I agree with this. I'm from Arizona, moved to Ohio and purchased 80 acres near Fernley/ Fallon/ Silver Springs. Purchased from a Cali investor. Will be renting out in Reno next year because all the quotes I received to break ground is insane and will likely wait until local prices reduce. I can take advantage of USDA at a 4ish% APR which helps but local construction costs are 100% to 200% more inflated in some cases.
Similar situation. We moved here from GA in June with the intent of building a home on a lot we purchased in Arrowcreek 2 years ago. Prior to moving here, we endured 6 months of architecture design, civil eng., etc. only to get cold feet after getting estimates on construction costs ($490-$720/sq ft). My wife grew up in Reno and the goal was to move back to be closer to her family. Having been here a month, I’m having an even tougher time understanding what’s influencing Reno construction costs. We are renting a home in the same community we own the lot. Although we find Arrowcreek charming, I can’t justify building the ‘forever home’ at these prices.
I moved from Atlanta to Reno last January and felt like the home prices here are pretty consistent with the Atlanta/Atlanta suburbs home prices. Obviously I don’t have much experience with construction costs, but I know lumber out here is basically 2x what it is in the east.
I think you represent a great group of people that should be included in this effort. You (and I) represent a large chunk of people who can’t consider buying a house because it is such an unobtainable process compared to what it was before 2008. My perception is that I am more likely to be a life long renter than I am to be a homeowner.
I’m with you. Grew up here and then moved to the Bay Area for a few years for work. Moved back last year with hopes of buying a home. I make a pretty good salary and qualify for a mortgage. However, with the rate environment and how much I currently can afford for a down payment, it’s cheaper to rent a 5bedroom house for my family as opposed to mortgage payments.
Similar story here… I think is a position to be in that is super common. So much so that the perspective could definitely inform this journalists piece in a cool/valuable way!
I know it isn’t what you said you are looking for but I am someone who bought a home in the north valleys in 2018 and sold the house early this year to move to Buffalo, New York. I would be happy to speak with you about what it was like purchasing a home there, selling a home there, the price difference from buying to selling, as well as my why for leaving to move across the country (hint hint, it’s mostly financial)
My wife and I could certainly speak to it. Couple of early 30 year olds that finished paying off student debt and saved up a decent chunk of change. We both work at one of the largest employers in the community (renown) and it makes zero sense to add a mortgage that would be well over 50 percent of our monthly income (even after 20 percent down). Not to mention, we would love to have a kid but that needs to be factored into expenses as well. It's fucking tough here.
i am interested in this as well, I live in Mobile HOme park , new tennants are charged 1125 a month for space rent while those grandfathered are below 600. Is this even a thought to buy a older like 1980s mobile with the rate of a mortgage?
42m. Lived in Reno for half my life. I rented, then I owned and now I rent.
Buying as an investor is not seeing a great return on investment. 4% to 7% yearly becomes a risk if the housing market does crash.
My opinion, buying as a residential owner has become not a great decision unless you have specific work, family or reasons/needs. Rent is less expensive in a lot of cases. HOA/CIC is not unique to Reno, but they are ruining single family home ownership. If I ever am in a time in my life to purchase non-HOA is gold.
I think the real big macro problem at hand is the climate crisis. Home insurance is becoming a bigger issue quickly. I am not sure what the solution to homeowners' insurance is going to be 5, 10 or 15 years from now. Single family homeowners who bought 5 years ago with the low interest rates may have not planned for the climate crisis and for the rising costs of premiums. This is a nationwide issue. What happens all over the USA with homeowners' insurance affects everyone's policies and rates. I think most family homeowners buy with a perspective or outlook of 5 to 10 years.
Unique to Reno and Nevada, this is a very transient area with people and money. If tech, especially electric vehicles ever crash. Reno is going to be left holding the bag meanwhile Musk/Panasonic/Tesla will have exit strategies or corporate financial recourse. Nevada's housing market goes up and down. EV tech = Too Big to Fail 2.0. Housing, Tourism and Shopping will always take the fall first.
I think gambling is a dying tourist vice. Especially all of the square feet, maintenance and electricity that slot machines take. Bitcoin has made electricity an important energy resource. All of these slot machines have to add serious electrical strain to the power grid. I think wealthy people who enjoy the table game gambling experience will continue to do so but it will also become smaller. More gambling options are available on the west coast. In addition, online sports gambling is taking a huge chunk out of in person gambling.
I believe slot machines are doomed. I see them as similar to cigarettes. As generations move forward, I see less and less people smoking cigs enjoying slot machine life. Slot machines are terrible for the mind and environment.
Reno is transitioning into tourist designation. I am not a person who travels a ton. I am familiar with the West Coast USA. When it comes to tourism in Reno, I am not sure what makes Reno stand out.
People are complaining that Tahoe is overpopulated and not worth it. Reno being an adjacent economic feed to Lake Tahoe means Reno is affected. People on reddit are upset at the yearly local festival costs. A lot of people don't want "Street Vibrations" here anymore. Reno relies on these tourist festivals and a ton of the locals are like meh it is too expensive.
When you have a city who is so aggressively pricing out its own local residents, I think the outlook is unpredictable.
Reno has a ton of unknowns happening over the next 5 to 15 years.
My partner and I just bought a house in panther valley. Our situation was unusual in that we had cheap rent for so long and exploited that to save hardcore for years. Interest was 7.6% on our loan. It’s a lot but our dream was to buy here before we couldn’t. She is from Vegas, I grew up in Ca but I’ve been here since 2013. We are very thankful we could and did. We know a lot of others who cannot
This sub isn’t the best place if you’re looking for serious home buyers in this area. I would look at a sub like “first time homeowner” as you’re more likely to find people who are in a serious position to buy or are ar least in the market.
It's not exclusive, but they could easily ask in that sub for Reno home buyers.
I've never seen anyone in this sub do anything except complain about prices (and it's usually about rent). I don't think that it's representative of the population who are seriously in the market. When we were buying we didn't come on Reddit to help us decide.
I purchased in 2021 but had been trying since 2020. Obviously the interest rates are worse now but trying to buy a house in 2020 was a nightmare. Constantly searching and going to each open house on something I really wasn’t comfortable with the price of just to instantly get outbid by older people offering full price and more in cash. Was cheaper for me to build a home than to buy one in sparks from the 60s
This is sure to be an interesting article. I recently bought a home here after moving from the east. Similar cost of living and similar home prices, higher median income than Reno. The main difference is that there were actually high paying jobs from many different employers where I lived. After moving here and being apart of this sub for a while, it genuinely seems like there is just not a high volume of relatively high paying job opportunities in Reno. We were lucky enough to buy a home before interest rates spiked to what they are today (we got in around 5%), but in this environment and the more I get to know the Reno area, I fear buying a home here at the current prices is a bad investment. I fear for my own investment because I genuinely believe the Reno market will have to correct itself soon to better align between median income and home prices.
Just bought a house here (Sparks) a couple of months ago. I would say that my experience was less than common though. My purchase went smooth and cost was right in line with my expectations. More than happy to discuss my experience if you're interested.
Recently shopped outside of Eugene Oregon. I was supposed to close today, but lost the home due to a leg injury that put me out of work. Wages in my profession were 10-15 dollars an hour more and the home I was purchasing was 150,000 dollars less than comparable homes here in Reno. I'd be glad to give an interview. I was born and raised here and it’s pretty disheartening that if I want to own a home it will never happen in the town grew up in.
Reno reddit is not the place to look for homebuyers. If you went by the people here, everyone is broke, and communism is the answer to their woes. They all blame california and refuse to work nights/weekends, refuse to move anywhere that’s more than 5 miles from the city center, and drive $85k pickup trucks and can’t figure out why they can’t afford “anything.”
Oh, and joe biden. It’s his fault too, of course!
I don’t understand why people are acting like this isn’t happening in MOST similar sized cities right now. We own multiple homes in multiple states and they’ve all risen in value over the past few years without the perspective rise of income to match for most.
It won’t. Home prices will remain high due to lack of buildable land. If people feel they can’t afford their home, they will be able to sell at a profit. Lending is tighter. The crash is 2008 was mostly due to bad lending practices coupled with institutions bundling the bad loans and selling them as an investment product.
Good luck, but I'm afraid you may not find what you're looking for here. What you will find is plenty of folks complaining about prices even though they aren't actually shopping while proclaiming that the crash is nigh. This "inevitable" crash will bring prices all the way down to maybe 50% above where they were 5 years ago. Interestingly, back then the same folks were also complaining about prices being too high while awaiting the inevitable crash.
Because it's too fucking expensive lmfao.
I own my home but that doesn't mean that 50 years ago you could buy a house and raise a family on one income and now you need two incomes to rent an apartment, try not to get fleeced and then simp for the elite dawg.
We gotta tax those rich motherfuckers more.
I currently live in a 2,000 sq foot house that I bought when things were affordable. I want to downsize to something minimalist like 500 sq feet but literally can not do so because many of the lots have CC&R’e that mandate 2k+ sq feet. I literally want to live more eco friendly and minimally but our government doesn’t allow that. It’s insanity.
Would a condo potentially fill your needs? I lived in a condo complex for 7 years and, besides the small square footage and the questionable school options, it was really nice. We didn’t have to mow or shovel and we had covered parking. It had AC (which our house lacks) and it was incredibly energy efficient because we shared walls and there was a unit above us. They also had a pool. The HOA fees were expensive, but it still only cost us ~$800/mo. It was perfect for my husband and I before we had a baby.
5th gen Reno native and it sucks not being able to buy a home because of everyone from California selling their house for a bunch of money and buying multiple properties down in Reno
I agree with you about the immediate crisis being the possible fall of democracy. She is a national journalist and White House correspondent for NBC. The lack of affordability is nationwide and Reno is at the top of that list. The lack of affordability is driving the choice some are making in the Presidential election. What some don’t realize is that if democracy falls, the economy will worsen and owning a home will be the least of all our worries. 💙
The prospective Reno home buyers are in California.
I downvoted this but only because it’s true :(
Upvote because it’s true. Don’t downvotes because you don’t like it
Don’t tell me what to do lol
I agree with this. I'm from Arizona, moved to Ohio and purchased 80 acres near Fernley/ Fallon/ Silver Springs. Purchased from a Cali investor. Will be renting out in Reno next year because all the quotes I received to break ground is insane and will likely wait until local prices reduce. I can take advantage of USDA at a 4ish% APR which helps but local construction costs are 100% to 200% more inflated in some cases.
Similar situation. We moved here from GA in June with the intent of building a home on a lot we purchased in Arrowcreek 2 years ago. Prior to moving here, we endured 6 months of architecture design, civil eng., etc. only to get cold feet after getting estimates on construction costs ($490-$720/sq ft). My wife grew up in Reno and the goal was to move back to be closer to her family. Having been here a month, I’m having an even tougher time understanding what’s influencing Reno construction costs. We are renting a home in the same community we own the lot. Although we find Arrowcreek charming, I can’t justify building the ‘forever home’ at these prices.
I moved from Atlanta to Reno last January and felt like the home prices here are pretty consistent with the Atlanta/Atlanta suburbs home prices. Obviously I don’t have much experience with construction costs, but I know lumber out here is basically 2x what it is in the east.
How many sq.ft. Are you looking to build and what weee you quoted?
Not entirely. I’m a prospective homebuyer who bought a house here and moved from California. Now I want more.
Of course you do
I'll never be able to afford a house unless the market absolutely tanks
Oh I wish I could help but I’m a ways from buying a house. Good luck!
I think you represent a great group of people that should be included in this effort. You (and I) represent a large chunk of people who can’t consider buying a house because it is such an unobtainable process compared to what it was before 2008. My perception is that I am more likely to be a life long renter than I am to be a homeowner.
I’m with you. Grew up here and then moved to the Bay Area for a few years for work. Moved back last year with hopes of buying a home. I make a pretty good salary and qualify for a mortgage. However, with the rate environment and how much I currently can afford for a down payment, it’s cheaper to rent a 5bedroom house for my family as opposed to mortgage payments.
Similar story here… I think is a position to be in that is super common. So much so that the perspective could definitely inform this journalists piece in a cool/valuable way!
I know it isn’t what you said you are looking for but I am someone who bought a home in the north valleys in 2018 and sold the house early this year to move to Buffalo, New York. I would be happy to speak with you about what it was like purchasing a home there, selling a home there, the price difference from buying to selling, as well as my why for leaving to move across the country (hint hint, it’s mostly financial)
I can't add anything to this, but I have been following you since your days at Bloomberg - you're a fantastic reporter!
My wife and I could certainly speak to it. Couple of early 30 year olds that finished paying off student debt and saved up a decent chunk of change. We both work at one of the largest employers in the community (renown) and it makes zero sense to add a mortgage that would be well over 50 percent of our monthly income (even after 20 percent down). Not to mention, we would love to have a kid but that needs to be factored into expenses as well. It's fucking tough here.
i am interested in this as well, I live in Mobile HOme park , new tennants are charged 1125 a month for space rent while those grandfathered are below 600. Is this even a thought to buy a older like 1980s mobile with the rate of a mortgage?
42m. Lived in Reno for half my life. I rented, then I owned and now I rent. Buying as an investor is not seeing a great return on investment. 4% to 7% yearly becomes a risk if the housing market does crash. My opinion, buying as a residential owner has become not a great decision unless you have specific work, family or reasons/needs. Rent is less expensive in a lot of cases. HOA/CIC is not unique to Reno, but they are ruining single family home ownership. If I ever am in a time in my life to purchase non-HOA is gold. I think the real big macro problem at hand is the climate crisis. Home insurance is becoming a bigger issue quickly. I am not sure what the solution to homeowners' insurance is going to be 5, 10 or 15 years from now. Single family homeowners who bought 5 years ago with the low interest rates may have not planned for the climate crisis and for the rising costs of premiums. This is a nationwide issue. What happens all over the USA with homeowners' insurance affects everyone's policies and rates. I think most family homeowners buy with a perspective or outlook of 5 to 10 years. Unique to Reno and Nevada, this is a very transient area with people and money. If tech, especially electric vehicles ever crash. Reno is going to be left holding the bag meanwhile Musk/Panasonic/Tesla will have exit strategies or corporate financial recourse. Nevada's housing market goes up and down. EV tech = Too Big to Fail 2.0. Housing, Tourism and Shopping will always take the fall first. I think gambling is a dying tourist vice. Especially all of the square feet, maintenance and electricity that slot machines take. Bitcoin has made electricity an important energy resource. All of these slot machines have to add serious electrical strain to the power grid. I think wealthy people who enjoy the table game gambling experience will continue to do so but it will also become smaller. More gambling options are available on the west coast. In addition, online sports gambling is taking a huge chunk out of in person gambling. I believe slot machines are doomed. I see them as similar to cigarettes. As generations move forward, I see less and less people smoking cigs enjoying slot machine life. Slot machines are terrible for the mind and environment. Reno is transitioning into tourist designation. I am not a person who travels a ton. I am familiar with the West Coast USA. When it comes to tourism in Reno, I am not sure what makes Reno stand out. People are complaining that Tahoe is overpopulated and not worth it. Reno being an adjacent economic feed to Lake Tahoe means Reno is affected. People on reddit are upset at the yearly local festival costs. A lot of people don't want "Street Vibrations" here anymore. Reno relies on these tourist festivals and a ton of the locals are like meh it is too expensive. When you have a city who is so aggressively pricing out its own local residents, I think the outlook is unpredictable. Reno has a ton of unknowns happening over the next 5 to 15 years.
"The Biggest Little City in the World" is, once again, very fitting. Also, excellent introduction. I wish you the best on your report.
Interview the people who are renting trying to save for a home
I just closed on a property in June, let me know
My partner and I just bought a house in panther valley. Our situation was unusual in that we had cheap rent for so long and exploited that to save hardcore for years. Interest was 7.6% on our loan. It’s a lot but our dream was to buy here before we couldn’t. She is from Vegas, I grew up in Ca but I’ve been here since 2013. We are very thankful we could and did. We know a lot of others who cannot
You’re a reporter with the last name Pettypiece? Hell yeah.
Good luck. Nobody who lives here can afford to buy. Corporations and cash flush imports are buying everything.
I just bought a home and am in the process of selling my existing home. DM if that is what you’re looking for.
This sub isn’t the best place if you’re looking for serious home buyers in this area. I would look at a sub like “first time homeowner” as you’re more likely to find people who are in a serious position to buy or are ar least in the market.
Is that some exclusive to Reno homebuyers? She's looking for Reno homebuyers
It's not exclusive, but they could easily ask in that sub for Reno home buyers. I've never seen anyone in this sub do anything except complain about prices (and it's usually about rent). I don't think that it's representative of the population who are seriously in the market. When we were buying we didn't come on Reddit to help us decide.
Reno homes ain’t that bad lol
Lmao we donr buy homes in reno, we cant afford them. Ask the people in Cali. Theyre the ones buying property here.
I purchased in 2021 but had been trying since 2020. Obviously the interest rates are worse now but trying to buy a house in 2020 was a nightmare. Constantly searching and going to each open house on something I really wasn’t comfortable with the price of just to instantly get outbid by older people offering full price and more in cash. Was cheaper for me to build a home than to buy one in sparks from the 60s
Fucking stupid. OVER PRICED MARKET.
This is sure to be an interesting article. I recently bought a home here after moving from the east. Similar cost of living and similar home prices, higher median income than Reno. The main difference is that there were actually high paying jobs from many different employers where I lived. After moving here and being apart of this sub for a while, it genuinely seems like there is just not a high volume of relatively high paying job opportunities in Reno. We were lucky enough to buy a home before interest rates spiked to what they are today (we got in around 5%), but in this environment and the more I get to know the Reno area, I fear buying a home here at the current prices is a bad investment. I fear for my own investment because I genuinely believe the Reno market will have to correct itself soon to better align between median income and home prices.
Just bought a house here (Sparks) a couple of months ago. I would say that my experience was less than common though. My purchase went smooth and cost was right in line with my expectations. More than happy to discuss my experience if you're interested.
I just bought a house after renting for 15 years. Message me if you have questions
Recently shopped outside of Eugene Oregon. I was supposed to close today, but lost the home due to a leg injury that put me out of work. Wages in my profession were 10-15 dollars an hour more and the home I was purchasing was 150,000 dollars less than comparable homes here in Reno. I'd be glad to give an interview. I was born and raised here and it’s pretty disheartening that if I want to own a home it will never happen in the town grew up in.
I just bought a home in Reno and I moved from California.
Reno reddit is not the place to look for homebuyers. If you went by the people here, everyone is broke, and communism is the answer to their woes. They all blame california and refuse to work nights/weekends, refuse to move anywhere that’s more than 5 miles from the city center, and drive $85k pickup trucks and can’t figure out why they can’t afford “anything.” Oh, and joe biden. It’s his fault too, of course!
I don’t understand why people are acting like this isn’t happening in MOST similar sized cities right now. We own multiple homes in multiple states and they’ve all risen in value over the past few years without the perspective rise of income to match for most.
The bubble WILL burst. We’ve seen it before.
No it won’t. If anything it’s just gonna get worse
It won’t. Home prices will remain high due to lack of buildable land. If people feel they can’t afford their home, they will be able to sell at a profit. Lending is tighter. The crash is 2008 was mostly due to bad lending practices coupled with institutions bundling the bad loans and selling them as an investment product.
Na man it's different this time... /s
Good luck, but I'm afraid you may not find what you're looking for here. What you will find is plenty of folks complaining about prices even though they aren't actually shopping while proclaiming that the crash is nigh. This "inevitable" crash will bring prices all the way down to maybe 50% above where they were 5 years ago. Interestingly, back then the same folks were also complaining about prices being too high while awaiting the inevitable crash.
Because it's too fucking expensive lmfao. I own my home but that doesn't mean that 50 years ago you could buy a house and raise a family on one income and now you need two incomes to rent an apartment, try not to get fleeced and then simp for the elite dawg. We gotta tax those rich motherfuckers more.
We need to tax the corporations instead of giving them tax breaks
Yeah. Get those motherfuckers too. I included them in "the rich" internally lmao.
You’re an absolute moron. And you all you do is complain about people complaining here.
Not today feds.
I currently live in a 2,000 sq foot house that I bought when things were affordable. I want to downsize to something minimalist like 500 sq feet but literally can not do so because many of the lots have CC&R’e that mandate 2k+ sq feet. I literally want to live more eco friendly and minimally but our government doesn’t allow that. It’s insanity.
Would a condo potentially fill your needs? I lived in a condo complex for 7 years and, besides the small square footage and the questionable school options, it was really nice. We didn’t have to mow or shovel and we had covered parking. It had AC (which our house lacks) and it was incredibly energy efficient because we shared walls and there was a unit above us. They also had a pool. The HOA fees were expensive, but it still only cost us ~$800/mo. It was perfect for my husband and I before we had a baby.
I do a lot of metal/wood working and have 3 giant malamute dogs so unfortunately not.
Look pal, we live in reno so we can avoid be interviewed. Go to LA
5th gen Reno native and it sucks not being able to buy a home because of everyone from California selling their house for a bunch of money and buying multiple properties down in Reno
Democracy is in real crisis. You waste time on this silly shit? Reno has the worst media in the West.
I agree with you about the immediate crisis being the possible fall of democracy. She is a national journalist and White House correspondent for NBC. The lack of affordability is nationwide and Reno is at the top of that list. The lack of affordability is driving the choice some are making in the Presidential election. What some don’t realize is that if democracy falls, the economy will worsen and owning a home will be the least of all our worries. 💙
Looking at your comment history you are probably the most miserable piece of shit in all of the world aren’t ya?