OKC Real Estate Market

[GoGators]

You cant claim people are flocking to OKC from the coasts and also point out the dirt cheap cost of housing in OKC. Those two ideas cant exist together. That isn't how supply and demand work.

[Pete]

^

People are saying prices have gone up quite a bit recently.

But of course, OKC is still well below average when it comes to housing costs.

What seems to be driving demand as much as anything is record-low interest rates that have brought a lot more people into the housing market, and allowing existing homeowners to use their equity the low rates to buy more expensive houses. These seem to be national trends, not just specific to OKC.

[Bellaboo]

The easiest way to tell if there is a real influx from elsewhere is you start noticing a lot of out-of-state license plates because people usually change them long after they have arrived. (You'll see plenty of stories about this for Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Austin.)

And you just almost never see them here, except Texans likely visiting their families, or the occasional upper midwest plate if you are heading north on I-35 (passing through).

People are kidding themselves if they think any large migration into Oklahoma is happening.

It happened in the early 1980's. Rust belt plates everywhere, and oil was good at the time. Not sure if the influx with the last oil boom was as great as back then ?

[SouthOfTheVillage]

You cant claim people are flocking to OKC from the coasts and also point out the dirt cheap cost of housing in OKC. Those two ideas cant exist together. That isn't how supply and demand work.

Employment in the City’s key industry has fallen by nearly 50% over the last year, and yet the average house in OKC has appreciated by 10%. I don’t think that can be explained away with federal stimulus or low interest rates.

[Pete]

Employment in the City’s key industry has fallen by nearly 50% over the last year, and yet the average house in OKC has appreciated by 10%. I don’t think that can be explained away with federal stimulus or low interest rates.

The energy industry is not nearly dominant as it once was, evidenced by OKC's continuous very low unemployment rate.

And any realtor will tell you the increase in prices has been towards the lower end of the scale. Expensive homes are much slower to appreciate.

[OKCRealtor]

Employment in the City’s key industry has fallen by nearly 50% over the last year, and yet the average house in OKC has appreciated by 10%. I don’t think that can be explained away with federal stimulus or low interest rates.

OKC is much better diversified now than it used to be. I thought last year would be much worse given covid+energy bottom but in reality it had little effect on the housing market unless you happened to be directly impacted in the industry.

[Bill Robertson]

^

People are saying prices have gone up quite a bit recently.

But of course, OKC is still well below average when it comes to housing costs.

What seems to be driving demand as much as anything is record-low interest rates that have brought a lot more people into the housing market, and allowing existing homeowners to use their equity the low rates to buy more expensive houses. These seem to be national trends, not just specific to OKC.

^
And for first time buyers to get a house. 2 of my employees are shopping for houses for the first time.

[Pete]

^

That's exactly what I meant when I wrote: "brought a lot more people into the housing market".

Especially because rents have really escalated around town, particularly for anything nice. I bought a great, completely renovated 3 bd 2 ba house in a wonderful area and my total payment is less than a decent 2bd apartment, and that's not even taking into account the tax advantages and appreciation (or the fact I'm on 1/3rd an acre overlooking a park, have complete privacy and quiet and a big attached 2-car garage).

[FighttheGoodFight]

Our refi this year saved us a good chunk of change.

[GoGators]

Employment in the City’s key industry has fallen by nearly 50% over the last year, and yet the average house in OKC has appreciated by 10%. I don’t think that can be explained away with federal stimulus or low interest rates.

The OKC housing market doesn’t really care what the O&G market looks like. Home prices have been showing us that since 2015. I would say the 10% (9,000 dollar) home value increase in the OKC market over the last year would easily be explained by the lower interest rates that came in March 2020. Half of a percent will save you that 9,000 dollars several times over.

[Bunty]

As long as Oklahoma has nobody like Mark Cuban promoting Oklahoma, I don't think we have to worry much about overly inflated real estate prices.

https://www.aol.com/finance/mark-cub...231144452.html

[SouthOfTheVillage]

The OKC housing market doesn’t really care what the O&G market looks like. Home prices have been showing us that since 2015. I would say the 10% (9,000 dollar) home value increase in the OKC market over the last year would easily be explained by the lower interest rates that came in March 2020. Half of a percent will save you that 9,000 dollars several times over.

That’s my point.

[Martin]

thought i'd pose this question here. i'm constantly looking online at house listings in the okc area because real estate is in my blood...

i ran across a listing about a week ago for a 3500sqft home in an established neighborhood in the suburbs, built in the 2010's, and listed around $650k. so... pretty nice home, but it could easily sit at that price unless everything is 'just right.' i'm looking through the pictures and get to one of the guest bedrooms and, lo and behold, there's a huge rebel flag draped on the wall. my jaw kind of hit the floor... ideology aside, just from a business perspective... it just seemed to me like a huge misstep on both the part of the owners and *especially* the realtor for not advising their client differently. i'd be interested in hearing your opinions on this...

if you're the listing agent on this, do you advise your seller to take the flag down? do you at least employ some strategic interior photos to conceal the rebel flag?

if you're the selling agent, do you not present this listing to your buyers because you might offend them?

if you're the buyer, do you eliminate this house from consideration because of it?

or... does this not make a lick of difference? (i am actually kind of curious if my impression is a bit of an overreaction)

(btw... i'm not going to give the address... and if anybody is able to find it, i'd appreciate that you'd do the same. my point isn't to cause grief for these people.)

[Pete]

^

Good grief.

When I listed my home in California, the realtor strongly advised me to make a bunch of small changes like moving artwork around and removing one chair from the living area. Mind you, I am borderline OCD, a neat freak and a minimalist and she still wanted changes. I realized at that point I was in the process of letting go and not having it be my home anymore, so I did pretty much as she advised. The house sold very quickly but everything does out there, so I have no idea if her recommendations made any impact.

And as a potential buyer, I personally would never want to give my money to someone who had a confederate flag in their home. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

[fromdust]

If I was listing a house and the owner had a confederate, gay, blm flag, or any other political paraphernalia I'd advise them to hide it for sure.

[WheelerD Guy]

I’m certainly not trying to cast shade on real estate agents, but a number of them (even the ones with the listings) aren’t necessarily Phi Beta Kappas.

I could see how the impact of certain symbols might be lost in the ether.

[liirogue]

Are there signs that the real estate market is easing up just a bit? I imagine it’ll still be a seller’s market for some time, but I’m noticing homes in my neighborhood sit on the market for a week or two (when they would have been under contract in a matter of days) and also a couple of homes that have even cut their listing price.

[Pete]

^

I bet it will start to cool off once school starts, as families with kids prefer to move during the summer.

[FighttheGoodFight]

Lumber is going down, semiconductors are coming into stock more and used car prices are starting to stabilize and go down. Real estate will probably follow those trends and cool off a bit.

[Pete]

And I'm sure there are a ton of homes in the pipeline in terms of new construction.

[T. Jamison]

Single-family residential permits in the OKC Metro are at their highest level since like 2005 or 2006.

[Bits_Of_Real_Panther]

In the last few months I've noticed out of state license plates in the driveways for at least half a dozen places that were recently listed, just south of Oklahoma city university.

Colorado, California, Washington and texas plates.

[d-usa]

We listed our home in the OKC/DC/Edmond triangle area last Friday and accepted an offer on Sunday. We had lots of showings during that time.

[Richard at Remax]

I tell sellers to take down anything that might offend anyone. Flags, teams they might cheer for, animal heads, photos, ect. I try to disassociate the sellers from the house so people only focus on the property and not anything extracurricular.

[Teo9969]

I tell sellers to take down anything that might offend anyone. Flags, teams they might cheer for, animal heads, photos, ect. I try to disassociate the sellers from the house so people only focus on the property and not anything extracurricular.

My mom keeps insisting that when she finally sells her house, she won't sell to an investor. I"m absolutely beside myself because she's only been in the house for like 10 years, didn't raise her kids there, and by and large has mostly bad memories as it's been a rough 10 years. I'm just like "Why the hell do you care?"

But nope - human beings are not rational and will torpedo their ability to make money because they "have to" let people know who they are.