Friday, September 29, 2006

In the Red

"Reflecting a national trend, home sales slowed and prices fell in Shasta County in August, according to DataQuick. Last month, 161 home sales were recorded, down from 173 sales in July and 250 sales in August 2005. The median sales price in August was $245,000, compared with $269,000 in July and $285,000 a year ago, DataQuick reported."

"For the first time in 15 years, the price of a home in Tracy fell from one year to the next. And with 'For Sale' signs spinging up all over the valley, buyers are feeling the market shift in their favor. For the first time in 15 years, prices for single-family homes in Tracy and around the Central Valley have dipped, putting the breaks on a supercharged market that left many first-time homebuyers in the dust."

"September figures show the median price for a single-family home in Tracy during the last six months has retreated from $546,000 to $538,000, and at least one real estate professional thinks prices could drop even further..."

"'Negative press about housing prices, along with the fact that buyers are much more educated today, have contributed to a bubble burst,' he said."

"After nearly a decade of booming home prices and fast selling times in Yolo County, the market has quickly slowed down. An increase in housing options and steady home prices have caused the tables to turn in the real estate industry..."

"[Don] Sharp [owner of RE/MAX in Woodland] said people started to notice a change within the market and modified their buying behavior, which further emphasized the trend. The reason the switch occurred mainly has to do with an increase of housing options, Sharp said. Currently, there are 356 houses available in Woodland - that's more than three times the amount in 2004."

"'Some people come in and say: 'I need to bury St. Joseph to sell my house!' And I say, no, you need to pray!'"

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

HA!

Blame the messenger if/when things go bad, praise yourself when its good.
Geez, I'm so tired of hearing the same lame excuses for falling sales: the weather, bad press, etc.

NEWFLASH FOR THOSE IN DENIAL;

no amount of lipstick is going to make the pig NOT look like, act like, or squeal like a pig !!

SELLERS; Get real or get out of the way. You're wasting everyones time with the the martyr act.

Anonymous said...

Karl, you are on target. Data Quick says "buyers are so much more educated today..."

Thanks to Lander, Max, Agent Bubble, and others, any borrower who wants to know the truth about the market can find it on the web. It is clear the reversion to the mean is taking place and you can clearly see it in the data. Nothing will stop it. The builders will keep reducing prices to sell product as long as they can make a profit, and they have a long way to drop. This will leave all the FB's from the last few years upside down and hanging by a thread.

Anonymous said...

A buddy of mine just sold his 1900sqft cookie cutter Natomas home for 389,000. That price was a good 10k below what everyone else was asking. It sold within weeks (6 to be exact), instead of months.

Why? Because he actually priced it to sell, not priced it to what he wanted it to be worth.

Here is a $0.05 lesson to all sellers:

AN ASSET IS ONLY WORTH WHAT SOMEONE IS WILLING TO PAY FOR IT. THIS IS CALLED THE "BID". WHAT YOU THINK YOU WANT FOR IT IS CALLED THE "ASK". THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO IS CALLED THE "SPREAD".

Now for the real lesson:

IF THE SPREAD IS TOO WIDE, YOUR ASSET WILL NOT SELL.

Anonymous said...

"Other options "

Prices in Yolo Co have been propped up for years due to no growth policies and lack of places for new homes.

New homes account for a large % of sales not but not listed in MLS - not showing up in your statistics, affecting resales.

Woodland has a nice project in the South East area and West Sac has a lot of affordable new homes. 30-40 homes a month close in SE Woodland, most of which are new.