Are we reliving 2006 in 2016?!

[Heidi B.]

When we purchased our 3 unit bldg together (newly married) in 2006, there not yet any red flags of the pending housing crash that reared its ugly head that very same fall. Some say 2008 but this part is not impt to the question. We were looking in an extremely hot sellers market and were confronted with scenarios of multiple offers, being outbid and cash offers. We were constantly reminded by anyone and everyone to "buy now, it's only going to continue to go up!" We finally found a place but only just sold it last fall (fall2015) for a pittance more than we paid (10 yrs of ownership). We sold for a few reasons, mainly, because we moved to California for a new job opportunity 5 yrs ago, the market in Chicago has only recently allowed us to sell it slightly more than what we paid, and thirdly, found it was too difficult to manage from CA. You may ask, why the heck we didn't purchase here in 2011 or 2012? Let me reiterate that our money had been tied up in property in Chicago that we only were able to sell last fall for a meager profit. As such, the market is again trending upward at a hideous rate (at least here in southern California, I am only familiar with this small market) and we are looking to buy here. I am concerned about the seemingly red flags; slowed growth in US, China's mess, big oil problems, etc. However, we are finding homes are being snatched up the day they go on the MLS. We put in an offer on a house this past weekend at full price and found we were competing with 5 other full priced offers. I'd like to hear others thoughts on this, does anyone think this is another housing bubble on the verge of blowing or am I just fearful from our last experience. I'm afraid of retracing our steps. Is this still a good time to buy or have we reached a peak and we should now just hold off. Thank you. Heidi

[Steve Vaughan]

Paying retail off the MLS any time is not why we do this. Not me, anyway. Need a quiet, off-market deal you find out about through marketing or sleuthing for one. That goes for anywhere in the market cycle. Maybe you over-hear a conversation at work, your church or gym.

If bidding against all other buyers on the MLS is what you did last time, do it differently this time. No one can predict where we are in the price cycle, but we need to change our methods to change our results. Welcome to BP @Heidi B.!