Jacksonville housing prices make the national media (for the wrong reason)

[Adam W]

So, this morning I logged onto my computer and checked Yahoo.com. I was shocked to see a picture of Jacksonville staring back at me!

Apparently, home prices in Jax are way too high, according to the boffins at Yahoo Finance:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cities-with-least-realistic-home-prices.html

Interesting tidbit:

"In some markets, sellers aren’t getting what they’re asking for or anywhere near it. In the Atlanta metro area, for instance, the median list price was $150,000 in December, according to Realtor.com. But the median sales price was just $90,600 at the end of the year, according to the latest data from the NAR. In Jacksonville, Fla., the median listing price is 34% higher than the median sales price, while in Washington D.C. it’s 13% higher."

I knew that housing prices in Riverside, etc were a bit steep, but I didn't realise this was a city-wide issue. Thoughts?

[JFman00]

My realtor advised me to start offering at 50% of list, and expect to close 30% below list. In his words, a lot of sellers (out-of-town banks especially), are "delusional".

[Dashing Dan]

Look at the combined cost of home ownership and transportation.

Suburban houses going to be relatively overpriced as travel costs go up, and as funds dry up for new road construction.

[JFman00]

I have been looking primarily at places in Riverside, Avondale, DT and San Marco. Am buying a rental property in Orange Park though, because it's so cheap.

[Bativac]

My house, when I bought it in 2009, had been listed for about a year at $225k. When we finally closed in October 2009 the price was $150k. Which is pretty much dead on with that 34% figure.

I remember at the time saying to my realtor "There's no way we can afford this." "So we'll offer $150." "Are you crazy?! They'll never come down that much!" Surprise, surprise.

[peestandingup]

Look at the combined cost of home ownership and transportation.

Suburban houses going to be relatively overpriced as travel costs go up, and as funds dry up for new road construction.

Bingo. What exactly are people getting for that $1500 mortgage payment + 2 cars (gas, insurance, payments)?? And God help you if you have kids & have to send them to private schools.

Yes, its overpriced. There's no quality of life return on investment here.

[I-10east]

IMO in the cities with the 'least realistic' housing prices just requires alot of savvy haggling like JFMan mentioned, and the supposed 'most realistic' home prices in high density urban areas are the ones that are truly overpriced; You're paying 6K more in Beantown no matter what. And nobody is gonna convince me that everything in freaking Tampa of all places is so rosy, I always been very skeptical of yahoo articles (mostly in sports).

[Adam W]

IMO in the cities with the 'least realistic' housing prices just requires alot of savvy haggling like JFMan mentioned, and the supposed 'most realistic' home prices in high density urban areas are the ones that are truly overpriced; You're paying 6K in Beantown more no matter what. And nobody is gonna convince me that everything in freaking Tampa of all places is so rosy, I always been very skeptical of yahoo articles (mostly in sports).

I'm very partial to Tampa. That said, it might just mean that people are more willing to pay the asking price for the home. In other words: Tampa has more demand for housing. I don't know if that's true or if I totally miss the point of the article.

Is Tampa experiencing more growth than Jax these days?

[I-10east]

^^^Read the Tampa paragraph. That estate agent said "One month we're improving, and next were not" and he used the word "spotty" doesn't sound very stable. I don't understand why MJers with an affiliation with another city take everything so personally.

[Dashing Dan]

I have been looking primarily at places in Riverside, Avondale, DT and San Marco. Am buying a rental property in Orange Park though, because it's so cheap.

With the added costs for transportation, maybe the property in orange park is not so cheap after all.

[ChriswUfGator]

That's another one of those unique Jacksonville attitude things. Everybody, from antique stores, to car dealers, to people selling a house, think whatever they've got is worth a million dollars. I have lived here 12 going on 13 years, and I have never bought a car here, you can't get a decent deal. Almost everything in my house came from somewhere else, I can't get a decent deal in town. I mean, I've had these absurd arguments with people where I pull out the iphone and show them that whatever it is we're haggling over costs less brand new with free shipping on the internet and they still won't budge. I just had that same argument with a mortgage broker who was selling off her office furniture on Craigslist last week, I wanted the leather sofa and she wanted more for it used than it sold for new, and was a real bitch about it. Ok, well what do you think I'm gonna do? Ordered it online. I've had that happen hundreds of times since I've lived here.

When I used to be into real estate, I bought everything from the banks, they're the only sellers in town who are rational. The locals are downright delusional. It's an apartment building, if the rent won't cover the mortgage wtf is the point of buying it? "We think we'll get that." Ok, good luck. Doesn't matter what the item is, it's usually overpriced in Jacksonville. I buy clothes here and I do alright on that, but anything else and it's usually waaaaaaaaay overpriced.

[JFman00]

I have been looking primarily at places in Riverside, Avondale, DT and San Marco. Am buying a rental property in Orange Park though, because it's so cheap.

With the added costs for transportation, maybe the property in orange park is not so cheap after all.

Doesn't matter to me. I'm not the one paying the rent. Just profiting from the ones that do think it's a good idea.

[Adam W]

^^^Read the Tampa paragraph. That estate agent said "One month we're improving, and next were not" and he used the word "spotty" doesn't sound very stable. I don't understand why MJers with an affiliation with another city take everything so personally.

Yeah, I read the entire article before I posted it. What I am trying to get my head around is why the asking price and the going price are so close (and why Jacksonville's aren't). Even if things are spotty in Tampa, the numbers are what they are.

I like Tampa and enjoyed living there. If I moved back to Florida, I'd probably move to Jacksonville, though 

[I-10east]

^^^I'm not gonna pretend like I'm an expert with intricate real estate finances; I'll put it this way, if you can get a decent price for a house here in Jax with some savvy haggling, then I don't think that the 'inflated house prices' are that much of a big deal, but if we cannot with sellers stonewalling at ridiculous prices (like ChrisW alluded to) then that's definitely not a good thing.

[Adam W]

^^^I'm not gonna pretend like I'm an expert with intricate real estate finances; I'll put it this way, if you can get a decent price for a house here in Jax with some savvy haggling, then I don't think that the 'inflated house prices' are that much of a big deal, but if we cannot with sellers stonewalling at ridiculous prices (like ChrisW eluded to) then that's definitely not a good thing.

Fair enough. I suck at haggling. But I'd rather try hard to get a home at a decent price than get taken to the cleaners!