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Thanks for you interest! While we always prefer to release a finished video in conjunction with a property going active, this house was not staged until 12 hours before we listed it, so it was not ready for filming before we went live/active. It takes anywhere from 20 to 30 hours to produce one of these videos so it does take some time. Because we went under contract so quickly we elected to continue moving forward with the video production just in case the sale did not go through. Thanks for watching!
Ok, Springfield, we’re getting pretty crazy with these prices now. Nobody from this area can buy a house in the area we all grew up which is mind blowing to me
Hi! Thanks for your question. A pocket listing is when a house/property is available for sale but it is not openly being marketed to the public. Some people call this "shadow inventory." Sellers might have various reasons for not wanting to openly market their properties and instead prefer their Realtor to find a buyer without posting it on Zillow, Realtor.com, and various other marketing platforms. Sort of like having a listing in your back "pocket."
Hi Steven! Thanks for the question. This model has optional upgrades including the extended lanai option and a tray ceiling in the primary bedroom. Pricing has recently just changed at Seven Pines, so I will update you specifically tomorrow morning, but you will be close to $735k for this model as it now is. Feel free to reach out with any additional questions.
Those sliding barn doors...why? Unnecessary trend especially for a house that size. The sunroom was nice but I think it would have been better screened or do the windows open? Great location . Nice starter home.
Not going to lie tho eagle rock by drees homes selling houses at 1 mil out in the meth labs aka middleburg for another mil you get a house on the beach but yeah close to 3mil is too much
This might be off-topic, but how many people today actually have enough money to make a down payment on a $715,000 home? The average annual income for a single worker last year in the US was around $51,000. If you look at what such a worker actually takes home after taxes and withholdings each month, that’s about $3,300. Let’s look at average monthly expenses in 2022 for a single worker who has an average rent and owns an average used car (paid for with a loan). Rent: $1,200 Car Payment: $525 Food: $342 Gasoline: $175 Car Insurance: $148 Utilities: $160 Phone Plan: $70 Internet: $65 After these expenses, the average wage-earner has about $600 left to save. This assumes this person never goes out to eat, and has no monthly subscriptions or hobbies that require them to buy anything. This is also assuming they don’t have to spend money on medicine, vehicle repairs or emergencies each month. A typical down payment required to secure a mortgage on a home is 20% of the sale price. So, a person wanting to buy the home in this video would need to pay $143,000 at closing, in addition to paying closing costs, which last year averaged just under $7,000. So, to buy this home via mortgage, you need to come up with $150,000. For the average wage-earner we discussed above, with a savings figure of $600 per month, how long would it take them to save enough to close on this house? Answer: _250 months_ - nearly 21 years. Look, I get that this is not a starter home, but the average home, selling last year for roughly $428,000, is not a great deal more attainable for the average worker than this one is. What can we conclude from this? Those income figures I listed are the AVERAGE - meaning half of America’s wage-earners take home even less than that. We have a _very_ serious problem in this country, economically speaking, when more than 80% of an average person’s income is spent on the basic expenses required to live a modern life. These are fully employed, hardworking people who, through no fault of their own, will never be able to save enough money to buy a home under present conditions. Combine that with an inflation rate above 10% and annual income growth of only 3%, and you have an imminent demographic and economic disaster on your hands. I’m not a genius, but I can point out the problems. We as a society have got to start implementing solutions to this situation, or we are headed for very serious trouble.
Steve, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. I agree with much of what you say - there is certainly an affordability crisis in this country and it is only getting worse and worse. There is a dire need for some solutions and the problem is indeed serious. Of course, as you mentioned, rather than being a home that will appeal to first-time home buyers, a home like this is likely going to be someone’s 4th or 5th foray into the home buying process, and the equity growth of their previous homes will make up the lion’s share of the cash required to move into a home like this. I have seen multiple examples recently of homes selling now for twice the price that they sold for just 5 years ago, without any significant improvements made - just resulting from the rising prices that we have all seen in the housing market. Of course, this is precisely part of the problem that you are talking about. This situation is really good for those who have owned homes in the past 10 years, as they have probably seen double-digit appreciation in the value of those homes - equity that they can now access and advance towards a new home. A home like the one featured here will likely never be attainable through wages alone unless the wages earned are approaching the mid-6 figures. The flip side of this, as you so clearly outlined, is that for those who have not owned a home previously, the barrier is getting higher with every day that goes by without some solution being implemented. Thanks again for your thoughtful and insightful comments.
Thanks for your reply! I certainly agree with what you say. I appreciate you reading and responding to my comment. There is nothing inherently wrong with residential homes increasing in value, provided it is for the right reasons. Homes which receive meaningful improvements, or homes located in neighborhoods which receive improvements, should increase in value. That is how the market operates and there is nothing wrong with that. For example, a house-flipper who renovates a low-value home and makes it marketable should be able to realize a return on their investment. This usually helps neighborhoods and helps finance the house-flipper’s next project. It generally makes everyone better off. The actual problems begin when homes become commoditized. Residential starter homes, in real terms, are a basic amenity that every mid-tier wage-earner should be able to realistically afford. But now, since these types of homes have become commoditized, they’re too expensive for first-time home buyers to afford. That’s because starter homes are now primarily treated in the market as an investible, speculative asset class instead of as a basic amenity. They are now regarded as a commodity as opposed to a necessary amenity for a basic middle-class lifestyle. What does “commoditize” mean? Basically, a commodity is a good which receives heavy speculative investment in the market. In other words, it is purchased as an investible asset, to be held until its price increases, whereupon it is sold again for a profit. The purchase of something with the expectation to hold it and then sell it for a higher price is called “speculation.” In many areas of the country, residential homes are now considered to be a highly speculative investible asset class. When any good becomes commoditized in this way, and as speculation increases, its price goes up and up (without its actual, real value or utility changing). This process has essentially priced out all mid-tier income earners (mostly young working class professionals) from buying their first home and starting their journey up the equity ladder. Since they can’t even buy their first home, they’ll never build up the equity to buy a home like the one featured in this video. So, who are these speculators who are buying up basic residential homes for the sole purpose of investment? They’re not individual people or families who want to own the home and actually live in it. They are deep-pocketed corporate and financial entities who want to either own the homes as speculative investments, or operate them as rental properties. Generally, they are financial institutions like banks, hedge funds and venture capital firms. The entry of these financial and corporate players has changed the residential real estate market in a couple of fundamental ways. First - they often pay cash. This is preferable to sellers because of the simpler transaction structure and ease of closing. Second - they often offer high markups above the sale price. Financial institutions and corporate buyers are often cash-rich and can afford to do this. A regular person who wants to buy the property via a mortgage simply cannot compete with these players, and is summarily priced out the home they are trying to purchase. In many cases, the institutional purchasers immediately turn around and offer to _lease_ that same home they just bought - to the very same group of people who would otherwise have just bought it themselves. In effect, they have bought these homes out from under ordinary middle-class people in a bid to become their landlords. This is especially common in certain areas of the country like Atlanta, Georgia. In the other scenario, these institutional players just sit on the home until they sell it at a higher price. Both outcomes result in large numbers of ordinary, fully-employed people being unable to own the places they live in. This is an unstable situation. It effectively relegates a massive portion of the (generally younger) working middle class to serfdom - that is, working people who will never own property. Unless the situation changes, this will spark a major economic and demographic crisis. The demographic issue is of particular importance because young professionals generally wait to own a home before having children. The birth rate is already falling below replacement levels in several developed countries and this is going to make it worse. As a population ages and fewer young people enter the market to replace retirees, it creates a cascade of economic and social problems. We need to do everything in our power to avoid this outcome. I hate to point to the government for any solution, since the government has shown itself, more often than not, as only marginally competent at best, and corrupt _and_ incompetent at worst. Be that as it may, it may be time to consider legislation which prevents (or restricts) venture capital, corporate and financial institutions from purchasing residential-zoned real estate. I have no issue with big players investing in the residential real estate space, so long as that investment is confined to the financing of residential developments, as opposed to the ownership of the homes themselves. After all, it’s often big institutional dollars which fund the building of new residential neighborhoods. The financiers should be able to make money from putting up that capital. However, we need for young people to be able to buy their own homes again. We need for young people to be able to accrue equity and to feel financially secure enough to start families. Homeownership is the foundation of the American Dream. The collective belief of Americans in the realistic attainability of this dream forms the basis of their consent to be governed. When that is taken away, we are headed for disaster. I hope we do something before it is too late.
