Housing Market Florissant, Missouri (St. Louis: for sale, foreclosures, mortgages)

[MAM956]

My son has lived in Florissant (unincorporated 63031) for the past 4 years. He owns a starter home and has been trying to sell it for the past 9 months to relocate. It is small (as are many of the homes in the sub division), clean, move in ready, but is your basic starter. There are a lot of foreclosures in his sub division and homes that were bought by investors who fixed them up to flip. He has had traffic through the house and a few low offers. When he responded with a counter offer the prospective buyers walked away. He gave them everything they asked for from the house (furniture, appliances, yard equipment, home warranty, closing costs). In all of the cases the people were prequalified for much less than asking price. Also, his neighborhood is diverse but friendly and safe.
I live in another state and while the economy here is not great, I don't believe it as bad as it is in St. Louis. I I have read the Florissant Forum but there is not a lot of information about housing or the economy on it. I check Blockshopper and it does not look like much is selling other than foreclosures and short sales. My questions are: 1. Can anyone tell me if houses that are not in foreclosure are selling? 2. Have the banks started to lend money for mortgages? 3. Is the $8000 1st time homebuyer credit being promoted? (This sounds like a good deal to me, especially since it can be used as a downpayment). 4. Are starter homes a thing of the past?
Thank you in advance.

[aragx6]

I don't know a lot about Forissant's market in specific, but homes in the St. Louis area are selling, just slowly.

The biggest problem here seems to be less overpricing but more simply the vast quantities of homes on the market -- with hundreds of homes in any given city for sale -- my guess would be Florissant has thousands -- you can imagine why things are going as slowly as they are. There are buyers, most people I know have had no problem getting a loan and the tax credit from what I can see is really getting people moving, but it will take time to sort through the massive inventory.

If he can wait a year he'll probably be better off -- perhaps he can rent? -- 9 months just isn't that long for a house to be on the market anymore.

[davey123]

Originally Posted by aragx6

I don't know a lot about Forissant's market in specific, but homes in the St. Louis area are selling, just slowly.

The biggest problem here seems to be less overpricing but more simply the vast quantities of homes on the market -- with hundreds of homes in any given city for sale -- my guess would be Florissant has thousands -- you can imagine why things are going as slowly as they are. There are buyers, most people I know have had no problem getting a loan and the tax credit from what I can see is really getting people moving, but it will take time to sort through the massive inventory.

If he can wait a year he'll probably be better off -- perhaps he can rent? -- 9 months just isn't that long for a house to be on the market anymore.

Plus, with so much inventory out there, it's not that "starter homes" are a thing of the past, it's just that buyers have the luxury of choosing well-priced larger homes right now.

[MAM956]

Thanks for your thoughts. I do know there are a lot of houses to choose from. I guess we just need to be patient. If it takes a year from now and prices stabilize so he doesn't have to bring money to the table, then the wait will be worth it. Thanks again.