THE HOUSING CRASH WONT HAPPEN ANYTIME SOON

For the past two years I have been hearing about this upcoming housing crash. In 2018, I bought my condo for $251,000 in Southern California and while purchasing I had every adult (I was 24) telling me: don’t buy the property, you will regret it, there is going to be a crash soon and that I would end up loosing all my money. Of course, this freaked me out! It was my first time buying a property, (to me) it was a lot of money and I didn’t know what I was doing. Two years later, here we are… still no housing crash. Property values have not even inched down two points or have had any signs of falling apart.

So now we are in today’s time 2020 and I am looking for another property. I thought maybe the people of the internet may have some clue as to when this crash may happen. But I think I’m done, I don’t want to hear about claims that a housing crash in the year 2021 will happen. The truth is people don’t know when its coming. I have been putting offers on houses here in Los Angeles for months but I keep getting out bid or the house ends up taking all cash offers. It’s just as crazy as people claim it is. Anyways, as much as I am trying not to listen to the doom gloomers there is still a little voice in the back of my head saying, “what if they are right?” “what if I just wait 3 more months to buy a property and make a lot of money?” “what if I buy a property right now and it looses all its value in a year?” These what if’s to me seem much more possible now that two years have passed since my first purchase.

Of course none of us can tell the future. Not a lot of people can say they expected a 2020 pandemic. And let me tell you, people think we will be seeing a housing crash because of the pandemic. To be honest I really don't think this is the case, we aren’t that lucky to see cheaper houses. Naturally, a lot of people will be loosing money on there investments, but when you put that aside, think about how many young people, young families, first time home buyers, average day workers will be able to afford a small home for the first time in a long time if and when more houses hit the market after the pandemic. I don’t think we as a country are that lucky. If hundreds of thousands of people think a housing crash is going to happen then it won’t happen. Things in life come to you as a surprise, but remember this is just my opinion.

People assume the housing market will crash because our economy has been shut down for a months. People haven’t been paying rent and landlords have not been able to evict their non paying tenants all due to the virus. Now that people are behind on their mortgage payments and millions of people are loosing their jobs, apparently people think this warrants a housing crash. Since I have been putting offers on houses here in Los Angeles during this pandemic I gotta say there are still millionaires happily spending their money on homes with no problems. When people are happily buying properties in a limited market, people will still be happily buying properties if and when more houses come on the market, prices go down, or interest rates stay low after the pandemic.

I have put in an offer at least once a week for about 6 months now on houses in LA and every single time, I get outbid. For example, the house would be listed at $600,000. I will put in an offer at $615,000 to guarantee me the house and think that there is no way that someone will pay more the $15,000 for a broken house. Keep in mind this is Los Angeles, a lot of the homes are out dated or small and yet still worth thousands. Thinking I know have the house and my search can finally end, someone will come in with a $680,000 offer, or worse $700,000 cash offer. How and why are people bidding $100,000 more on a property that is not worth it! Honestly I see the news and I read everything on the internet saying how people are struggling financially but I am not seeing it in the real world. I am seeing homes being taken off the market in the matter of days. It's a very bloody war out here to get a house. If you see a property listed for a certain amount, you best believe it's going to go for more that what your budget is.

I can understand the battle, there are not many homes for sale in Los Angeles. I would say maybe two houses a day hit the market that are under a million dollars, so people jump at the opportunity and it turns into a bidding war. With no houses for sale, demand goes up which mean prices go up, and with the federal reserves not raising interest rates for the next few years I don't see any reason for the housing market to slow down. Why would people in Los Angeles sell there house right now? If you sell your homes you won’t be able to afford a new one in Los Angeles unless people move away. Now, there are rumors of crowds people moving out of Los Angeles to hit the easier cheaper states, but I do not think this is true.

People love Los Angeles, people from around the world want to come to LA to try and make their dreams come true. It will forever be the place to be. So even if some people are moving away because now they can work from home and work remotely, I think a new wave of people will just take the opportunity to move to Los Angeles which will mean LA will have the same amount of people that it started with. (possibly even more)

So the search continues, I have expanded my map on different cities that I am willing to live in. If properties do drop in value then great whoever catches the opportunity I applaud you. But for the rest of us, I say don't wait buy when you can. Don’t wait for this so called housing crash. Just like my condo scenario, it may not happen for years and then you miss out on a good opportunity. If properties do not drop in the next year that just means that things are going to get more expense and once you go out to buy a property in two years its going to be more expensive then if you would have just boughten earlier.

To rap it up,

• House values won’t drop any significant value
• Interest rates are to low to pass up
• Too many people are expecting a crash, crashes should be a surprise
• People getting approved for loans are qualified and can afford the loan
• Banks are being very careful on who gets a loan
• Low inventory of housing in Los Angeles doesn’t mean more opportunity later
• The pandemic has not gotten rid of the rich, the pandemic mainly harmed customer service jobs, while everyone else got to be remote
• The government may just bail everyone out
• We may never see this housing crash