Hey Don, just curious, why the move from Palm Harbor to Tampa? Most of us would likely gravitate toward the beach (except for the crowding over there).

If you're seeking land, Plant City and east is a reasonable option.

Harvey

Best value for your money between Tampa and Orlando would be Polk county, third largest county area wise in Florida. 1hr to Tampa 1hr to Orlando. Cities in the county are: Lakeland, winter Haven, Bartow, lake Wales, Haines city and about 4-6 more. Lots of large parcels. Lived and worked there for 30 yrs.

In 1997, some people we knew split up their farm and sold lots. We got lot #1 (2.5ac), and after being there a year in a new house - we bought the lot next door (#2). Its still unimproved, except for a fence, two cattle of questionable quality, and a portable shed for them. Its now worth 3.5x what we paid. I'm tempted to sell, but I keep realizing that I'd rather stare at my cows every day, than some close neighbor that has a 50/50 shot of being an *sshole.

thats why follow has a buy your house program to get unsuspecting ppl to sell and their superior knowledge will resell keeping the difference

My wife wanted me to take her to some place expensive over the weekend so I took her to the lumber isle at Home Depot !

For entertainment purposes only, watch the value of your property on Zillow. Mine has gone up 51k in the last year, 4k this week!
James Q

I keep hearing lumber down 40%. Haven't seen any evidence of it at any of the retail stores I frequent. In fact, OSB was a few bucks more yesterday than last week at Lowes!

That's their COST and not their PRICE.

According to Zillow, our house is now worth $143K more than when we bought it 5 years ago and half of that is since Jan. 2021.

This bubble is going to burst soon...

We have sorta been looking to move from Bedford to the slightly more metropolitan Bloomington. Im in my house good, but dont want to pay the crazy prices to buy another place.

I honestly have been considering selling and then renting for a year to see if the market calms down.

Until the corporate conglomerates\foreign speculators no longer have an interest or the banks start withholding credit, housing prices will continue to be stupid. Same with classic cars. They've been shown to have value and all the "gotta get\stay rich somehow" folks will continue chasing stupid money amongst themselves.

It's something most average Joes have no clue on because those guys live in such a different world than the rest of us.

I respectfully disagree on major bubble burst, price drop, in the long run, big picture. The bid over list scenario may cool down, and some of the frenzy drop off, yes. Home cost is multi faceted, labor, material, demand, area, BUT.....

When houses went to 100K they never went back to 50, when they went to 200K they never went back to 100, when they shockingly hit 300, it just paved the way for 400, etc, etc. Even 2008 is starting to look like a speed bump. Nobody is saying stupid price new 90K pick up trucks will go back to 40..... sheet just is, and we are getting hosed to a degree.... but it is.

In Canada, those historic highs are holding.

We haven't adjusted lumber down yet, and believe me, as soon as they would budge, we would be going down.

Has happened many times in the past, every thing ramps up until it doesn't.

Have been over forty major busts just in the us. Anyone remember "not worth a continental" ? Or the antics of Fisk and Gould ? Just depends on who controls the printing presses.

It’s called spending like there’s no tomorrow. It’s here and people are buying things with a new mindset.

RVs, remodeling projects, cars, lake houses, existing houses and bigger new houses…

Obviously the money was there, and values of existing rises.

No complaints here. I love the pandemic reality…

I think of it differently- I don’t think this has happened before. No matter your feelings on the pandemic, fact is :

We had a forced recession because the world leaders chose to shut down the economy for safety reasons

We had forced inflation by dumping a fake 6 trillion into the economy deflating the dollar

We have forced unemployment with the benefits being as good or better than going to work

I am not getting political- I think these are statements most can agree on. My point is that while we have had booms and busts before we kind of put ourselves in this weird spot.

Talking with one of our neighbors last night he said the ‘day of listing’ sales have cooled off. He mentioned 3 houses that have been for sale for two weeks. Maybe it will level off like any other boom- I don’t think anyone can predict what is next…..

You will know the boom is over when they start blaming people.

As an update to northwest Montana real estate frenzy: House behind me sold. It was old 2BR 1 BA 1300SF. City lot. It sold in 2 days, as it was a fixer upper, instead of usual 1 day. Ancient paint with black mold on the outside shady side. Inside looked like it needed an exorcism before fixing up. I wing dinged 100K minimum to bring back, without fancy upgrades. Sold for 460K. (60 over list) I literally can't wrap head around this escape the city frenzy, but I get it. We have Maryland, North Carolina, now California in my block, all within a month. America on the move. Welcome, wipe yer shoes off :)

The work from home movement has been a boon to real estate well outside our metropolitan area. People are undecided about the pros and cons. My daughter is a recruitment manager and she literally told her company that she will not be in the office on a regular basis. She's productive and successful. So what do they care? She'd never leave the city, but some of her co-workers are taking the leap to get a nice place.

The country: it's more than just retirement!

My house and property was just re-appraised by the county and the value went up $34,000. But the county is going to adjust the millage rate to keep our taxes the same. I have a 2080 sq. ft. 3 bedroom, 2bath with a double garage and a 24x30 fully enclosed shop on 1,5 acres. The tax value of my property is $230,000 here in south Georgia. I wonder what it would be in California? I have a 2.5% loan that will be paid off in 5 years if I live that long. I considered paying it off earlier but decided against it for the time being.