Still waiting for your ideal home to drop below $200K?
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Dennis Wyatt |
Doubting Thomases – or more aptly the Greek Chorus – are saying no one should buy a home in Manteca until the prices drop under $200,000 which they are convinced they will.Actually, many have. The problem is the condition of those homes and their locations.
But the self-proclaimed “authorities” who say wise people should wait before they start seriously looking have never really looked for a home seriously themselves in this market.
All it takes is comparison shopping, inspecting homes and seeing them inside and out to realize under $200,000 isn’t exactly a place you’re going to find homes that are more cherry than lemon.
Yes they persist in saying numbers – the median price bantered around that is just that, a median snapshot – are indicative of reality.
Numbers don’t lie, right?
No argument there.
But you need to look beyond the numbers and look at the homes and the location.
As of last week, there were 20 closed deals in Manteca for May. Only four were under $200,000. The lowest priced home selling was a 60-year-old remodeled home with no garage, minimal yard, a block from the railroad tracks with two bedrooms and one bathroom and 848 square feet at 118 Goodale Court for $139,000.
The other three were three bedrooms, and two bathrooms ranging from $179,500 for 1,440 square feet that is about 40 years old to one that is 1,303 square feet for $190,000.
There were 80 deals closed in Manteca in May. Seventeen were under $200,000. Four were two bedrooms and one bathroom homes. One was five bedrooms with 2,000 square feet for $144,000 that was thoroughly trashed. None were newer than 40 years old.
There were 58 closed deals in March. Ten were less than $200,000. Of those, three were two bedrooms and one bath. Eight were 50 to 60 years or older and the other two were 40 years old.
There is nothing wrong per se with older homes. I bought one built in 1952 but I’ve spent $16,000 in the past two months on a new roof, a new fence and miscellaneous things – I’m still far from done – and the bank selling me the home spent just under $8,000 remodeling and updating the kitchen and updating the kitchen and bathroom. I paid $189,000 and the bank tossed in $5,000 in closing costs.
I’ve had people who told me I was an idiot for doing that and not waiting. But then they looked at what is out there, the quality of construction of the homes and their present condition and then they look at the home I bought and the neighborhood and they change their tune.
Simply put, a lot more goes into buying a home than being driven by price. It is a place you are going to be living in for awhile. And it is something that needs to not become a major financial drain.
That is why more and more house hunters have been increasing their threshold of pain a bit closer to what banks will loan them as they understand the potential that a number of homes out there have of becoming money pits. And the pricing – whether it is aging, cosmetic issues, structural concerns or neighborhood – reflects all of that
