SA home prices soaring?

[BestintheWest]

Our home was priced right, sold in one day. Done deal and closed in 25 days.

[xsocal]

I was in the market recently and things are moving very fast. We looked at a few houses the first day they came on the market and we put in offers but were beat out by even faster buyers. We finally got something that had been on the market a while, needed quite a bit of work but got a good price.

[Paka]

Originally Posted by kevcrawford

Yeah...I've had a few that are priced right that sold in hours for more than asking. What's happening is buyers are out looking and getting frustrated because as soon as they see one they like, it's gone, so they're coming in VERY fast and with strong offers.

Granted, the home has to be priced RIGHT. Overpricing a home will still cause it to sit.

Even when the market is NOT so great, when priced right and you listen to your realtor (like we did Kevin)in prepping the home for showings, homes sell. He sold one of our rentals in 1 weekend at the BOTTOM of the market (and it was actually 1 day since it was the first folks that looked on Sat, but did not place the offer until Monday). That was the summer that the SA market was SLOWEST a few summers back. If you look at current prices of our current home (bought 4 yrs ago) we are not showing what we paid for it, but that is ok since we don't plan on ever selling...just helps keep our taxes lower!

[lollygagger428]

I think if you have a lot of equity, you can more easily listen to your realtor and find that right listing price; maybe have more wiggle-room. However, there are still many with negative equity due to the short sales and people who just walked away. I see this in 78245, 51,52,53,54. These were some of the fastest growing zips in the country at the top. Some people cannot stomach bringing cash to closing. I do notice if you choose to rent the house out, they go very fast, though, and at great prices.

[kevcrawford]

Originally Posted by lollygagger428

I think if you have a lot of equity, you can more easily listen to your realtor and find that right listing price; maybe have more wiggle-room. However, there are still many with negative equity due to the short sales and people who just walked away. I see this in 78245, 51,52,53,54. These were some of the fastest growing zips in the country at the top. Some people cannot stomach bringing cash to closing. I do notice if you choose to rent the house out, they go very fast, though, and at great prices.

This is true, but it's true in ANY market. Anyone can sell a house quickly if you do it for the right price, but sometimes the "right price" and what your pocketbook can bare are totally different. The truth is that honestly, rarely do folks NEED to sell. Having done this for 10+ years, I can tell you that 90% of the folks that are buying or selling are doing it because they want to. Rarely is it a job transfer out of the area or a financial thing. And if you don't NEED to sell, then you just hang on and see what happens down the road.

While we were hit with foreclosures, we didn't take NEAR the hit other places did, so comps really aren't THAT affected by foreclosures and short sales. There are enough traditional sales to keep values where they should be, for the most part. There are exceptions to every rule, of course, but by and large, homes are selling all over in all price ranges for a fair price. Right now, sellers are taking just slightly less than they really wanted to, and buyers are paying just slightly MORE than they wanted to. It's actually as balanced a market as I've ever seen.

And yeah, rentals FLY. If you can't sell, you can probably rent it in under a week. And me personally, I'm never selling a house again. I see too many people making too much passive income by renting out homes they could have sold, and buying more and more. It's just a no-brainer.

[TXEX06]

The loft right next to me for sale was just appraised at $293 a square foot and will be closing next week. That's a good jump from what we paid per square foot 3 years ago.

[en28so]

And here come the higher taxes! Yeeah.

[kevcrawford]

Originally Posted by en28so

And here come the higher taxes! Yeeah.

Can't have it both ways. Either prices go down and everyone complains about it, or taxes go up a bit, and everyone complains about it.