How are the home prices holding in the RE slump? (Boise: rental, credit)

[Grumbler]

Originally Posted by California Carl

We will see. My home has been on the market here for 5 weeks and I've only had 4 lookers. I've priced it below last years peak and lowered it since then.

When we sold our 1968 1420sf 3/2 home in the Blossom Valley area of San Jose back in April of 2002, it sold for above the listed price within 4-days. The following year, prices in that same neighborhood depreciated, and our former neighbors told us that we sold ours at the right time.

Anyway, we had an excellent real estate agent, and she said the best time to sell is during the March/April timeframe. In May, too many other houses go on the market which dilutes the pool of potential buyers.

Our 4/2 1881sf home in Southeast Boise was recently appraised for $120K more than what we paid for it in May of 2002. However, that doesn't indicate that it'll actually sell for that much if at all. We've no plans to put it on the market until after our daughter graduates from HS in 3 1/2 years.

[SWCMale]

Great place to retire, everything is close if you can get around...

[vintage]

I was hoping to get some data from our resident real estate pros regarding local market performance. So far, there has been no response. For those considering moving into this area this data would be crucial.

I did manage to find some recent data off of Phil Hoover’s blog that forced me to realize that the situation is not as bad as I assumed. It’s even worse. In fact, he begins by saying that the reader should, “take a deep breath and sit down before reading this”.

He then compares the stats for Ada County, Boise Meridian and Eagle for the month of November 2006 and November 2005.

Here are the stats for Meridian.
Listing Inventory – 1,295 homes @ $299,900 median price
November 2005 closed = 379 homes @ $282,500 median price
November 2006 closed = 166 homes @ $234,900 median price
7.8 months’ supply (if no new listings)
-56% closed units (homes)
+20% median price
Boiseblog.com/journal/

Median home prices dropped $17,400 - 6% and home sales/closures down 56%
Phil continues in his article to talk about the “incentives” he is offered from builders to sell certain homes. Is the word “kickbacks” too harsh? Since all the money being put on the table will ultimately come from the buyer + interest, this disturbs me.
Phil has my respect for publishing the truth.

[Treecity]

I don't find the current drop in median value too alarming (and I don't understand why some people in this forum are so happy with implying this is
doom and gloom). The reason I say this is because the past few years the values have been going up almost too fast which was making it hard for a typical family and first time home buyers to purchase a home. The current prices and values are still doing well in my opinion, and are supposed to start going back up again in 2007 and Boise and Idaho are predicted to have some of the highest appreciation and strongest real estate markets---but I guess time will tell if this is really the case.

Homes in my neighborhood of Boise seem to sell fast, and values are definately going up in my area of the city. I hear mixed reports all of the time. While one area of the valley is experiencing slowdown and falling values, other areas are the opposite.
But then again, values were rising way too fast which was dangerous. Values are more where they should be which is good and not bad as some people make it sound.
Boise is growing and Idaho will continue to be one of the fastest growing states for years to come. Real Estate here will continue to be a good investment regardless of slow downs.
Be thankful that Boise and Idaho are faring much better than the rest of the nation during this slump.

[Grumbler]

Originally Posted by Treecity

Homes in my neighborhood of Boise seem to sell fast, and values are definately going up in my area of the city.

Which neighborhood in Boise are you referring to -?- don't want the exact address, but just the area where homes seem to sell well fast with rising appraisal rates.

Guide for Newcomers:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/281/index.html (broken link)

[mtbmitch]

Will the people with the crystal ball stating that 2007 house prices rising state what will make them rise?. A trip to realtytrac.com will show a rapid rise in bank owned and auction property over the last 4 months. I can buy a house from the bank for 30% less than market value. As more and more houses are bank owned, the price will go down. If history repeats itself, prices will always go up and down, with a gradual increase over many years. So for people that are patient, that is good. For overextended speculators this is good for a reality check.

[idahomama]

I do think what housing prices will do in the coming year are strongly affected by location to the city center. Boise has had several years of alarming suburbia disturbia growth and those certainly won't be areas that hold value in tougher markets. I certainly hope with all the gross sprawl, that people continue to head back to the heart of the city. That is the best type of growth Boise can have.

[jinxs18]

We had our home in NO Ca listed for almost a year,finally got military discharge and knew we were is grave danger of losing everything. Bought in Idaho, took a major hit on the CA house before all hades descended and are so glad we did it. sold the house for 60K less than appraisal just to move it. We refused to lose our life savings on a mortgage, now life is so sweet!!!

[California Carl]

Well, Congrats on you're move jinks. It took a year to sell? Where were you guys located? I am on Sonoma County and we are seeing homes go for 7-13%less than there peak prices, about 14 months ago.
Mine has been listed for nearly 2 months now. Looks like if you really want to sell around here, you'll need to be priced very low and or plan to pay closing costs. I hope I can move soon too.
Good luck in ID!

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by California Carl

Well, Congrats on you're move jinks. It took a year to sell? Where were you guys located? I am on Sonoma County and we are seeing homes go for 7-13%less than there peak prices, about 14 months ago.
... I hope I can move soon too.
Good luck in ID!

and what would that make the selling price?... I so wish that CA would have limited the 'outflow' of RE equity $$ about 30 yrs ago..., (think how much $$ CA would have now if they would have capped outflow (require RE $$ to stay in CA) We had to sell our Colorado farm due to the tax valuation run-up in the 70's (largely due to that famous Palo Alto company coming to town) Now we are having to sell our WA farm due to prop taxes jumping from $1200 / yr to $12,000/yr in 10 yrs (we are taxed on 100% of valuation, mil levy varies...) (Same Palo Alto company here too, and in Boise..., but their last CEO clipped their $$ wings considerably...) So, now where? The entire western US is pretty overpriced (since many of us are now in ZERO income mode). Interestingly the tax burden has increased faster than the huge valuation growth of counties' tax base, too bad, all I needed was a place to lay my head, not something that cost me $35/day just for prop taxes...(isn't Motel 6 cheaper?, and they do the laundry!)

Slump will be 'relative', but a 50% decline would be a great place to start from a prop tax perspective. CA equity could stay in CA, since it seems to be the rocket in valuations anyway, thus sparing the rest of us (western USA) having to pay $300k ++ for a simple place to rest, (and dream of low taxes, rather than causing the nighmares of a sheriff's tax sale) or... CA could bring Prop 13 to the entire west (instead we (OR & WA) just got CARB , more bureacracy, more tax $$ required ) Guess I might need to skip ID and head to ND, WY was first choice but it got ruined too.