l‘ve been reporting on foreclosures in Bullhead City regularly since my first post on the subject in June, aptly titled Foreclosures in Bullhead City. Today let’s take a look at the homes currently for sale in Bullhead City, including foreclosures.
This Bullhead City real estate report includes all residential property types (site built homes, manufactured homes, and condominiums). Unless otherwise noted, all data is from the Western Arizona REALTORĀ® Data Exchange.
Fewer Bullhead City homes enter the market in 2008
1799 residential listings hit the market from January through October of 2008, 21% fewer than the 2253 listings for the same period in 2007 – a much needed correction to the supply side.
Foreclosures represent a greater percentage of new listings
15% of the homes that went on the market so far this year were foreclosures, compared to a mere 2% for the same period in 2007.
Increased competition puts pressure on prices
We’ve established there are fewer homes coming on the market this year than last year, but also that a greater percentage of those homes are foreclosures. We know from looking at closed sales this year that foreclosures consistently sell faster and for less than other homes. We don’t have to look much further to understand that the foreclosures are driving the overall prices down, creating some great opportunities for buyers, and some tough decisions for sellers.
Now let’s see what the existing inventory looks like when broken down by property type and splitting out the foreclosures.
Bullhead City Condominiums
What jumps out at you? You might notice there are 82 active listings for condos and only two pending sales (2.4% of the listings are under contract). The demand is obviously pretty low. Drill down to the foreclosures though, with six active and two pending (25% of the listings are under contract), and we see there is demand when the price is right. The pending sales are listed at $79.83 per square foot, compared to the overall average list price per square foot of the condos on the market of $192.19.
Bullhead City Manufactured Homes
With only 12 of the 408 active listings, foreclosures are not having as much of a direct impact on manufactured homes as they are on site built homees. The indirect impact is another story, more on that in a bit. Overall, there are 11 manufactured homes under contract with 408 others on the market.
Bullhead City Site Built Homes
The rubber hits the road in the site built home segment of the market. First of all, approximately ten percent of the listings are under contract, which is much higher than any other property type. This is also where the greatest number of foreclosures are, and the greatest discrepancy in price and Days on Market (DOM). The lower the DOM, the faster the sale.
Take a look at the houses under contract. The average time on the market is three months for foreclosures, and over seven months for everything else. Makes sense when you look at the difference in price.
I don’t think it’s a leap to say that while there aren’t many condo or manufactured home foreclosures, their significant presence among site built homes is indirectly making a mark.
So What’s the Deal with the Foreclosures?
A few years ago, in 2000 and 2001, I used to get calls form people wanting to buy foreclosures. I used to ask them if they specifically wanted a foreclosure or if they just wanted a good deal. More often than not we could find better deals from regular human sellers. Sure there was the occasional foreclosure you could steal, but they usually needed a lot of work. This time around it’s different.
It’s not so much about finding a place in need of rehab and picking it up from a bank that doesn’t want to deal with it as much as it is about seizing the opportunity to buy from a seller that is willing and able to sell for what the market will bear.
So what do you think? Are foreclosures setting the prices? Is the fact that they’re predominantly site built homes affecting the other areas of the market because there aren’t as many wlling and able sellers in those segments? I’d love to hear what you think in the comments.
Looking for foreclosures for sale in the Bullhead City area?
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