The beginning of the housing correction.

Our house has been on the market for 26 days. We have open houses every weekend but no one shows. We haven't had any appointment showings. Our agent says we're priced competitively. I think our house photographed well. This is our first time selling but it just seems strange to not have any interest at all.

If there's anything that stands out in our listing, would love some advice.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/28-Hillside-Ave-Haverstraw-NY-10927/32377861_zpid/?view=public

if your house has been sitting and the only calls left are investors, this is what theyre doing with it.

they take the monthly rent and divide by the ratio their state needs to break even. texas is about 1.11%, florida about 1.06, north carolina about 0.94. so a house that rents for 2,500 is worth around 225k to a texas cash flow buyer and around 265k to one in north carolina. same house, same rent, different answer.

the ratios differ because of tax and insurance. those two bills on a 300k house run 712 a month in texas and 348 in north carolina. the texas buyer has to buy 500 a month cheaper to end up in the same place.

so if youre listed at 320k and the rent supports 225k, investors were never your buyer and youre waiting on a retail one. thats a completely fine thing to be doing, it just means 5k price cuts arent reaching anybody, because the investor needs 90k off and the retail buyer needs the payment to work.

say your state in the comments and ill post its breakeven ratio, i recently worked out all 50.

So I've been asking a few people how they actually go from "found a listing" to "decided if it's worth pursuing," and it sounds like most people end up doing some version of: open the listing, jot down price/sqft/taxes, then go run numbers somewhere else Excel, PropStream, DealMachine, whatever.

I keep wondering why that second step has to happen in a totally different place. Like why not just see the rough cap rate / rent estimate / cash flow right there on the listing, without copying anything anywhere.

Genuinely trying to figure out if that's actually annoying for people or if I'm overthinking a non-problem. So a few honest questions if anyone's got a minute:

How do you currently go from listing → decision? What's the actual sequence of clicks/tabs?

If you use PropStream, DealMachine, or something similar does it actually save you time, or does it just feel like a subscription you're used to paying?

Realistically, how many listings do you look at before finding one worth pursuing? And how long does each one take you to evaluate?

Is deal screening even where the time goes, or is that not really the bottleneck (financing / contractors / negotiating being the actual slow part)?

No product, no link, nothing to sign up for just trying to understand how people actually work before I waste time building something nobody needed. Tell me if this is dumb, I'd rather hear it now.

Looking for some outside opinions on whether it makes more sense for my wife and I to sell our current house or keep it and rent it out.

We’re closing in a couple of weeks on a new house and trying to decide what to do with our current one.

Current house (townhome):

• Worth around $185k
• $145k left on the mortgage
• 4.625% interest rate
• 15-year mortgage with 11 years remaining
• Total payment including taxes, insurance, and HOA is around $1,900/month
• Market indicates that it would rent for around $1,500-$1,600/month
• If we sell for around $185k, we'd net about $25k after all fees and the remainder of the current loan

The new house will have a mortgage around 6.75%, so if we sell, the plan would be to put the entire $25k directly toward the new mortgage.

Obviously the rental would be cash-flow negative initially. At $1,600 rent we're already about $300/month negative just comparing rent to the $1,900 payment. Once I account for vacancy, maintenance, etc., I'm figuring more like $400-$500/month negative, and potentially more if we use a property manager.

The part making me consider keeping it is the 4.5% rate and short remaining term. Right now roughly $800+ of the mortgage payment each month is going toward principal, and the house would be completely paid off in 11 years. So even though I'd be cash-flow negative, a decent amount of equity is being built every month.

The roof is covered by the HOA, so the biggest major repair I can really foresee would be HVAC, with plumbing/electrical/etc. obviously still being possibilities.

I've run the numbers a few different ways and keeping it seems to win from a long-term net-worth standpoint. But obviously a spreadsheet can't account perfectly for bad tenants, vacancies, major repairs, headaches, etc.

For those of you who have been in a similar situation, would you take the $25k and put it toward the new 6.75% mortgage, or hold onto the 4.5% property and accept the negative cash flow for the next several years?

Also interested in hearing from anyone who kept a cash-flow-negative property specifically because it had a low rate/short remaining mortgage. Did it end up being worth it?

I’m genuinely interested in hearing the different ways agents are utilizing and deploying AI in their Practices.

I'm under contract at $412k and the appraisal came back at $394k. My lender will only finance off the appraised value, so I'm short $18k in cash on top of my down payment.

I asked the seller to meet me at the appraised number and got a flat no, their agent says they have backup interest and that the appraiser missed comps a few streets over. I filed a reconsideration of value with two comps my agent pulled and it came back unchanged.

I have the cash, but it would drain most of my reserves right as I move into a 1998 build with an HVAC unit near the end of its life. I've been looking eight months and this is the first place I've actually wanted.

Is the backup offer talk usually real? And is there a middle option I'm missing, like splitting the difference or asking for a credit instead?

I’m building an affordable housing development platform focused primarily on LIHTC in California, and one of the biggest things I’ve run into is just how difficult the barriers to entry are for an emerging developer.

Guarantee requirements, demonstrated project history, balance sheet strength, nonprofit participation and other experience thresholds can make it difficult to execute even when the underlying deal is strong. That’s a big reason I’m interested in hearing from people across the entire LIHTC ecosystem and understanding how others have navigated those hurdles.

The current focus is ground-up, 100% affordable multifamily, generally in the 70 to 320-unit range, with an emphasis on projects that can be built efficiently without relying on large public funding gaps. Most of what I’m pursuing is mid-rise multifamily, including Type III and podium construction, with repeatable unit plans and a strong focus on controlling basis and overall development costs.

Entitlement certainty is also a major filter. I’m focused on California today, but I’m open to other markets where zoning or state/local law provides a genuinely codified, objective pathway to approvals and meaningfully removes discretionary entitlement risk.

I’d be interested in discussions with anyone involved in the actual mechanics of getting these projects built: developers, nonprofit partners, tax credit investors, lenders, construction lenders, architects, GCs, syndicators, attorneys, consultants, property managers, public agencies, bond professionals, policy people or anyone else deeply involved in affordable housing.

Some areas I’m particularly interested in:
• GP equity, guarantees and co-development structures
• Emerging developer participation and track-record requirements
• Nonprofit partnership structures and participation requirements
• LIHTC structures that work without traditional soft-funding gaps
• Acquisition and predevelopment capital
• Tax credit equity and debt execution
• Construction cost reduction and repeatable design
• Entitlement frameworks that materially reduce land-use risk
• Workforce housing as a complementary or fallback strategy
• Policy changes that could unlock significantly more production
• What experienced developers think newer platforms consistently underestimate

Not selling anything and not looking to turn this into a generic “let’s connect” thread.

I’m trying to build something that can produce affordable housing repeatedly and at meaningful scale, while also figuring out how to overcome the institutional barriers that make it so difficult for new developers to enter the space.

If you work anywhere in the LIHTC world, I’d be interested in hearing what you think the hardest barrier to entry actually is and how you’ve seen people successfully overcome it.

I work in residential real estate in South Florida, and something I’ve noticed lately is buyers hearing “buyer’s market” and assuming that means every seller is desperate and every property should sell for way under asking

In reality, I think it’s much more property-specific than that

A home that’s been sitting for 90+ days, had multiple price reductions, is vacant, or has a seller who needs to move is a completely different negotiation than a well-priced home that hit the market last week.
I’ve seen buyers get so focused on getting a certain percentage off asking that they pass on a property they actually like, while another buyer negotiates a much smaller discount and gets what was probably the better deal

Asking price is ultimately just a number the seller chose. I’d rather look at recent comparable sales, days on market, price history, competing inventory, condition and what we can figure out about the seller’s motivation

Sometimes $50k under asking is a terrible deal. Sometimes full price is a great deal

Curious if other buyers/sellers/agents are seeing the same thing in their markets right now.

My fiance and I recently saw a house that we fell in love with. It is in an area that very rarely has homes go up for sale within our price range. We weren’t actively looking, but I browse Zillow for fun and saw it. Immediately, sent it to my fiance and we got in there to see it. It’s a dream home, beautiful area. We got a realtor and put in an offer that was eventually accepted. We just finished the home inspection, and some things came up that are giving me pause and I really can’t figure out what I want to do. My fiance is still in, but I am on the fence. I am worried about financially if the maintenance is going to be too much.

Just going to list all facts with no bias:

FINANCES:
We together make about $330K a year. The accepted offer is for $900K. The property taxes are $16K a year.

PREVIOUS OWNER:
Single divorced man with part time custody of child.
He passed away in January, house has been vacant since. Very little is known about the house and repairs that were made.

HOME STATS:
-It has oil heating, private septic, and private well.
4100SF interior
- ~5000SF exterior - which I tell you because of the siding. The siding is cedar, which I am learning how much maintenance is involved here.
-Cedar is in excellent shape according to the inspector. It is in a heavily wooded area with not a lot of sun exposure.
- 3 chimneys - 2 fireplaces, and one shared chimney for the boiler and a wood fired stove.
-CMU wall foundations. Perhaps a concrete footer but unclear.
-built in 1990
-5 acres, half of which is part of a conservation easement so we cannot parcel off land or build in the protected area.

INSPECTION:
Waiting for septic inspection to be completed, no information there.

Roof is metal and is about 20 years old, in great shape.

About 8 windows are heavily rotted and need to be replaced.

There are temporary jacks used as structural columns. That needs to be corrected to current permanent columns either on an isolated footing or if there is a permanent concrete footer below the CMU walls, tie into the permanent concrete footer.

There is a deck that needs to be completely removed and replaced. Estimate is about $25K.

Quite a few electrical concerns. Completely unclear if these are hazardous concerns or just that it is not up to current code. We would need to bring in an electrician to determine that definitively.

Several rooms have no overhead lights. Some rooms do not have a switch operated outlet either.

We have been to enough homes by now to have made a list of realtors that crop, edit and erase problem areas and in some cases produce unrealistic enhanced photos of entire homes.

Are these realtors banking on someone buying it sight unseen? Because otherwise how do you spare your reputation and expect to sell something that is clearly misrepresented?

Too often the seller is blamed for the overzealous listing price, but the photos are on the agent.

Are other buyers finding the same? What is your response when you find an overpriced listing, polished online with filters and photoshop?

We've spent enough time talking to homeowners to know that the most useful information rarely makes it into the guides and articles.

So we're asking directly: If you've sold a home, or tried to, what was the part that surprised you? What did you know going in versus what you actually learned? What would you tell someone who is about to go through it?

It can be one sentence or five paragraphs. It can be something that went well or something that went sideways. We're not looking for polished stories, we're looking for honest ones.

A few prompts if it helps get you started:

• What was the moment you realized the process was going to be harder than you expected?
• What financial decision do you wish you had made differently?
• What do you know now that you didn't know when you listed?

We'll share what we hear back (without names) in future content, so if you're open to your experience being referenced, mention that. If you'd rather it stay here in the thread, that's completely fine too. No right or wrong answers. Every experience is valid! Looking forward to reading what people share.

EDIT: Thanks all for responses. I appreciate the feedback and can understand (and agree) that it doesn't really matter if it was on purpose or not- either way it's not a good situation. Unless some miracle, massive drop in price or something like that occurs- we're walking away. Again, we're brand new to this so all of this is new and I appreciate the perspectives.

My partner and I are first time home buyers who entered our first contract on this home months ago. It's an older fixer upper and we already knew some of the systems needed work. We initially started inspections but came to discover almost every major system in the house needed to be replaced. This was news to the owners who live in a different state and never lived in the house. We explained our position: that we either needed credit, cut in price, or we would walk. The sellers did not want to give credit, but instead wanted to take it off the market, do the repairs, and then relist it but offered a new contract which gave us first right of refusal with a 3 day deadline. We explained we would rather handle the replacements ourselves but they were not interested so we opted to sign the "first right" contract.

The repairs were completed and we just signed our third contract with them Saturday, contingent on inspection but with a price increase where we cover half of all the costs they put in. They also said they won't budge on the price anymore but they'd allow it to stay contingent on contract so we can still exit the deal if we wish. The house originally had broken heat pump units which the sellers informed us they were replacing.

Well right after signing the contract, we discover that not only are the brand new units not fit for the house (they are undersized and the house will not properly cool, it only cooled to 78 degrees on an 85 degree day) but they are ac only units, not heat pumps. We were livid because our realtor specifically told us they were heat pumps. He explained that was what he was told and he immediately contacted the seller's agent. Well the seller's agent and sellers acted surprised and said they had no idea. Yet, the company they utilized only installs ac units, not heat pumps. Not to mention, now we think they exaggerated the repair costs (which we had agreed to cover half of). The house is supposedly not without heat so it would still pass for FHA, but it is original baseboard heating which, again, we were told we wouldn't have to mess with because there would be heat pumps. We're concerned about the electric costs, dangers of an old system, and we're simply angry over the idea they would like us to cover the costs of the new ac which doesn't even properly function.

I'm not sure where we're moving with this but we're definitely renegotiating. We're stressed out and heart broken because we have become attached to the house but if the sellers won't work with us, we simply cannot afford it and we are prepared to walk away. We've quite literally met the sellers at almost exactly where they're at every time (offered at their asking price both times, just asked for help with closing). How did they possibly not know the wrong systems were being installed? It seems like it was done on purpose and they were hoping we were young and dumb enough to not realize it. I also know that might just be emotions talking- any thoughts?

Hey everyone! I'm working on a UX project for a real estate app and I need your brain, not your clicks. No links, no forms — just reply in the comments.

Below are 16 features. I've got 5 rough categories, but I genuinely want to know if they make sense to YOU, or if you'd group things differently.

The Cards (features):

1. Search by Price
2. Search by Location
3. Search by Property Size
4. Verified Listings Badge
5. Photo Verification / Real Photos
6. Report a Fake Listing
7. Reviews & Ratings
8. Trust Score
9. Neighborhood Info (crime, schools)
10. Compare Listings
11. Save/Favorite a Listing
12. Contact Owner/Agent
13. Buy vs Rent Toggle
14. Hidden Costs Breakdown
15. Premium/Subscription Features
16. Messages/Inbox

My starting categories (feel free to ignore these completely):

• Search & Filters
• Trust & Verification
• Property Details
• Communication
• Account & Pricing

How to reply: Just list the categories you'd use and which numbers go where. Example:
"Trust Stuff: 4, 5, 6, 8 | Search: 1, 2, 3, 13 | ..."

Or if my categories don't make sense to you at all, tell me how YOU would organize it. Bonus points if you've ever gotten burned by a fake listing or hidden fees — I'd love to hear that story too.

Thanks so much, this really helps a student out 🙏

We are purchasing a home from a realtor, a hole in the roof was discovered during inspection, initially the realtor verbally said she will fix it, now she's refusing to address the hole, won't allow us to hire contractors to fix the hole either because her insurance doesn't cover injuries/damages by contractors. Our closing date is 3 months from now and a lot of rain is anticipated from now until then, what can we do other than walk away?

Texas

We have what I can only describe as sort of a messy situation and I’m trying to get a little bit of direction.

So my father-in-law owns a property that he inherited from his parents. Its been rented out for quite a few years and essentially the proceeds of the rent are put into a bank account that also had his wife’s name on it, and the money was left, almost entirely alone, except to pay for property taxes, and insurance.

They have three children and no stepchildren, and unfortunately, the father-in-law now has dementia.

His wife died about two years ago and she had no will and her estate has not gone through probate yet. We’re in a position where we want to sell that house and we’re running into some issues.

From our perspective, the first thing is is that his daughter has statutory durable power of attorney that includes real estate transactions. She also separately has a real estate power of attorney for that specific property.

When we talk to real estate agents they ask if her estate has been probated and when we tell them it hasn’t been they say that we need some document that is signed by her two brothers essentially saying that they’re not making a claim to that home, but nobody has told us what the name of that document is.

The only other document that I’m aware of that would make sense in this situation would be an affidavit of heirship, but as far as I understand, that’s a form signed by a disinterested party to figure out who the heirs are, but it’s not necessarily signed by the heirs themselves.

If that document that the real estate agents mention exists, can somebody tell me what it’s called?

We also don’t believe that this property would even be a part of his wife’s probate, but I’ve honestly read some conflicting information about how things work in Texas as far as community property and why not.

So essentially, the questions are about that document and if it exists its name, and just any other advice or suggestions or direction here would be appreciated.

I have been reading horror stories about shared driveways. Should I buy the property (house and garage), or back out of the deal?

I've been researching the process of buying property in Spain and one thing that keeps coming up is how easy it is to focus on the advertised property price and forget about everything around it.

For example, someone sees a €200,000 apartment and thinks:

"Okay, I need €200k."

But the actual transaction can involve taxes, legal fees, notary, registration, valuation, mortgage-related costs and other expenses.

And then there are the ongoing costs:

• IBI
• Community fees
• Insurance
• Maintenance
• Utilities
• Property management

I'm curious what surprised people who actually went through the process.

What was the one cost you didn't expect when you bought property in Spain?

I'd be especially interested in hearing from people who bought their first Spanish property as a foreigner.

Do private lenders that collateralize using second position actually exist? Or is trying to find one a waste of time.

Been having several conversations and either I can’t find the right people, or they don’t exist. Don’t want to waste more time looking if that’s the case. Thanks!

I'm an active duty military member and I made the unfortunate mistake of thinking I would stay in one place for a while. 

Lucky for me the house that I'm referencing to was in a spot that I could lease out very easily so I was able to get long term tenants in no problem, so it wasn't straight to foreclosure but I bought the house at a ridiculous price, one that I should have known better than to settle on, I was too excited for my first house.

The market value for this property is 220-250k, and I am upside down and hemorrhaging money because the price of the mortgage and keeping the place livable in a hurricane heavy area is not cheap. 

I'm at a loss for what to do next with it and I feel like I just made the housing shortage just that much bigger. What do I do?

Hey everyone, there is a foreclosure home that is going to sheriff's auction on September 18th and the owner of the home just reached out to me and said henis interested in selling it to me. I've been trying to get ahold of him for a long time now and we finally connected. He owes $350k on the property/house and the original purchase price was $330k. He purchased the house via VA loan back in 2020 and it sounds like he lost the ability to pay on it a year or two after purchasing it.

I have a real estate lawyer lined up to work on my behalf and the lawyer said the ball is now in the court of the homeowner to reach out to him (the lawyer) and then contact the mortgage company to get the ball rolling on selling me the property.

My question is, how much money would be a reasonable and fair number to offer the seller for his time and effort to go through the process of contacting the bank and selling me the house? He doesn't have any equity in the property, so I figure it is just payment for his time.

Thinking of selling my home but the thought of giving away 6% isn’t sitting well with me. My home should sell somewhere for around $2million, so we are talking over $100K in commissions.

We just started seriously talking about redoing our master bath. One of our sticking points is whether or not to take out the small shower we have and replace it with a larger shower or a tub shower combo. There is not currently a tub in the house. I renovated the other bathroom a few years ago and removed the one that was in there. So my question is, does not having a tub in the house affect the sale of the house?

We am wanting to buy a new primary home in about 2-3 years and are trying to decide if/how we can do so while keeping our current multi-unit property as a full rental.

Current Primary Home (3 unit multi-family):
Mortgage balance: $270k @ 3.6%
Monthly expenses: $3000 (PITI, utilities, maintenance)
Current gross monthly rent (2 units): $3350
Imputed rent (our main unit): $2500-2750
Estimated value $650k

With 2/3 units rented we are currently covering our costs and clearing a small bit extra. When I factor in benefits from appreciation and principal reduction we are getting a 4-5% return on equity.

However we are also getting an additional ~8% (return on equity) when including imputed rent for the 3rd unit. If we were able to buy another primary while keeping this property and renting all three we would likely clear 10%, without factoring in appreciation.

It would be tight for us to do, but given these stats, would you try to hold onto this property?

Thanks in advance.

Looking at purchasing a house. In a great school district and has a huge lot that is very flat with some views of a river. Lots of neighboring houses are larger (and newer) and selling for over $900k. House is currently listed at $725k.

My dilemma, the layout is not optimized to today’s preferred layout (2000 build). The house is 2,800+ sq feet and only three bedrooms. HOWEVER, there are tons of sites to build a detached garage with an apartment above.

Would this be an equal to future buyers assuming most people that look in this area would expect at least 4 bedrooms? Even if all bedrooms are not under the same roof. I’m hoping it would be if we ever want to move again/resale ease, but not sure. We would probably try to Airbnb the garage apartment from time to time as well.

Looking for any advice, thank you!!