A person called today to challenge me on a post I made on another of my blogs. He pointed out that the average age of a home in the United States was 35 years. Considering the United States is a couple of hundred years old, it gives you an idea of how many new construction housing units we have.
A second thing that he brought up was a shadow inventory of 7 million housing units, and I pointed out that the Census Bureau puts the number of vacant homes at 18 million. We were having a little back, and forth about housing values, more specifically the value of new construction.
I like older homes, and think they will maintain value, longer than new construction. Even though we have construction costs that are fairly well set, there are still many new units that are selling for below what it cost to build them. Older homes, in more established neighborhoods, have a tendency to hold value no matter what the economy does.
I’m going to point out that established million dollar homes increased the most in value, declined the sharpest, but on a straight line of appreciation are still performing better than the McMansion counter parts. Some people claim that is because of the increased lot size, and I’ll concede a point to that, but there are many five acre tract McMansions.
The best way I can describe it is if you are buying a Chevrolet is it better to buy a 1957 Bel Air, or a new Monte Carlo?
About David Losh
In 1984 I got my Real Estate license and worked in a small company called Advance Properties. The owner was extremely interested in Real Estate, building, and land development. Most of his work was concentrated North of Seattle. Since the 1970s I had worked for Real Estate agents in Seattle as a contractor, mostly preparing properties for rent, and sale.
After a few years my skill level increased considerably concerning land use, building code, and development practices. Escrow, and lending offices were housed at the Advance Properties building so it was easy to get involved in all aspects of Real Estate. It was very much a family owned, and operated business.
Over the years my Real Estate license has been at a variety of Real Estate companies, and offices. Nothing compares to those early years, or that sense of family. Real Estate has gotten to be corporate owned.
My hope with this blog is to share with you some of the things I've learned. If you have Real Estate needs, or want contractor help, I refer freely to what best suits you. If you should choose to work with me you'll find a great resource.
My Real Estate license is at Skyline Properties in Northgate. Skyline is a locally owned company that is a desk fee office. There is a wide variety of diverse agents. It helps me with some of the other projects that I have, and mentoring that I do, to be able to work with people from other cultures.
Here in Seattle we are close to Vancouver BC and are the gateway to China. Boeing has a great trade relationship with China, as does Microsoft have with all of Asia. We are a culturally diverse community, and it helps me to be invlolved.
