will people be moving as soon as school closes for the summer?

[ensho]

moving closer to work because of gas prices.

or are they going to gamble that the prices will go back down?

are they in catch 22s, can't move because can't sell house; can't find anyplace afordable near work; and every other variation of catch 22?

not living on the mainland I don't know how this all is shaking out.

[Mountainman]

1. You can't buy or sell a house now, I doubt people will be moving but

they may find a way of not putting so much money in the gas tank. I moved last Oct to the city where I got a new job and can ride public transportation to work. I feel really lucky I could do it though my house has been on the market for almost a year and a half and I now rent and pay a mortgage.

[Donnachaidh]

2. people have already started moving here

There is a surge of actual houses for rent in my area, and some are actually reasonable. Also, many apartments are coming on the market because the local college has let out, and they are completing new dorms for next year.

I do know that people who are moving are looking for rentals in the area because of the quality of the schools. We're staying in the area exactly because of this. Everyone is struggling with the gas prices, and many who have lost jobs are just moving OUT of the area. And if they cannot sell their homes they are putting them on the rental market.

[Warpy]

3. My neighborhood is all post WWII houses

and what was once a suburb is now inner city, convenient to everything, with the best mass transit in the city. Houses here are selling very quickly and people are renovating them as they buy them.

It's funny, it was considered a high crime area when I bought here 12 years ago. A friend who grew up in Watts said she thought this area was scary. The cops finally admitted that it had the lowest crime in the city, all the punks and thugs having been driven out to the fringes about the time I moved in.

So I'd say yes, those dream houses in the exurbs are being unloaded in favor of modest housing closer to jobs and city amenities.

We're getting to the tipping point, though, in that there will soon be no more "bigger fools" to plunk down hefty down payments on those barns only to find they're stuck, unable to afford to get to work or even to the supermarket.