Once again, too long since my last post here at the Santa Clarita Real Estate Forum. Same old song . It’s been incredibly busy. Completely surpassing previous years sales numbers, year to date, as far as my own business is concerned. With that said, what’s actually happening here on the ground is bit like a mini gold rush, instead I’d call it a foreclosure rush, or get-me-my-cheap-property-rush. While not all properties are selling, not even close to “all” (usually due to unrealistic sales price), sales have been picking up and haven’t stopped, and everyone is on the hunt for “the deal.” And guess what, these deals are coming available just about everyday. Sometimes it’s a new foreclosure listing, and sometimes it’s an existing listing that’s getting tired of sitting on the market, so they drop their price to a level that is competitive with the foreclosure listings. Foreclosure homes in Santa Clarita, aren’t just bank owned, some are corporate owned, some are investor owned (ie picked up at a Trustee sale)….and plenty of homes are priced like what we prefer to refer to as “foreclosure-type-pricing,” but they aren’t foreclosures, they simply have normal people living in them like you and I, who are motivated to sell now.
You’d think that with ALL of these foreclosure listing DUMPED on Santa Clarita, and the rest of Southern California alike, that or inventory of homes would just be enormous compared to last year this time right? Wrong. Digging back to April 2007, Santa Clarita ended up with an active inventory of 2,161 homes for sale. Fast forward to today, April 16, 2008, and you’ll see that we have an active inventory of 2,034 homes for sale. Over the last several months, the Santa Clarita listing inventory has been decreasing steadily. I’d attribute that mostly to attractive and “attainable” financing options such as new FHA loan guidelines, and buyers feeling like the “bottom is near,” these buyers are now starting to make offers and put these homes under contract to purchase.
HOW IS YOUR SANTA CLARITA AREA DOING?
Santa Clarita Pending Home Sales
| Area | # Homes In Escrow | Total # Listings | % Of Listings In Escrow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acton | 9 | 115 | 7.8% |
| Agua Dulce | 6 | 59 | 10.2% |
| Castaic | 28 | 216 | 13% |
| Canyon Country | 136 | 682 | 20% |
| Saugus | 85 | 408 | 21% |
| Newhall | 43 | 309 | 14% |
| Stevenson Ranch | 33 | 160 | 21% |
| Valencia | 131 | 556 | 24% |
The neighborhoods of Newhall and Castaic seem to not be fairing to well percentage wise with respect to how much of the inventory is in escrow. While areas such as Valencia, Stevenson Ranch, and Saugus seem to be getting the lions share of buyer interest.
You wouldn’t believe some of these deals that are hitting the market every day. It’s no wonder why, that for just about every new listing here in Santa Clarita, one or more are going into escrow. I’ve seen a 4 bedroom Canyon Country home (house, not condo)…get listed for sale at about $198k (bank owned). I’ve seen newer homes with over 3,000 square feet hit the market for under $500k. And I’ve seen an incredible amount of buyer interest and inquires coming my way. We haven’t even hit what most consider to be the “busy buying season” yet.
The next few months should be telling, and very interesting.
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