Local Banks tightening up

[zookeeper]

I bought my house for $90k; rent on the same house would probably be about $400/month more than what I'm paying for mortgage/insurance/taxes, and it's a reasonable ~1575 square feet, with a den and an office with built-in library shelves (the chief selling point for me), as well as a 550sf detached garage. The catch? Not in a hip part of town, so I'm not having to pay the hipster tax premium. It's well worth the trade-off, since it's not like I'm beyond a quick commute to all the places I like to go in the city, and I can afford to do these things because I didn't overpay on a house.


Skwillz: regarding your "coasters" comment, that's a process that's referred to by Oregonians as Californication. Californians have migrated en masse to Oregon in waves for a few decades now, since Portland is traditionally the most affordable major city on the West Coast, and every time a new wave comes in, things tend to go to Hell in Oregon (especially Portland). It's kind of at critical mass in PDX right now, in terms of the housing and real estate market. Rent is skyrocketing, going up on a consistent basis, and buying a house is near impossible for the Portland natives now with Californians selling their million dollar homes and throwing more cash at Portland listings, often sight unseen, to create bidding wars that can push the sale price of a place to tens, or even hundreds of thousands more than the original list price.

Something similar has happened/is happening in Denver, Austin, and I suspect it's starting to happen here. We'll see if that momentum continues with the economic downturn the state has taken. An oil bust may be a blessing in disguise if it reduces our attractiveness to the droves of imports that have the potential to drive the locals out of the housing market.

You are clearly a well-educated, erudite poster. I'm glad you're here.
(The built-in library shelves would have sold me too!)

[BBatesokc]

The biggest issue I see with a $400K+ home in Oklahoma is that - unless you are in a great part of town (with no lots now available) or have a really unique lot - why would I buy your used home in say 10+ years with it's outdated amenities when I can easily build a custom home at that same price point. Which in my opinion is a big issue with these "knock all the trees down and build" neighborhoods that are popping up with expensive homes in them, all right next door to each other with no unique curb appeal - other than - "Hey, that's a new big house."

[White Peacock]

You are clearly a well-educated, erudite poster. I'm glad you're here.
(The built-in library shelves would have sold me too!)

Some would probably argue that I'm more pretentious than erudite, but thanks nonetheless!

The house wouldn't be too special without the library, but since built-ins like that are a rarity in houses in this price range, none of the other places I looked at really stood a chance. It was built in 1960 and I'm the second owner; the previous occupant lived here since it was built, took great care of it (expertly converting the single car garage into the office and den [complete with a brick platform housing a buck stove]), and lived here until he died and left his grown children to sell the place. They overpriced it on the market, so it sat for months, and by the time I made my offer they were ready to be done with it, so I had instant equity on signing day.

Then I came to find out what a pain in the ass home ownership can be.

[oklip955]

I agree. Way too many 400K homes build like cookie cutter homes on small lots. I will be selling mine north of 500K. What so special. 10 ac in Edmond with horse barns and small house. Yah the small house will not appeal to a lot of people but the acreage and view with the land will. Land is just getting to be priced insanely in the Edmond area. Why the small lots in so many subdivisions, well the more homes they build on the land, the more money in their pockets. What really gripppps me is that so many of these homes have a bunch of cut corners. Ex to put wood doors in the interior vs plastic is a deference of say $10 a door. Or in the master bath cheap fausets. The in look of painted wood work is nothing more then it costs less to use cheap finger joint trim then good wood, so they save 20 cents a ft on trim. They are just trying to squeeze a few more bucks into their pockets.

[BBatesokc]

I agree. Way too many 400K homes build like cookie cutter homes on small lots. I will be selling mine north of 500K. What so special. 10 ac in Edmond with horse barns and small house. Yah the small house will not appeal to a lot of people but the acreage and view with the land will. Land is just getting to be priced insanely in the Edmond area. Why the small lots in so many subdivisions, well the more homes they build on the land, the more money in their pockets. What really gripppps me is that so many of these homes have a bunch of cut corners. Ex to put wood doors in the interior vs plastic is a deference of say $10 a door. Or in the master bath cheap fausets. The in look of painted wood work is nothing more then it costs less to use cheap finger joint trim then good wood, so they save 20 cents a ft on trim. They are just trying to squeeze a few more bucks into their pockets.

Sorta the same here - 2.5 acres right off I-35 and East 15th in Edmond. Lots of trees, a large rock outcropping and a small stocked pond with fountain. Really liked the house (1964), but really loved the lot. Bought it for what a modest new build on a cookie cutter lot would cost and my payment is still cheaper than a 1-bedroom apt. in downtown OKC. I consider it my retirement plan when I can't physically maintain the lot any longer and must sell.

[warreng88]

This is not the case at the bank I work at.

Same here. I bank a lot of builders and we haven't "tightened up" so to speak, but are definitely keeping an eye on the builders and talking to them about what they have where and how long it is sitting on the market. The main thing for us is stress testing cash and access to cash to see how long they can make interest only payments or amortizing payments, if necessary. Of course, these are builders we have dealt with for the past 10 years and have seen a lot of ups and downs with them. I would think if a new builder with limited cash and a lot of specs on the ground already were to come in and ask for a guidance line for spec homes, they would be turned down. JMHO.