Considering relocating to Texas

go-fish said
That is one of the reasons I decided NOT to take the job in Decatur. It is commuting distance to Ft Worth, therefore subject to the bidding wars from outsiders and the home prices skyrocketed in the timeframe it took my HR department to move forward with my transfer.

I grew up about the same distance from Oklahoma City as Decatur is to Ft Worth. It is a good distance to be away from a major city. You can still shoot deer off your back porch but you could also get t an international airport in 45 minutes.

I really, really wanted that promotion but I have one coming where I am at. I feel like I am behind enemy lines here in California. I can't afford a house here but I live in Forest Service housing on the Forest and the compound abuts a designated wilderness area and it's cheap rent. I can afford 2 houses in Oklahoma so I am going to sit tight until I can make the perfect timing on a move. That is why I would suggest @MopaR&D get some money together and wait for the coming crash. It's going to happen. If you are EVER wanting to buy a house I think the coming burst of the bubble is going to be the perfect time. I have friends that bought in 2009 -2011 and 5 years later they had over 100K in equity. You can't get that in the stock market.

IMHO the housing market will cool down and prices may drop a bit, but it will be nothing like what happened in 2009-2010. We are in a recession, no matter what anyone says, but we are going into a recession from one of the best economic times this country had seen in a long time, so a lot of people made a lot of money and have it saved up, be it in liquid or hard assets. So, I do not believe the recession will impact as many people as it usually does, as recessions usually last a short time and many people have enough to survive till everything goes back to normal. In 2006-2008 there was a housing glut, the inventory of houses was through the roof when everything collapsed. Now we are in the opposite situation where we have a housing shortage. So, even with a recession and higher interest rates, people still need a place to live. Also, there is no more of the BS that you could buy a house for literally nothing down, and with little to no employment or income verification, that ended after the crash of 2009-2010. If you buy a home you need 20% down, you have skin in the game. If the market slows or crashes, when you have 20% + in your property you are much less likely to abandon it, like people did in 10-12 years ago, people that had nothing in their home... IMHO do not expect housing to prices to crash, I expect prices to drop a little but not to crash, except maybe in some areas of California where home prices go up to stupid levels, and then crash every so often, there are other places where this happens and those may get affected too.