Bay Area: There's been HUGE job loss up here, but very little impact on housing prices
I know the statistics say not much effect on housing prices, but my area in San Mateo county has declined 35-40% from peak. At the peak, people were paying 100K over ask and everything, no matter how bad, was selling. Now, a lot of houses are not selling and are pulled off the mkts, there are 2 on my street like that. One house sold 2 years ago for about 600K as a fixer, and a developer bought it. He put a bunch of upgrades in, and a new kitchen, and put it up again for $850. (too high for the neighborhood, now). Of course it didn't sell. He kept dropping the price to $740. and finally pulled it off the mkt. Another house down the way $700K is same situation. Both of these houses need to list for 625-650K to sell, which in the first guys case means a loss. Had he fixed up the house and sold in 2000, it probably would have fetched that 850K.
If a house is priced well, it sells near asking price. |
