Anyone else seeing no value in their local real estate market? I've been watching for years and there is just nothing that looks at all decent. The prices on the lower end of the market are outrageous, especially priced against rents.
The other problem is that in the lower price ranges you are looking at exclusively 2 bedroom 1 bath places, 800 square feet or smaller, on tiny lots. We've even considered these with the idea of later keeping it for a rental, but we wouldn't be able to save as much, it would be tight with the kids we hope to add, and the fact that interest rates have no where to go but up has me worried we are in for a downward price correction, especially on these smaller lower end of the market places. We don't want to deal with an HOA so condos are out.
We don't live in an urban area, but COL is high and we are in Coastal CA. Prices used to be reasonable here until the early 2000s, but with the run up due to low interest rates, cash investors, etc., it just doesn't make sense to buy. Young families like ours are priced out by people who hit the lotto jackpot and bought for ridiculously lower prices (think 80k for an ocean view 4 bedroom 2 bath now worth a million +).
We are going to keep renting and keep growing our stash.