Category Archive:
Posted by Chase Craig on September 19, 2011 at 11:52 am
Ada and Canyon County Active Listings as of September 19th, 2011
Inventory for Ada and Canyon County real estate is down 4% overall from July to August. This is largely due to the high sales volume in the Boise area and the lack of replenishing inventory. This is also the time of year that most equity sellers will decide to pull their home off the market and wait until Spring. I’m not positive about why exactly they do this, but keep that in mind if you are considering selling your Boise area home. There will be fewer homes to choose from which is always a good thing if you are listing your property. You can see that many of the non-distressed sales are no longer on the market at this time. We lost 472 non-distressed listings from August to September. You might take note that 470 equity closings took place in August which will account for a large part of the drop in inventory. We saw an increase of 22% in bank owned, HUD homes and REO’s. This is the first month we have seen an increase in bank owned inventory in Ada and Canyon county for about 5 months.
3,807 – Active Listings - down 160 (-4%) from August 2011
1,960 – Non-Distressed - down 472 (-19.4%) from August 2011
1,185 – Short Sales - down 54 (-4.4%) from August 2011
361 – Bank Owned, Auction, HUD Home or REO - up 65 (22%) from August 2011
Ada & Canyon County August 2011 Closed and Pending Sales
Closings were up 4.6% from July to August. It is always a good sign to see closings continuing to increase. This is a typical trend that you will see for the month of August as many people are trying to close prior to the school year starting.
987 Closings – up 43 (4.6%) from July 2011
470 Non-Distressed – up 29 (6.6%) from July 2011
336 Bank Owned, Auction, HUD Home or REO - down 7 (-2.1%) from July 2011
181 Short Sales – up 21 (-13.1%) from July 2011
581 Pending - up 68 (13.3%) from July 2011
248 Non-Distressed – up 8 (3.3%) from July 2011
211 Bank Owned, Auction, HUD Home or REO - up 15 (7.7%) from July 2011
124 Short Sales - up 47 (61%) from July 2011
Short Sales - One thing to note about June pending’s is that short sales are up more than 61% from July to August. There is an updated real estate form that allows participating Realtor members to ask for the seller to make the property pending status as opposed to contingent short sale status. Both status are typically subject to bank approval of the short sale, however the pending status requires the seller to no longer continue to market the property. If you are thinking of short selling your Boise home, be sure to ask your Realtor about this new addition to the short sale addendum.
Have any questions or comments about the August statistics for Ada and Canyon County real estate? Please leave a comment or contact me directly.
Have a wonderful day!
Chase Craig
Boise Real Estate Agent
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Posted by Chase Craig on July 13, 2011 at 9:39 am
Ada and Canyon County Active Listings as of July 12th, 2011
Inventory for Ada and Canyon County real estate is down 4.5% overall from May to June. Dominating the www.chasecraig.com headlines, never in the local or national news media however, has been the ever falling bank owned inventory numbers. This tells you that distressed properties in Ada and Canyon County are selling much faster than they are being replenished. This is due to a number of reasons including increased laws and regulations imposed on the foreclosure process which has halted the sale of many foreclosures as well as the banks resorting to renting properties out to would be short sale and foreclosure candidates. With less than 5 months worth of supply on the market, Ada and Canyon County real estate is a seller’s market. Remember, typically more than 6 months of inventory would be a buyers market and less than 6 months of inventory is a seller’s market. Want to find out what your home is worth and see if now is the right time to sell? Get a no obligation boise market analysis and home valuation today.
4,143 – Active Listings - down 195 (-4.5%) from May 2011
2,552 – Non-Distressed - down 59 (-2%) from May 2011
1,273 – Short Sales - down 80 (-6%) from May 2011
318 – Bank Owned, Auction, HUD Home or REO - down 42 (-12%) from May 2011
Ada & Canyon County May 2011 Closed and Pending Sales
Closings were up 8% in the month of June which is great news that some of the Boise short sales are actually closing. I’m really excited to see the number of non-distressed closings to increase over 23% month over month in June. Believe it or not, there are equity seller’s that are actually selling their homes in this market without foreclosing or short selling. As I said in last months stats, look for June REO closings to be down, due to the lack of replenishment of REO inventory. I don’t know whether that is good news or bad news at this point. If my theory is right, REO listings being down due to recent laws and regulations, we could be dealing with significant back log in ada and canyon county bank owned real estate. Even if there is a back log, the current market has a very strong appetite for $300,000 and under real estate, which is the majority of foreclosures. Frankly, we could use the additional inventory at this point. You can see that June pending’s are down sharp in large part due to the lack of inventory.
1,043 Closings – up 75 (+8%) from May 2011
458 Non-Distressed – up 85 (+23%) from May 2011
407 Bank Owned, Auction, HUD Home or REO - down 25 (-6%) from May 2011
178 Short Sales – up 16 (+10%)from May 2011
704 Pending - down 158 (-18.3%) from May 2011
318 Non-Distressed – down 89 (-22%) from May 2011
252 Bank Owned, Auction, HUD Home or REO - down 90 (-26%) from May 2011
134 Short Sales - up 25 (+19%) from May 2011
Short Sales - One thing to note about June pending’s is that short sales are up more than 19% from May. If you haven’t heard, the short sale process is significantly easier today than it has ever been. Bank’s have streamlined the process for a couple of reasons. It is much cheaper for a bank to short sale a home than it is to foreclose on that same home. The foreclosure process costs the bank a lot of time and money. The other reason that banks are eager to short sale properties and not let them foreclose is because someone who is short selling a home is much less likely to damage the home they are living in. This not only keeps the bank from having to take less money on a foreclosed home that is tore apart, it also helps keep market values higher in a real estate market where banks own many homes. Have questions about the short sale process or want to know if it would be appropriate for your situation? Call or e-mail me today.
Have any questions or comments about the June statistics for Ada and Canyon County real estate? Please leave a comment or contact me directly.
Have a wonderful day!
Chase Craig
Boise Real Estate Agent
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Posted by Chase Craig on June 9, 2011 at 9:03 pm
Financing programs for people paying on time
I often hear from people who are upset or even disgusted when they hear about all the financial programs and help for people who are not making their Boise house payments. Real estate deals from cash for keys to full mortgage modifications changing interest rates and the principal owed. What about those of us that have made our payments on time every time but are still upside down? How can we take advantage of today’s low interest rates when we owe more on our home than it is worth?
Did you know that there is a loan product available today that allows you to finance up to 125% loan to value? That means that if your home is worth $100,000 and you owe $125,000, there is a good possibility that you can refinance your home. Through the making homes affordable act, some banks are allowing up to 125% loan to value refinance. Do you have a second on your home? Not to worry as most second mortgages are willing to subordinate in order for you to lower your payments.
Feel free to call, text or e-mail me for more information about this program and how you might be able to take advantage of today’s ridiculously low interest rates!
Chase Craig
Boise Real Estate Agent
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Posted by Chase Craig on June 9, 2011 at 8:24 pm
Ada and Canyon County Active Listings as of June 9th, 2011
Inventory in Ada and Canyon County is down overall from April to May. There are more non-distressed homes on the market today than there were last month this same time. This tells you that distressed properties in Ada and Canyon County and the Boise area are selling much quicker than non-distressed properties due to the pricing. The incredible thing is that with all the bad news we hear about the plethora of foreclosures coming down the pipe, the foreclosures and short sales are both selling faster than the market can replace them.
4,338 – Active Listings - down 68 from April 2011
2,611 – Non-Distressed - up 59 from April 2011
1,353 – Short Sales - down 41 from April 2011
360 – Bank Owned or REO - down 76 from April 2011
Ada & Canyon County May 2011 Closed and Pending Sales
Closings and pending sales alike were up for the month of May. Again, due to the dwindling bank owned inventory, non-distressed properties surpass bank owned properties for pending sales in the month of May. This is a great trend that I would personally like to see continue. Look for June REO closings to be down until the banks decide to replace all of their inventory in a timely manner, that trend will continue.
968 Closings – up 37 from April 2011
432 Bank Owned or REO – up 20 from April 2011
373 Non-Distressed – up 30 from April 2011
162 Short Sales – down 13 from April 2011
862 Pending - up 33 from April 2011
407 Non-Distressed – up 49 from April 2011
342 Bank Owned or REO - down 32 from April 2011
109 Short Sales - up 13 from April 2011
In closing, it is truly incredible to me that less than 8.5% of our active inventory consists of bank owned property, yet 45% of our sales in the month of May were bank owned sales. If you are a client looking to buy bank owned property, don’t plan on getting it unless you are willing to come in WELL above full price.
Have any questions or comments about the May statistics for Ada and Canyon County? Please leave a comment or contact me directly.
Thanks,
Chase Craig
Boise Real Estate Agent
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Posted by Chase Craig on May 27, 2011 at 3:33 pm
Boise Idaho: Buyer or Seller’s Market?
- “The world is supposed to end today, so it must be a buyers market. After all, who would want to own property on a planet that won’t exist tomorrow?”
- “My brother’s girlfriends mom’s baby daddy knows a guy who sold a home one time and lost a bunch of money. I never want to buy a home cuz’ that will happen to me to.”
- “I’m waiting for rates to go down a little more before I buy…I read an article on msn.com”
- “The banks are holding on to another 900,000 homes that have been foreclosed and not on the market yet…We still have lots of room to drop so I’m going to wait for the bottom.”
The above? – Everyone has an opinion when it comes to real estate…the real question is, who are you listening to?
Buying Boise real estate
I think we can all agree that for the past 2-3 years, Boise Idaho has been a strong buyers market. With prices as aggressive as they have been and interest rates as low as they have been, buying Boise real estate has been a no brainer. Especially if you are renting a home or apartment in Boise as rental rates are often exceeding the price of buying your own home. Renting and want to know if you can qualify? Contact me today and I’ll help you find out.
But what about selling Boise real estate?
Real estate investors and guru’s alike look for specific signs and market trends that might lead to a shift, which could prove profitable in one way or another. Recent signs of change or a shift in the market from a buyers market to a seller’s market include multiple offers on many listings, above full price offers, less than 6 months worth of inventory (currently 4.7 months) and investors are buying again. It’s obviously still a great market to be a buyer in as the prices are at all time lows, but the indicators above and below could lead to the shift that many have waited for, the true pricing bottom for Boise.
Recent examples:
Last week, there was a property listed in Meridian, ID near Locust Grove and Fairview for $91,900. This property had been on the market for less than 3 days when I wrote an offer for my clients on the property. We wrote the offer at $95,000 asking for $3,800 in closing costs, so $700 under the full price. We were notified shortly afterwards that this property had multiple offers on it so we were asked to submit our highest and best offer. After discussing options with my clients, we decided to come in at $105,000 asking for $3,800 in closing costs or a net for the seller of $101,200 which is $9,300 above full price. I know what you are thinking, “$9,300 above full price in this buyers market? These poor buyers need to find a new real estate agent that knows what he’s doing!”…I might have believed that statement myself if it were 6 months ago. The scariest part about it is that even offering $9,300 net above full price on the property in Meridian, ID we did NOT get the house. Someone else offered higher on the property.
Two weeks ago, I wrote 2 other properties and got in a similar “highest and best” scenario. Both buyers came in about $5,000 above full price on homes in the $100,000 price range and neither buyer got the property.
The two examples above are very strong indicators of a shift that could be occurring in our Boise real estate market. The prices are so low that people are fighting over them to get them. That fighting is leading to the homes being sold above asking price. If this trend continues long enough, banks should start pricing their homes accordingly (higher).
Boise Idaho: Factors contributing to a buyer’s market?
- Sales prices on homes are extremely aggressive.
- Interest rates for mortgages are also extremely aggressive.
- Boise rental prices and payments are higher than Boise mortgage payments in many scenarios.
- Note that these same three factors have been the case for the last 2 years.
Boise Idaho: Factors contributing to a seller’s market?
- Investors are aggressively purchasing homes.
- Inventory has consistently gone down over the last 3 months.
- Average days on market is 87 for 2011.
- Note that these three factors have been prevalent for only the last 3-6 months.
The Bottom Line?
I am not saying that we are going to see real estate pricing increase dramatically like it was in 2004 through 2006. What I am saying is that the best evidence of a bottom is buyers fighting over the opportunity to buy a home in Boise. That home that we lost bidding $9,300 over full price (10% over full price!) had 12 offers on it in 6 days!!! Don’t get me wrong, if you are a seller thinking of selling your home in Boise in today’s market, you are going to sell it for significantly less than you would have if it were 2006. But if you are a seller looking to sell a home in today’s market that is priced right, you wont have to wait 6 months to a year to do so like you might have in 2009.
I will continue to keep a close eye on the Boise real estate market and I suggest you do the same, or just check out www.chasecraig.com every now and again. This may not be the bottom in Boise, but there is strong evidence supporting the case that we are living in the real estate bottom in Boise Idaho today.
If you are thinking of selling your home in this market or even if you just want to know what your home might be worth, contact me today for a free market analysis. It’s no trouble on my end, I actually enjoy doing them! If you would prefer to see what is on the market, you can search Boise area properties here.
Best of luck to you!
Chase Craig
Boise Real Estate Agent
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