The Rent is to damn high.

[MineralMan]

34. Well, home prices are up, for sure. This year was very unusual

in that way. There was a lot of pent-up demand due to COVID-19, I think. At least that's true in the Twin Cities metro area where I live. People had put off moving and finally did it. There were few houses on the market, so prices went up. When my wife and I were looking for houses, even near the bottom of the market, multiple offers well over the asking price were happening all over the place. We had to make an offer that was 12% over the asking price to get the townhome we bought. Just about every home that was for sale had multiple offers on the first day the listing was on the market, including the one we bought. Our offer was the best one the seller got, so we got the place.

Well, that stimulated a lot of people to put their properties on the market and make their move. So, suddenly, the market changed, and had way more homes for sale than it had previously. Many people, like my wife and I, were looking to downsize and shift our living style, so the townhome and condo market kept rising to accommodate people like us.

On the other hand, older single-family homes in urban neighborhoods were not what people were looking for so much, so our previous house lingered on the market. Worse, we had trouble finding contractors to do the work that was needed, which caused further delays. We bought our new house in May, and didn't get our previous one listed until August, since it needed a new roof and interior painting, along with some other work. By the time it hit the market, prices had stopped rising in neighborhoods like ours, at least for entry-level single-family homes. We had to relist at a lower price. It finally sold, but the market had cooled off by then.

Prices fluctuated downward in a 10-15% range in the time period between may and September, which was when our previous home sold. Real estate is weird that way. Trends shift quickly. Now, more expensive homes in desirable areas did not experience that fluctuation, but so-called starter homes did.

It was interesting. Like I said, it was really a wash in price between our old place and our new one. Fortunately, all that is done with now.