Southern California living at its finest! Cool for coneheads - only $325,000 for a 45 year old 1 BR, 1.5 Bath A-frame.... near Goleta, just 20 minutes from Santa Barbara (at 5 a.m. on a Sunday morning). ... totally private on a full one-half acre behind a dilapidated barn located just beyond the Santa Barbara Airport take-off runway... The downside is that there's no T-1 line availability...
Just like the financial market, Real Estate's number one friend/foe is supply demand. What is supply / demand like in your area? Anyone ? Here in South FL demand is high and supply is low. And guess what ? As long as the New Yorkers keep coming down here to buy there are two things that keep demand up and supply low: New Yorkers sell their houses up North now anywhere from $500k to $800k, for example, and they bought the house for $200k to $300k. When they get down here to South FL and see that they can buy a home for $400k+ they pay the price. They actually have no problem paying inflated prices and this will continue to inflate prices. Second: Most of Dade and Broward counties are completely built out. definitely no over supply. Palm Beach and Martin county can not build fast enough to keep up with demand. definitely no over supply. So there you have it. Of course there are some macro economic factors that could affect things, but these type of factors are always looming aren't they ?
tradersaavy, You are right, it is difficult to develop land into residential property in South Fl. because of environmentalists and red tape. This pent up demand is one of the main reason we have seen such a good run up over the past couple of years (latest census indicates an average of 1000 people per day have moved to FL between 2000 - 2004). Since the everglades are untouchable and other wetlands are fiercely protected buildable lots have not been able to keep up with the demand. This coupled with low interest rates, and a weak dollar vs. other foreign currencies has made our region ripe for speculation. Things are bound to slow down or deflate, but until this happens fortunes are being made while so many here are on the sidelines predicting the top........... As for me I like to be where the action is, only when the tide changes will I move on.
Do you have any idea what you're talking about? I live in SB (Montecito) and you have no clue buddy. There's actually quite a bit of decent reletively affordable real estate near San Marcos/154 in the mountains that is actually 20 minutes from downtown SB. There isn't too much nasty traffic anywhere except N-Bound from LA to SB gets bad but that's it and out of the area in question. Just stating the facts. If you don't live here then don't comment about what its like to live here. Mike
"The Bell Has Tolled" More Sacramento R.E. Softness excerpts (c) Sacramento Bee Region's home sales signal softer market 'For Sale' signs mushroom, stay up longer By Andrew LePage -- Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 am PDT Friday, August 19, 2005 It's a sign of the times: Jim Eggleston, owner of Sacramento's biggest residential "For Sale" sign installer, predicts this will be his busiest week in 21 years in business. He's had to hire an extra worker and buy a new delivery truck since his crew planted a one-day record of 225 signs on Monday. "There are whole lot of houses going up for sale," says Eggleston, who promises next-day installation when a real estate broker orders a new sign. "The number of 'For Sale' signs we're removing keeps going down relative to the number we're putting up." His experience is just one more signal that the Sacramento region's housing market continues to cool off, as inventories rise, price reductions become rampant and homes stay on the market longer, particularly those in the $400,000-and-up price range. In July, the monthly inventory of resale homes for sale in Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado and Yolo counties combined shot up to 7,263 - the highest for any month since September 1998. As of Thursday morning, the inventory had risen another 26 percent to 9,141 homes, reports TrendGraphix, a local data firm affiliated with Lyon Real Estate of Sacramento. "The inventory is ramping up and we're now seeing a changing market - the bell has tolled," said Michael Lyon, head of TrendGraphix and Lyon Real Estate. Eggleston, owner of The Sign Post, says his installation crew sees the signs of this investor exodus daily. "You can tell when you go up to a house and the lawn isn't mowed and the tenants ask you what you're doing there," Eggleston said. Reductions in asking prices are now rampant: In May there were 2,318 price reductions in the four-county region; in July there were 4,100 and this month is on pace to see about 4,500, TrendGraphix reports. Among other signs of a downshifting market: In recent weeks, some luxury homebuilders have begun offering pricey incentives, such as Centex Homes offering a $40,000 swimming pool for certain homes priced over $800,000 in Lincoln. The local Building Industry Association reports that in July the number of people shopping in new home subdivisions in the capital region fell to 32,679 - down 25 percent from a year ago and the lowest for July since 1999. Some in the industry have argued that shoppers of both new and resale homes were scarce last month because of the extreme heat. Another big change is that builders are, for the first time in years, seeking the help of real estate agents in drumming up business. "We're starting to get a slew of invitations from builders ... where they're holding their models open to brokers before they're open to the public," said agent Britt Wiseman of Coldwell Banker's Sierra Oaks office. "That's a dramatic change."
SB county is out of line ... when an ordinary house nearby in Goleta is running 700K you know things have gotten a bit silly......
recent articles in the wall street journal and elsewhere indicate that the housing market is being "talked down." this suggests that whatever is going to discount it, will (or will continue to). bonds, subprimes, primes, builders, lumber futures, crude and unleaded (as demand recedes) etc. (hep me y'all). this, incidentally, seems like a cool strategy. and now I know what the opposite of "pushing on a string" looks like.