I took a client out to see homes in Southeast Chandler. I had taken this client out about 4 months ealier as they live out of state and had flown in again. As such, I could remember well what we had seen before, what he liked and didn’t like, and what Chandler real estate really caught his eye. So, I knew this client showing would be real interesting to see the differences between the visit.
I pulled a handful of properties. Right off the bat, I didn’t see anything in particular that caught my attention. I have a very keen idea as to what makes a strong value in the market and didn’t see anything that jumped out at me. The showings turned out to be consistent with this.
What was interesting is that all but one of the properties were short sales – no foreclosures this time. The short sales were lackluster values. In other words, they were priced too high. Several were also not very well taken care of and needed fresh paint and possibly carpet. From a pricing standpoint, the homes were more expensive in terms of list price. In the prior visit, we were finding solid deals at $225,000 and lower. I had to stretch the price range here to $250,000 and wasn’t pleased with the results. In the prior visit, several of the homes were foreclosures.
Separate from this observation is something I noticed some time ago and could not explain. For some of the most impacted communities in terms of properties for sale when the market shifted, their overall available properties had dropped in number. For example, Cooper Commons and Sun Groves both had approximately 80 properties for sale at any given time. Currently, both communities now average half that amount for available properties.
From my earlier post about the Chandler real estate market, Chandler tends to be one of the stronger core Valley housing markets right now along with Gilbert.
After doing some further analysis, the absence of foreclosures looks indicative that their overall number is fewer (Chandler trends approximately 25% of properties being lender owned properties, or REO). However, my estimation is that the foreclosures are being picked up quickly when they look like a strong value. No surprise really other than it heightens the need for a buyer to move rapidly when they like a home and its value is compelling.
Overall, my sense is that the market is working through its issues though the results and trends are murky. The foreclosures are likely experiencing much better sharpened and ready buyer demand which is pulling them out of the market as quickly as they come on. So, there aren’t many special ones to choose from.
So, I would take away that buyers are more serious but the deals have to compelling.
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