Last Sunday 42 new homes in South Oxnard were auctioned off. By most accounts the event was a success. 40 houses sold in a fast paced well organized event. Here is a newspaper excerpt:
Ventura County Star:
You wouldn't know there's a housing slump by the frenzy of buying on Sunday in Oxnard.
In an hourlong blitz of bidding in a hotel meeting room packed with about 200 hopeful buyers, auctioneers sold 40 new homes in South Oxnard, albeit at huge markdowns.
Prices were $100,000-$200,000 less than what buyers paid this summer. 40 knife catchers, 110 families permanently underwater. The City of Oxnard would do well to revise its budget immediately. The property tax revenues alone are going to be $200,000/yr short from this event alone.
21 comments:
Ho Ho Ho - It's Santa Flipper Clause
Plenty more where this came from.
Murst?
Santa F. Clause
Three hours to the first post?
That's what happens when you post early on a Saturday morning.
The link to the Ventura County Star doesn't appear to be correct.
Is there a new development starting at Harbor and 5th St? What consequences will it have for them?
Bad link fixed.
Post times are from first save not when published.
The development on Harbor is a different animal entirely. It will be a while before they suffer the same fate.
Thanks for the update Dawg. What if there were no re agents and just auctions to sell houses? Would buyers be in the same situation?
Sac RE,
Pardon my French but that's silly. RE agents are indespensible and likely always will be.
Even if there were only formal auctions re agents would be there for clients on both sides. Heck, what is a for sale but an auction in slow motion? Don't mistake my distaste for the present system for some kind of tin foil "kill 'em all" attitude.
The property tax revenues alone are going to be $200,000/yr short from this event alone.
You don't think assessment revaluations downward will be slow and carefully considered? After all, we don't want the government to rush and make capricious decisions, do we? That's tyranny!
The County Assessors Office is quite responsive. They might not even wait for appeals and will likely be proactive just to save time and money staff hours processing the applications. I can easily see all 150 houses e valued to these new levels en masse. Other places may try tricks or obfuscation but not here.
Is $300K really a "good deal" for a 1600 sq ft house?
No, that's still at least 50% too high.
Sorry to change the topic a bit, but there is nothing recent on public transit when I ran across this article in the New York Daily News.
Gotta hand it to New York. This could be the catalyst to get commuters out of their suvs and into the trains. Why doesn't government learn to think outside the box ?
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/12/10/2007-12-10_subway_pole_dancers_enrage_mta.html
h.
Price discovery, at its most basic level. It's amazing how, in a supposedly free market, there are so many people who are uncomfortable with the prospect of finding the real price for goods and services (not to mention structured financial products, which aren't really either of those.)
This seems to be the real thing, and those prices are the real prices (even if, yes, they'll probably go lower.) I'm just surprised we haven't seen more of this--it's amazing how many investors and homeowners have continued to believe in fantasy prices, and have let themselves go bankrupt rather than cut prices. Foolish pride at its worst.
Not to worry, however; we'll see a lot more price discovery next year as homebuilders face bankruptcy, and as banks realize that they are going to have to start listening to offers, no matter how ugly they are, to move real estate off their books.
I've been surprised lately at the number of people, very smart people, in my tiny little world who believe that residential prices are at or near a bottom.
NAR continues it's dog and pony show.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071210/housing_forecast_realtors.html
how can Yun even say that crap with a straight face?
aaron: "how can Yun even say that crap with a straight face?"
By thinking about the paycheck he's getting from the NAR for being the one who gets to say that.
On a purely anecdotal note, rents here in the Washington DC area appear to be softening. More places for rent than at this time last year, and lots of incentives--one month rent free, two months rent free, move-in fees waived, etc.
Interestingly, though, not a lot of "investor"-owned condos up for rent (or at least not at the prices I'm checking.) The pricing pressure appears to be from big new condo complexes that converted to rental at the last moment. They're taking up a lot of the luxury rental market, forcing older complexes to offer incentives to keep units rented.
I haven't looked at any of the numbers yet, but I suspect that rents will stay flat in the near term, and may actually start dropping within the next year.
PV,
the condo market in this area will continue to take a pounding IMO which in turn will lead to more supply of rental units. I assume you are still happily renting, waiting for prices to come down? IF so I'm curious have you tried making any ridiculous low ball offers on condos?
Rob -
A developer in our neck of the woods (Portland, OR) is planning to unload 240 homes this weeked in a two day auction. There is a lot of "fine print" in the brochure.... there is an "opening" bid price and the "reserve" price.... According to people who've looked at the properties - the houses look like crap. Worse yet, the poor schmucks who paid "full market value" just a few months back (meaning over $500K) who are now going to be welcoming to their neighborhood those lucky schmucks who bought the discounted home next door with the same sq ft at 60% of the cost.
aaron: Still renting. "Happily" is relative. :/ Haven't started looking at condos yet; will probably wait a year or so, or at least until the inventory starts coming down before I look.
I will have some for a down payment, but not 20%, so the strategy is to go to a builder direct and see if they will cut a deal and help get the financing lined up. Given a couple of years of pain, I suspect builders will be very amenable to offers.
PV,
good luck and I believe your patience will be paid off.
"Is $300K really a "good deal" for a 1600 sq ft house?"
"No, that's still at least 50% too high."
Enjoy the snow, ice and flat moutains or at the very least the middle of no place I would want to live.
We bought a new home at Westwinds and will upgrade galore and couldn't be happier.
If you would have asked me a year ago if we could buy a "very nice" brand new home w/ 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath w/ a loft in a very nice gated community 2 miles (less the a mile if you are a bird) from the beach in So Cal; throw end high end hardwood floors, tile and granite (were needed), and custom paint in every room for $$ not $$$, I assume you would have to win some kind of loto for the right.
It's kind of nice when a couple w/ professional jobs can now buy a new home w/o being house poor. I never thought I would see this day in a So Cal beach community.
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