Boise-Metro Housing Market (Meridian, Middleton, Hope: rentals, condos, relocation company) - Idaho (ID) - Page 9 - City-Data Forum

Torrie · 02-17-2008, 07:48 AM

Yes, Eagle has had difficulites. If you look on page 4 of this thread I mentioned the supply of homes for both resale and new contruction in Eagle it's very high. So not much of a surprise that this area is struggling. Two Rivers alone has 38 listings on the market. On the other hand if you look at a different part of Ada County such as SE Boise, area 300, they have a much smaller supply of homes and have fared better than Eagle. So it really depends where you're at. Break it down further into price range and you can see who's really hurting and it's the 600k and up.

IMO I think investors got greedy, just like the article states. I talked to a homeowner/investor a few weeks ago who lives in Eagle and was trying to sell his house on his own and both him and a friend of his got caught up in the buying frenzy in Eagle. To his own admission, they both were greedy and now his friend is belly up. Both owned homes in the 600k range.

Torrie · 02-17-2008, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buyingboise

Wow. I guess it really is a good time to buy. I just read the Time article below and it seems that even if you did wait for prices to drop $20-30000, you'd be paying more in interest and not really saving money at all. Thanks for all the other supporting article.

Good article, I like the title, "Ignore the Headlines". That's just it, all the negative press/gloom and doom sends the wrong message to people who are qualified and should be out there buying.

I'm reposting the article so people can find it easier, hope that's ok

Ignore the Headlines - TIME

Torrie · 02-20-2008, 11:51 AM

Another article on the Boise market. It is beginning to pick up out there, I'm noticing increased activity too. Did an open house last weekend and there were a lot of people out looking. I've even heard of a couple houses getting multiple offers.

Newsmaker Q & A: The Valley housing market is strong, Realtors group president says | Idaho Economy | Idaho Statesman

Anchorless · 02-20-2008, 12:23 PM

I agree with a few points he made in that article - especially these:

Quote:

Q: Again, what about those median prices?

A: If you look at other areas, they mention having home appreciation of 35 percent or even 50 percent. We didn't have that. We went up 20 percent. But averaged over five years, we're a solid 10 percent a year. People here ask me when is the housing bubble is going to burst. My response is that there is no bubble because what we've had was steady growth that has been relatively conservative compared to what we have seen elsewhere. When appreciation rates shoot straight up, they're bound to come back down. And that's what's happening elsewhere.

Q: Was having so many outside investors here bad for the market?

A: I can't say yes and I can't say no. But I look back at the level of investors we had, and it was bad for the community. I saw many transactions where the buyers were investors who wrote and offer on new construction with the expectation that by the time the transaction closed there would already be some equity there. And when it did not reach the level that they anticipated, I saw investors bail, giving up there ernest money just to get out.

The problem, as I've maintained, is always going to be affordability. And while this is no means particular to Boise, and while we are still extremely affordable compared to most places, wages aren't going to keep up with that steady 10-20% inflation. And so long as our market is satisfied by out of state investors, equity buyers, retirees, and other buyers who aren't living within our wage scale, we're going to have a problem.

It's the same crap that happened (is happening) with the coastal cities - homes are appreciating faster than wages. It's why we're having a banking/loan crisis - people have to take out mortgages on properties they can't afford. But a sizable city with a large national/global economy can keep up with rising costs in living better than an isolated city like Boise can.

Something will have to give in Boise - either home appreciation / cost of living has to flatten out, or else wages will have to increase. Frankly I cannot see the latter happening anytime soon, especially with all of the service sector jobs we have, Idaho being a "right to work" state, and the political nature of our state.

Thoughts?

boi2socal · 02-25-2008, 03:26 AM

I agree with Anchorless on the Boise Area. The wages are simply too low to sustain high home prices. I don't know how it lasted here in California...many people were buying homes with their parents, grandparents, etc. Something probably not as common in Idaho. I've ran into foreclosed homes that had people living in the garage and living rooms split in half to make extra rooms. Obviously, things are a little bit different here simply because of supply, however home prices are still out of reach for most and that is why prices are dropping so much in California...till another buying craze starts. Boise, for a long time in the future will not likely have a supply issue so I see prices flattening or appreciating very slowly. IMO.

Twinkle · 02-25-2008, 05:36 PM

I try to keep up with this realtor's blog... He makes things pretty straightforward it seems...

Boise Real Estate Market Conditions - Journal - Boise Real Estate Blog (broken link)

As he says himself:

Quote:

"My blogs attract some very interesting readers due to their lack of real estate cheerleading. It has always been my intent to be direct, straightforward, present the facts, and let my readers make up their own minds about current Boise real estate market conditions and activity. "

Question, though... he noted in another blog entry (not the one below), that 55% of the homes on the market are vacant. Why do you think that is? Where has everyone gone?

Anyway, here's a recent entry.

Quote:

Boise Real Estate Market Conditions[/b]

Is the glass half-full or half-empty?

It’s very difficult to tell where we’re headed in our real estate market at this time.

With only 324 closed single-family home sales in January vs. 4,249 homes for sale in Ada County, things are obviously pretty slow.

But, it’s winter and our weather has been pretty harsh compared to other recent Winter markets.

I think we can expect to see substantially more homes on the market in the next 90 days as we enter our Spring market.

I expect that we will have 5,000+ homes for sale in Ada County again within the coming months, just as we experienced last year.

Only 7.7% of the homes on the market sold during January, which means the other 92.3% of the homes on the market went begging.

That supports my contention that about 90% of what’s on the market is either overpriced or not in prime showing condition.

There’s no denying that the buyers are in charge.

Posted on Thursday, February 14, 2008 at 11:18AM

AlleyTD · 02-25-2008, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twinkle

Question, though... he noted in another blog entry (not the one below), that 55% of the homes on the market are vacant. Why do you think that is? Where has everyone gone?

That is so funny. I was wondering the same thing this weekend.

In AZ I was used to showing homes - usually in retirement areas, like Sun City - where there was still property in the home. However, it was very obvious they it was just a winter residence they were selling.

The last few weeks, I've been out house hunting in full force and I've been amazed by how many empty houses there are. But what amazes me most is how many homes are vacant (closets are empty, pantry has only a few items and there's nothing in the fridge) ... yet almost all of their other personal belongings are still in the home. It's odd.
I'm talking, most furniture - not just staging stuff - cleaning supplies, linens, junk drawers, misc closet stuff ... garage contents, toiletries and more ... yet the people are gone. The homes is listed as vacant.

I'm find myself wondering where are they? Even though I know it's none of my business. Are they on vacation ... in Europe ... a trip around the world ... in a second home ... where are they ... and why did they leave all of their stuff? Enquiring minds want to know

HDL · 02-25-2008, 08:11 PM

And I almost posted my response to his question, but then I changed my mind (cuz ya know - "That's My Perogative"

!!!).

Anyways, as a very savvy RE market guru

, I kind of feel that "Where have all the people gone?" is a pretty silly question for ANY Realtor to ask that has been in RE for awhile, especially the last several years here in Boise

. I mean, people can't go anywhere, if they were never here in the 1st place

!!!

I can't tell you how many Realtors I've met the last few years who specifically 'courted' out of state investors

!!! I would say that the majority of homes that are vacant are either investment homes (i.e. specuvestors) that couldn't be flipped or rented; homes by builders that were either spec or the buyer disappeared (mysteriously

); foreclosures; or lastly, all the peeps who never could find a decent paying job and moved back to their home state without being able to sell first

.

I personally love it here in Boise, but the constant and blatant manipulation of data to benefit a certain industry

, has really gotten my panties in a bunch on more than one occasion

! I have to say that this person's blog is one of the best that I've seen for real data on our area

, but he's also said some things that 'irk' me, so I don't plan on using him myself any time in the near future

.

Signed....a non-biased party of 1

!!!! LOL

!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twinkle

I try to keep up with this realtor's blog... He makes things pretty straightforward it seems...

Boise Real Estate Market Conditions - Journal - Boise Real Estate Blog (broken link)

As he says himself:

Question, though... he noted in another blog entry (not the one below), that 55% of the homes on the market are vacant. Why do you think that is? Where has everyone gone?

Anyway, here's a recent entry.

AlleyTD · 02-25-2008, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HDL