How's your neighborhood holding up? (Kansas City, Center: for sale, foreclosures, renters)

[northbound74]

As the housing 'crisis' has leveled off, but the market still struggling, I've noticed an interesting phenomenon taking place in my neighborhood.

A few foreclosures happened early on, and recently, it's like my area is undergoing some sort of renaissance.
The houses that were foreclosed on were bought up quickly, heavily remodeled inside and out, and then resold very quickly.. sometimes so fast that I never saw a sign go up in the yard! This in an area comprised mostly of little 3-bedroom ranchers from the '50's. Most go for 110k or less. Many for well under 90k.
The area has always been clean and pretty well-kept, but the houses that they've done this to have mostly been the more questionable ones.
It's nice, really. Especially when you consider that some of my friends were afraid that my neighborhood was getting old and in a 'borderline' type of area where things could go downhill fast. They were much more concerned about that than I ever was.
Only problem is, it's almost getting a little too yuppie around here. I may have to move.

Oh, well. Just curious. I've been hearing and reading about areas where there's a lot of houses up for sale, and they're staying on the market for a long time, but I'm just not seeing that where I live.

[RjRobb2]

There has not been a house for sale on my street in about two years. Either no one is moving or no one can move. I only know of one house that is up for sale within a 4 block radius. Very little houses have gone up for sale overall. The ones that have did not stay on the market for more than about 3 months. Not sure if they sold or people just gave up. I dont know of any houses that foreclosed in my neighborhood.

[sparksharp]

Foreclosures can bring the prices in a neighborhood way, way down. Some inspectors are now using them as comps when someone in the area goes to sell their home. Basically...they are comps!

[northbound74]

Originally Posted by sparksharp

Foreclosures can bring the prices in a neighborhood way, way down. Some inspectors are now using them as comps when someone in the area goes to sell their home. Basically...they are comps!

I'm not sure what a comp is.

Out of maybe 100 or so houses in my little area, probably 5-6 were foreclosed on. I don't know for certain, though. I'm just going on the number of houses that have the typical foreclosed look to them... papers taped to the front door/window stating they've been foreclosed on. The others may have not been in foreclosure, but nevertheless, they've undergone big improvements.
Values here have held very steady, and are virtually identical to what they were 3-4 years ago.
The Kansas City region in general does well due to the lack of booms and busts.

[TabulaRasa]

I'm wondering how the neighborhood we recently moved out of as renters is doing...the entire time we lived there, nearly every house on our block other than ours was sitting empty and/or for sale (only one a few blocks away was a noted foreclosure, though). Nothing was really moving, then. When we were househunting, we looked at the listing prices for the surrounding houses out of curiosity (they weren't the style we were looking for and didn't for the most part have basements, which was a requirement), and they were priced fairly high for what they were, mostly 1960s 3-BR ranches on slabs. The neighborhood was pleasant, though, if you didn't count the desertedness; tucked away and nicely kept, and just outside the loathed KCMO school district, in the marginally less loathed Center school district. I wonder if it's still a ghost town, or if anybody's bought any of them.

[Okey Dokie]

Originally Posted by northbound74

I'm not sure what a comp is.

A comp (comparable) is a house which has recently sold, and its selling price is used to determine the value of the house being appraised. I speak from experience, when they start using foreclosures for comps you're in for a long haul if you're trying to sell your house for "full" (i.e., non-distressed) price.

[cp1969]

Originally Posted by northbound74

As the housing 'crisis' has leveled off, but the market still struggling, I've noticed an interesting phenomenon taking place in my neighborhood.

A few foreclosures happened early on, and recently, it's like my area is undergoing some sort of renaissance.
The houses that were foreclosed on were bought up quickly, heavily remodeled inside and out, and then resold very quickly.. sometimes so fast that I never saw a sign go up in the yard! This in an area comprised mostly of little 3-bedroom ranchers from the '50's. Most go for 110k or less. Many for well under 90k.
The area has always been clean and pretty well-kept, but the houses that they've done this to have mostly been the more questionable ones.
It's nice, really. Especially when you consider that some of my friends were afraid that my neighborhood was getting old and in a 'borderline' type of area where things could go downhill fast. They were much more concerned about that than I ever was.
Only problem is, it's almost getting a little too yuppie around here. I may have to move.

Oh, well. Just curious. I've been hearing and reading about areas where there's a lot of houses up for sale, and they're staying on the market for a long time, but I'm just not seeing that where I live.

The market can, and will, take care of itself, with or without 'help' from the government.

It just takes a lot longer with the 'help.'

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by cp1969

The market can, and will, take care of itself, with or without 'help' from the government.

It just takes a lot longer with the 'help.'

Agreed 100% The govt doesn't need to prop up the housing market again or create another bubble.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by northbound74

The Kansas City region in general does well due to the lack of booms and busts.

That would be in terms of the housing market. That is not true if you are talking about the job market. Medium sized cities in the Midwest/Plains fare better.

[sparksharp]

Originally Posted by Okey Dokie

A comp (comparable) is a house which has recently sold, and its selling price is used to determine the value of the house being appraised. I speak from experience, when they start using foreclosures for comps you're in for a long haul if you're trying to sell your house for "full" (i.e., non-distressed) price.

Absolutely!!!