dallastophoenix
22 April 2005, 07:09 PM
Okay, I'm a fairly new homeowner out here in a suburb of Phoenix, and I've NEVER experienced anything like this before... Is this happening at all in Dallas??:
I had 2 different people this week knock on my door to inquire if I'd be interested in selling my home (I have no "for sale" sign up, by the way). After I let them know that I wasn't planning to sell for quite some time, they proceeeded to give me their contact info, as well as state that I could name the price if I changed my mind... I also had a handful of people over the last two months contact me about purchasing my three other rental properties (much lower valued), which have been 100% leased since I bought them two years ago. NO WAY will I sell!
What's this about?! I mean, I live in a modest neighborhood - every third home is the same, etc... nothing special at all! And those rental properties closer to the central city cater to a much lower income level, but still have so much demand...
I've noticed that a few homes in the neighborhood I live have had signs put up for a day, maybe two, then taken down (SOLD) - so I asked a recently moved-in neighbor what was going on w/ these random people asking us to sell. He stated that his family was 1 of 13 that attempted to outbid each other to get into the house next door (which sold in less than a day). He went on to tell me that the only way he got the house was through a real estate lady's hook-up (didn't understand that - and didn't ask, but anyway...).
I knew something crazy was going on, since I just refinanced my mortgage - and had it appraised a couple of weeks ago. Apparently my home's value has shot up over $100K in a little over a year (+40%). So, after learning about this - and what was going on w/ my neighbor and the random "buyers", I contacted a realtor yesterday (friend of a friend) to enlighten me about what's going on. She said that it is such a sellers market EVERWHERE in Phoenix right now. With over 150K people moving in each year, and the overpriced California and now Nevada markets making people (many, investors) look elsewhere, Phoenix is the place to buy a home right now...
So I asked about my HUGE leap in appraised value. She said that if I chose to sell, I could get close to double (yes, almost double!!) that appraised leap in value. In fact, she said that people buying homes are not even looking at the houses in person - or even having inspections done. They're bidding on homes "as-is" - hoping to outbid the next person - asking WAY over the sky-rocketing appraised values.
My question to her then was "where are the high-paying jobs in Phoenix coming from to compensate for these incredibly-high homes prices?" "They're not here, " she said. Apparently, they're mostly investors, or people from CA, NY, or NV that have sold their homes for crazy prices there, and see the home prices in Phx (as high as they are) as a bargain (most pay cash, she said).
Another problem associated w/ such a high demand is that almost all of the hundreds of master-planned communities sprouting up all over the outskirts of the metro are filling up too fast w/ interested buyers. People are flocking to these homes to be able to attempt to afford a new home, but are dealing long lines of people camping out in order to be the first lucky few to get into the lotto drawings to meet w/ builders (a few of my friends are so tired of dealing w/ this to buy an "affordable" home). Even then, the home builders are only releasing a few dozen homes at a time in order to drive up the home prices... Some politicians are even attempting to pass some sort of legislation (would never work) to hinder out-of-state investors from buying up all of these homes in order to rent awhile and then sell to make a profit.
I just thought that I'd share this with everyone in Dallas, since a booming house market typically "appears" to be a really good thing. Here in Phoenix it's great if you're selling, but horrible if you're a regular person trying to buy...
I had 2 different people this week knock on my door to inquire if I'd be interested in selling my home (I have no "for sale" sign up, by the way). After I let them know that I wasn't planning to sell for quite some time, they proceeeded to give me their contact info, as well as state that I could name the price if I changed my mind... I also had a handful of people over the last two months contact me about purchasing my three other rental properties (much lower valued), which have been 100% leased since I bought them two years ago. NO WAY will I sell!
What's this about?! I mean, I live in a modest neighborhood - every third home is the same, etc... nothing special at all! And those rental properties closer to the central city cater to a much lower income level, but still have so much demand...
I've noticed that a few homes in the neighborhood I live have had signs put up for a day, maybe two, then taken down (SOLD) - so I asked a recently moved-in neighbor what was going on w/ these random people asking us to sell. He stated that his family was 1 of 13 that attempted to outbid each other to get into the house next door (which sold in less than a day). He went on to tell me that the only way he got the house was through a real estate lady's hook-up (didn't understand that - and didn't ask, but anyway...).
I knew something crazy was going on, since I just refinanced my mortgage - and had it appraised a couple of weeks ago. Apparently my home's value has shot up over $100K in a little over a year (+40%). So, after learning about this - and what was going on w/ my neighbor and the random "buyers", I contacted a realtor yesterday (friend of a friend) to enlighten me about what's going on. She said that it is such a sellers market EVERWHERE in Phoenix right now. With over 150K people moving in each year, and the overpriced California and now Nevada markets making people (many, investors) look elsewhere, Phoenix is the place to buy a home right now...
So I asked about my HUGE leap in appraised value. She said that if I chose to sell, I could get close to double (yes, almost double!!) that appraised leap in value. In fact, she said that people buying homes are not even looking at the houses in person - or even having inspections done. They're bidding on homes "as-is" - hoping to outbid the next person - asking WAY over the sky-rocketing appraised values.
My question to her then was "where are the high-paying jobs in Phoenix coming from to compensate for these incredibly-high homes prices?" "They're not here, " she said. Apparently, they're mostly investors, or people from CA, NY, or NV that have sold their homes for crazy prices there, and see the home prices in Phx (as high as they are) as a bargain (most pay cash, she said).
Another problem associated w/ such a high demand is that almost all of the hundreds of master-planned communities sprouting up all over the outskirts of the metro are filling up too fast w/ interested buyers. People are flocking to these homes to be able to attempt to afford a new home, but are dealing long lines of people camping out in order to be the first lucky few to get into the lotto drawings to meet w/ builders (a few of my friends are so tired of dealing w/ this to buy an "affordable" home). Even then, the home builders are only releasing a few dozen homes at a time in order to drive up the home prices... Some politicians are even attempting to pass some sort of legislation (would never work) to hinder out-of-state investors from buying up all of these homes in order to rent awhile and then sell to make a profit.
I just thought that I'd share this with everyone in Dallas, since a booming house market typically "appears" to be a really good thing. Here in Phoenix it's great if you're selling, but horrible if you're a regular person trying to buy...