Yeah, I know. Real estate prices have skyrocketed around here, too, both new and used. A 110 y.o., 700 ft², two bedroom shotgun bungalow on a postage stamp lot and with no garage in the North or South Bottoms that would have sold for maybe $45K three years ago, lists for sale for $62K and sells at $70K because of the buyer bidding war.
The young couple with two small kids that bought the built in 1973, 3 Bed, 1¾ Bath, eat-in kitchen, 960ft² main, split foyer ranch three years ago for $125K next door to me, were astounded to see the Tax Valuation this year on their house come in at $165K! And it's State Law that Residential Property be assessed at 98% of Fair Market Value.
Our neighborhood, for the most part, is 40-50 year old 3 bdr, single stall Ranch and Split Foyer homes in the 960-1080 ft² range. We're a 'starter home' neighborhood and so many times a house will have a For Sale sign go out front on a Wednesday with an Open House Sunday 1-5pm sign on top, and if it hasn't been Sold without being shown by Friday, then the Sold sign goes out 2pm Sunday, with the Seller accepting a $182K final offer on a $160K asking price! The housing market around here is nuts! Even in small rural towns within 30 miles of Lincoln or in the Lincoln-Omaha corridor it's gotten outrageous!
I've thought about cashing out, getting a used Prevost motorhome and go snowbird, but the timing's not right. I want to wait seven years so I can collect full Social Security as well as have my Medicare before I go wander the USA. Plus, I want to put about $30-35K into updating my house (reroof, siding, kitchen/dining room remodel and both bath updates from 1970's, new floor coverings, replace the piece of crap deck the p.o. built back in '86 when they did the horrible remodel of the kitchen and put a new roof on the attached garage they built and convert the original garage stall under the house into a Master bdrm suite. A couple of Real Estate agent friend of mine said doing that could add another $60K to the asking price and in 7 years I could very easily get $250K for my house since it sits on a large corner lot with mature shade trees.
