The Housing Bubble

A report from the Tallahassee Democrat in Florida. “Whether you call them mansions, estate homes, or high-end homes, the Tallahassee real estate market leads the way when it comes to an oversupply of luxury homes for sale. Right now, there are 57 homes priced at $750,000 and up on the market. That may not seem like much, but when you take into consideration the average time on the market is 145 days (compared to just 57 days on the market for a median-priced home in a neighborhood like Killearn Lakes), you’ll quickly realize high end homes are slow to sell in Tallahassee.”

“There are really only two reasons why a home won’t sell. Either the home hasn’t been properly marketed using an aggressive, multi-channel approach…or the home is overpriced. If you are thinking of selling a luxury home in Tallahassee, you had better not take it lightly. While parts of the market have recovered, with a high inventory of estate homes still available and many houses sitting on the market for more than 100 days, selling a house for $600,000+ takes more than a sign in the yard and an open house.”

The Courier-Times North Carolina. “Residential real estate inventory remains limited in the county and it is still a seller’s market, although there are more houses for sale now than there were six months ago. That is the take of Gay Poindexter, a real estate agent with Re/Max Pointer Realty. At present there are 27 active homes for sale in Timberlake but 11 of those are just starting construction so the number of houses that are ready to move into now is only 16. Fourteen of those houses are priced under $250,000 and 13 are over $250,000.”

“In Hurdle Mills, the inventory has increased from seven to 13 in the last six months. ‘I think we are still busy,’ Poindexter said. ‘I think if sellers are coming down now, they were overpriced to begin with.’”

The Denver Channel in Colorado. “The red-hot housing market in the Denver metro area is showing signs of cooling, according to the August Denver Metro Real Estate Market Trends Report. The report released Friday shows both average and median prices have dropped from June, and buyer activity has slowed amid higher inventory, which the report assesses may be attributed to the historic increases in Denver home prices.”

“‘Can a cooling market be considered positive? To most sellers, no, but honestly, they have experienced unprecedented equity growth over the past several years. It’s time to share the love and keep home buying an option in the Denver Metro area,’ said Denver REALTOR Chairman Steve Danyliw.”

The Buffalo News in New York. “Banks have opened foreclosure proceedings against more than 600 Erie County homeowners since the start of the year, prompting the Erie County Clerk’s Office to create a new Zombie Foreclosure Task Force. Two-thirds of the 617 new foreclosures are in Buffalo, Lackawanna and the first-ring suburbs. ‘We are in crisis, and these numbers prove we need to address this crisis,’ County Clerk Michael P. Kearns said Thursday.”

“One-third of the new foreclosures proceedings happened in Buffalo, where the process began for 206 homes in the first half of this year, said Kate Lockhart, foreclosure data manager with the Western New York Law Center. But about as many foreclosures, 200, started in the first-ring suburbs, including 72 in Cheektowaga and 46 in the Town of Tonawanda, according to a study released by the center. ‘This is not just an urban issue,’ she said.”

“Zombie homes are houses that banks have begun to foreclose on but haven’t completed the process for long periods of time, resulting in vacant, untended properties that become community eyesores and neighborhood burdens.”

The Northern Nevada Business Review. “All across the state cities are struggling through a housing crisis. The Tahoe area is not immune to the problem as housing prices continue to rise and local businesses struggle to find employees capable of surviving on the wage provided to them. A 2016 Tahoe Truckee Housing Needs Assessment reported that 65 percent of homes in the area are vacant, mainly used for vacation homes, and that 58.6 percent of the local employees commute into town.”

“It also reported that the median home price in 2015 was $538,000 and estimated the maximum home price considered as ‘affordable’ to a four-person lower income household is $235,000. With the average household income in North Lake Tahoe at $67,000, buying a home is not a feasible option for many.”

From My Northwest in Washington. “Lisa bought her Seattle home in 2011, in a neighborhood generally considered to be among the city’s most well-to-do. After deciding to sell the property this year, she and her agent spent three months getting the home in perfect market condition. But 10 days after the for-sale sign went up outside, Lisa started to notice troubling occurrences — hoses spread across the yard that were turned on, and a man sitting in her driveway one evening who told, not only Lisa but also her neighbors, that he was the new property owner. Lisa said that the man, who was a complete stranger, did not look like the sort of person who would be buying a house like hers.”

“‘This is a multi-million-dollar property, and you don’t want to make judgments based on someone’s appearance, but you can tell something is off,’ Lisa told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson.”

“On Monday evening, Lisa walked onto her property to find the house broken into, tents set up across the yard, and a closet created out of the patio. ‘I screamed bloody murder the second I walked into my home because I didn’t know if somebody else was in the house,’ she said. Luckily, neighbors immediately heard Lisa’s screams and ran to her aid. They called police and fixed the part of the door that had been broken.”

“‘It was a terrifying situation — I’m a single woman … I’m terrified to go back to my own home,’ Lisa described.”

“A police officer arrived at the scene and located the two squatters. However, when he called for backup, he did not receive the help he needed. Because of sheer numbers, the single police officer was not able to confront and arrest the two squatters. She was told the next night that there were only three officers on-duty throughout Ballard, Queen Anne, and Magnolia. Less than three hours later, the squatters were back on the property. This time the police officer brought backup, but did not find the men. In the day-and-a-half since then, the squatters have been back multiple times.”

“Lisa has thankfully been living in an apartment in a different neighborhood while the house is being sold, but she lives in terror now every time she drives back to her own house. She said that with the response she has gotten so far from law enforcement, she honestly does not know what will happen next.”

“‘A single woman trying to sell my largest, greatest asset, and this is what’s going on — after putting literally blood, sweat, and tears into this property,’ Lisa said. ‘I am scared for my physical safety.’”