For the buyers who want to live in a master-planned community with good schools, how bleak is it?
No one will be surprised to see the newer tracts hunkered down for another decade or longer, so let’s look at the older communities – those that are 20-25 years old. Those original owners are bouncing around in their empty nest, and should be cashing in and downsizing by now, shouldn’t they?
Yeah….no.
For homeowners who are planning their move carefully, April should be seen as the ideal month to list a home for sale. Yet look at the results:
The Carmel Valley tracts used were Belmont, The Breakers, and Lexington.
I know there are still a few days on April left this year, but it doesn’t look good for buyers so far!
It took almost a year to sell it – the initial list price was $3,395,000 last April during peak frenzy – but after refreshing the listing 2-3 times and lowering the price (list was $2,749,000 at time of sale) they got it done.
This is the single-level home that sold in February, 2022 for a million over the $2.5 million list price (set deliberately low by the seller). The buyer passed away, unfortunately, and their heirs listed it a year later for $2,900,000. The listing agent (who lives in the ER) also set his list price attractively low and got it bid up to $3,200,000 this time.
While the casual observer would deduce that prices have come down 9% in the last year, you have to wonder if the buyer had to pay as much as $3,500,000 to win it last year – or if that was a random plunge.
This home was listed in August for $2,895,000 with a different Compass agent who had lowered the price down to $2,500,000 by October 6th but then cancelled.
The new listing agent started on December 1st at $2,749,000, and sixteen days later found the buyer. It sold for $2,715,000:
This home listed for $3,595,000 but didn’t have any takers over the first five weeks. They ‘refreshed’ the listing (let it expire and then relisted as a new listing), with a lower price of $3,445,000 – a discount of 4%.
They found the buyer a week later who paid $3,400,000 cash. I’m not sure if it was the lower list price that caused it, or the refresh?
