I Can't Afford To Move-I've Been Priced Out of The Market

There are many reasons why a person may want to move. My reason was simple, I wanted more house and more land for me and my family. I also liked the idea of moving to some of the quieter towns in Georgia. The problem is with the current home buying climate, I can’t afford to move.

Now, I’m not saying there are no houses out there. There are homes for sales, but in the past year, the prices have skyrocketed so much, that most of those homes are at a price point that is totally unreasonable for people like myself who are from Georgia.

Paying Over Appraisal

I was shocked when I found out from my real estate agent that many people were paying over the appraisal amount to get into the home of their choice. For example, a home that was on the market for $350K, was appraised at $325K. The winning buyer signed paperwork agreeing to pay the gap between the seller’s price and the appraised value. Which means, they are actually agreeing to walk into negative equity. There is no way, I’m doing that to buy a another home.

Trying to Outbid (California and NY Dreaming)

My agent also shared with me that many of her new buyers are migrating here from California and New York. Those buyers are accustomed to paying $750K for a 1200 square foot home. For this type of buyer, coming into a suburb of Atlanta and spending $750K for 4000 square feet is a no brainer. For the Georgians looking for the same home, now you’re in a bidding war that you can’t win.

These techie and business transplants have plenty of money to spend an will outbid any Georgia native for the most part. I’ve been in Georgia my entire life and I’ve never seen anything like this. The pandemic made a lot of things hard for consumers, but it has decimated the real estate environment.

What About A New Build?

I gave a lot of thought to a new build, but here’s the problem. Imagine putting your house on the market and it sells within 3 days. Now you’re waiting on the new build which is taking anywhere between 8 months to a year to build.

This timeline doesn’t include any issues with the supply chain or labor which has caused many homes to take even longer. They also cause the prices to increase. For my family, that’s just more of a headache than we won’t to take on.

Working From Home

Transplants ability to work from home is how they ended up here in Georgia. I work from home as well, so I understand the draw. It’s even better when working remotely has become permanent and you can work from anywhere in the world. Moving to places like Georgia, Florida and Texas has made a lot of dream come true for transplants, but for people like myself who are native to these areas. It’s a homebuyer’s nightmare.

Moving Is No Longer an Option

Unless something changes soon, I’ll stay in my current home. It’s nice and it’s almost doubled in value because of the insanity of the current market. Who knows, maybe a year or two from now something will change. Until then, I’m okay staying where I’m at because I can’t afford to move.

Have you ever wanted to move but were held back by the cost? Are you finding out like me, that you can’t afford to move? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Tamila McDonald

Tamila McDonald is the Chief Operations Officer at District Media, Inc. A U.S. Army veteran with 20 years of distinguished service—including five years as a military financial advisor. Tamila is a former AFCPE-certified personal financial counselor who spent eight years post-retirement guiding wounded warriors and families on budgeting, VA benefits, and long-term planning, bringing more than 15 years of specialized writing and content leadership in personal finance and HR topics to ensure District Media delivers trustworthy, experience-backed guidance.