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Homebuyers nationwide are watching housing prices go up, up, and up. “How
high can they go?” is the question on everyone’s lips. “As long as interest
rates stay around 5 percent, there’s no telling,” remarked one realtor in Santa
Monica, California.
“It’s crazy,” said Tim, who is looking for a house near the beach. “In
1993, I bought my first place, a two-bedroom condominium in Venice, for $70,000.
My friends thought then that I was overpaying. Five years later, I had to move.
I sold it for $230,000, which was a nice profit. Last year, while visiting
friends here, I saw in the local paper that the exact same condo was for sale
for $510,000!”
It is a seller’s market. Homebuyers feel like they have to offer at least
10 percent more than the asking price. Donna, a new owner of a one-bedroom condo
in Venice Beach, said, “That’s what I did. I told the owner that whatever anyone
offers you, I’ll give you $20,000 more, under the table, so you don’t have to
pay your realtor any of it. I was tired of looking.”
Tim says he hopes he doesn’t get that desperate. “Whether you decide to buy
or decide not to buy, you still feel like you made the wrong decision. If you
buy, you feel like you overpaid. If you don’t buy, you want to kick yourself for
passing up a great opportunity.”
Everyone says the bubble has to burst sometime, but everyone hopes it will
burst the day after they sell their house. Even government officials have no
idea what the future will bring. “All we can say is that, inevitably, these
things go in cycles,” said the state director of housing. “What goes up must
come down. But, as we all know, housing prices always stay up a little higher
than they go down. So you can’t lose over the long run. Twenty years down the
road, your house is always worth more than you paid for it.” |
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发表于 2016-7-10 09:21:28