around 5% ?

Not something I have ever seen...

Down payment assistance, mostly utilized by first time buyers but you don’t always have to be.

[Just_Curious]

At what point do people begin to roll the dice and just self insure? Our recent insurance policy premiums were

2020: $4,483 (Progressive)
2021: $5,820 (Progressive)
2022: $7,078 (Progressive)
2023: $6,148 (Openly)
2024: $7,759 (Openly)
2025: $9,555 (Openly)

One bad storm or even just similar increases and in 3-4 years we're paying what, $20k+ annually? That just doesn't seem sustainable. Or reasonable. And yes, those are all the same (unchanged) house.

[BoulderSooner]

At what point do people begin to roll the dice and just self insure? Our recent insurance policy premiums were

2020: $4,483 (Progressive)
2021: $5,820 (Progressive)
2022: $7,078 (Progressive)
2023: $6,148 (Openly)
2024: $7,759 (Openly)
2025: $9,555 (Openly)

One bad storm or even just similar increases and in 3-4 years we're paying what, $20k+ annually? That just doesn't seem sustainable. Or reasonable. And yes, those are all the same (unchanged) house.

do you mind sharing what city and the approximant value of your home?

[bison34]

At what point do people begin to roll the dice and just self insure? Our recent insurance policy premiums were

2020: $4,483 (Progressive)
2021: $5,820 (Progressive)
2022: $7,078 (Progressive)
2023: $6,148 (Openly)
2024: $7,759 (Openly)
2025: $9,555 (Openly)

One bad storm or even just similar increases and in 3-4 years we're paying what, $20k+ annually? That just doesn't seem sustainable. Or reasonable. And yes, those are all the same (unchanged) house.

I mean, if you don't have a mortgage, go ahead and gamble. But you legally cannot go without insurance if you owe money on your house.

[gjl]

List the market value of your house than the amount the policy is written for. That is where they have gone overboard on replacement cost policies. You could always try and get an actual cash value policy but my experience with checking on that is the Majors won't write ACV policies.