Boise Real Estate Predictions (Middleton, Star: how much, house prices, job market)

[ADABOI]

This is all pretty interesting to read from afar, considering I just sold my home in Boise and moved east.

Before we sold we did some research and met with many realtors, most everything was pitched to us just like Torrey would sell it. BUT, something just didn't smell right......

We ended up pricing our home for less than what was suggested to us and and more in line with what homes sold for in our area the year prior. Guess what, we sold it, and sold it realtively quickly. Don't try to tell me we obviously priced too low, cause the offer we accepted wasn't full priced and it was the only one we recieved.

Interestingly enough, most of the homes in our neighborhood and region (East End) have been sitting, pulled or sold after signficant price reductions.

When doing our research, it appeared, and this could be wrong, but that more $$$$ homes were sold recently. Thank Eagle. Considering the number of homes being sold on the downswing and those sold earlier in the year at or around asking, then it wouldn't take much for a few of these really $$$ homes to sku numbers. Please correct my observation and thinking if it is flawed.

Boise has had a huge run up in housing, it's been driven by speculators and by those whom took risky loan options...this goes without saying. BUT, salaries have not kept up and jobs in sectors supporting the construction boom, not to mention our bread and butter economies (micron, Alby's, etc) are struggling as well. Sure our economy is flourishing in certain respects, and that bodes well for our marketability but what does that really mean to those living it day to day in the valley.

We were late to the party, Boise always is, and because of that we will be the last to leave.

The beauty of all this is the concept of what a home is and why you choose it will finally come back into focus.

[Torrie]

Originally Posted by AlleyTD

Whoa ... Torrie,
Calm down. I meant no offense, nor did I mean that ID sucks or whatever. Jeez o' petes. No need to get your undies in a bunch I love it here. I am not a competitor of yours in any way, I promise.

Your quote above is all I meant about the trend being the same ... sellers in a lot of places here are still overpriced ... so IN MY opinion ... and its just my opinion ... there will be many more drops in price over the next few months ... That's my story and I'm sticking to it

.

No panties in a bunch here, I think you are assuming I'm freaking out, which is not the case. It concerns me when fellow agents are comparing our area to AZ and saying what happens in that state is a precursor to ours. Both are completely different markets. To say that they are similar is misinforming the public, in my own opinnion, so that is what I was trying to understand from people's posts here.

[Syringaloid]

I think that the selling price/time to sell depends on the area of the city.
I see homes go up for sale in the Northend and they have sold signs a month later. Some of the more expensive vintage charmers (over $500,000) seem to take a little longer to sell. I realize that most people will find the Northend more attractive to live than the western sea of suburbs which probably accounts for the quick sales I have noticed.

[AlleyTD]

That is the only bad thing about message boards: It is easy to misread someones tone without the facial expressions to go along with it. In reading your posts and responses to others - You provided me with great insight during my year on the board prior to our relocation. You have nothing but my respect.

Alley

[Luke9686]

I agree R.E. is always local. But let me guess, the homes that are selling FAST are in the middle-upper end of the market?? And the ones sitting are in the low end??

This is the exact reason why the average sales price has went up. That is the first thing that happens during a downturn. The first people to drop out of the housing market are the ones who are at the lower end of the spectrum. They are most affected by mortgage rate increases, tightening lending standards. The upper end of the market isn't affected so much by these things, so they will be able to buy anyway. All the while it looks like the average price goes up.

The middle-low end is probably stagnant, right??

Anywho, Boise seems like a great place to live, raise a family, etc. I envy you all that live there.

[Anchorless]

That USA Today article was annoying - it goes to show that very few of our leaders have to proper vision and foresight to be in those elected positions to begin with. At least Beiter is attempting to somewhat look into the future when it comes to growth.

It's a very curious time for Boise. I'm eager to see where we end up in the next 10 years.

[Torrie]

Originally Posted by AlleyTD

That is the only bad thing about message boards: It is easy to misread someones tone without the facial expressions to go along with it. In reading your posts and responses to others - You provided me with great insight during my year on the board prior to our relocation. You have nothing but my respect.

Alley

No worries Alley, I have done the same thing on here myself.

[zamboni]

Prices are dropping, finally in the Treasure Valley. There is a glut of homes on the market now, and even if Torrie is on the defensive because of her realtor job, hang on and more price drops are set to continue.

[Syringaloid]

Originally Posted by zamboni

Prices are dropping, finally in the Treasure Valley. There is a glut of homes on the market now, and even if Torrie is on the defensive because of her realtor job, hang on and more price drops are set to continue.

If you read and believe everything the Idaho Statesman prints, then more power to you. They distort so much of the facts---one day they print doom and gloom over the local RE market, and then the next week they have a story about how great the local RE market is.
Believe it or not, even though Boise is experiencing slower sales in some areas it isn't the end of the world. Prices are going up and I have proof with the value of my own home. Prices may be down in some areas of the valley, but the overall median price is up. I am not a realtor, but follow the market closely and the Boise market is still one of the healthiest in the nation. We are lucky that we are not in a mess as much of the nation is.
I just don't understand why some people act like the sky is falling because of slower sales in the market. As said, my value is up, even over the first half of this year. If I were to sell, and even if I slashed my price 50K, I would still make a nice profit.

[zamboni]

I'm glad you can slash your price by 50 Gs and still make money. It goes to show how overpriced the market is. I looked at 5 homes in Boise in June in the 190-200 G price range. Today of the 5, four have dropped prices anywhere by 10,000 to as much as 15,000 and one is off the market. By waiting, these homes are now in the 184,000 range. I am going to wait until at least Spring 2008, about six months, before I purchase and will see the prices drop even more on these entry level homes. The median price is jacked up by sales of the more expensive homes. These entry level homes will soon be in the 155-175 G range.