A report from KOLD in Arizona. “The stock market dropped more than a 1,000 points amid worries about the novel coronavirus — concerns over the outbreak may impact the housing market, too. Tucson real estate broker Karl Kretzel said fear over the virus, now called COVID-19, can make people skeptical of purchasing a home. Kretzel said now is the time for sellers to put their properties on the market because current standards allows them to price high. ‘If you have an unwanted property, this is clearly the time to sell,’ he said.”
“Some sellers wait for the market to peak before selling their home, but Kretzel disagrees with this approach. He said, during the Great Recession, people made this mistake and an external factor such as COVID-19 can have a similar effect. Buyers may find better deals if they hold off on purchasing a home. ‘If you’re a buyer I think it’s a good idea to wait it out,’ Kretzel said. ‘Whether it be the coronavirus or something else, I feel in six months to a year, you’re going to see the market soften.’”
“The coronavirus and its accompanying travel restrictions have caused fewer Chinese investors to buy property in the U.S., he said.”
The Orange County Register in California. “The stock market can have a mind of its own. But when it drops sharply, it’s usually not good news for California’s economy. I plugged into my trusty spreadsheet three decades worth of S&P results, statewide job data and Southern California real estate figures back to 1990 to see what happened to hiring patterns and home pricing a year after large stock drops.”
“Traders, more often than you think, react logically to economic swings, both good and bad. And uncertainty, like the unknown impact of a global virus, can further depress share prices. Many major employers are part of publicly owned companies with management that often has to react to stock swings. These corporations can become financially conservative when investors are antsy. And if those reactions mean fewer hires, if not layoffs, then there are fewer house hunters. And those remaining shoppers won’t readily pay up for real estate.”
“I found the 25 worst months for the S&P 500 starting in 1990. Then I looked at how California jobs and Southern California housing fared one year after these significant stock drops. As measured by the S&P index, these 25 months averaged a 8.5% drop — with the biggest decline, 16.8%, coming amid the financial meltdown of October 2008. And these steep dips signaled broader trouble ahead.”
“In the year after these 25 horrible months for stocks, California employers cut jobs by an average 1.2%. In the same periods, Southern California home appreciation was nearly halved, shrinking on average by 5.4 percentage points to 5.8%. How bubbly? On a scale of zero bubbles (no bubble here) to five bubbles (five-alarm warning) … FOUR BUBBLES!”
“The grand ‘bubble or not’ question is often driven by ‘What will make it burst?’ This week we witnessed how a whiff of a possible global pandemic quickly turned investor sentiment into a stock market disaster. And you also can see how far those Wall Street fears can spread — often to the California job market and Southern California real estate. History is a guide, not a guarantee. But it certainly hints at rough times ahead.”
From The Oregonian. “Now that the Portland-area housing market has cooled, home buyers feel they have more power than in the past to negotiate on price, repairs or closing costs. Sellers still have a slight advantage because of low inventory, but when offers aren’t rolling in, the asking price usually drops. Here are 10 Oregon homes for sale with deep discounts.”
“15954 S.E. Lafayette Hwy. in Dayton is for sale at $1,499,000, a reduction of $126,000 since being listed Sept. 5, 2019 for $1,625,000. 2811 Beacon Hill Dr. in West Linn is for sale at $1,195,000, a reduction of $155,000 since being listed July 10, 2019 for $1,350,000. 1994 South Side Road in Sutherlin is for sale at $140,000, a reduction of $35,000 since being listed Nov. 15, 2019 for $175,000.”
“The single-level farmhouse, built in 1947 on 5.38 flat acres, has two bedrooms, one bathroom and 944 square feet of living space. ‘Home is livable, but needs a lot of work. Or tear it down and build your dream home,’ says listing agent Michele Cooper.”
The Chicago Tribune in Illinois. “30,214-square-foot, Middle Eastern-influenced mansion in Burr Ridge, once listed for $25 million, took a $1 million price cut Thursday, setting it at its lowest asking price yet, at $5 million. Once known as Villa Taj and then known as the Palace Royale, the mansion was listed for $25 million and then reduced to $13 million before it suffered massive flooding from the bursting of a water pipe. It eventually was foreclosed on and sold at a sheriff’s sale for $3.1 million to Arvin Lourdenadin, who cleaned it up and relisted it for $10.95 million in 2016.”
“Despite a price cut to $7 million in November 2018 and to $6 million in July, Lourdenadin still didn’t see an offer he liked. So he has it back on the market for $5 million. ‘It’s below cost and below (his) investment,’ listing agent Lisa Petrik of Jameson Sotheby’s said of Lourdenadin. ‘It’s time to move it. Someone needs to come get a deal.’”
“The mansion is among the most high-profile homes in the Chicago area that have struggled to find buyers over the past decade.”
From Tap Into Springfield on New Jersey. “Seeking to limit the potential for ‘neighborhood decline’ and unattractive nuisance, the town is anticipated to establish a registry of vacant and abandoned properties. The town council introduced a regulation that would require the owners of vacant or abandoned properties register those properties with the town clerk within 90 days of the property becoming vacant or within 30 days of purchasing the property. The regulation stipulates fines for failure to register and additional fines for failure to properly maintain a vacant property.”
“Council members approved introducing the measure 8-0. Councilman David Contract offered his support, citing a problem with vacant and abandoned properties in the Third Ward. ‘It also depresses the look and the [property] values in the neighborhood when you’ve got grass that is 3 feet tall and houses that are falling apart,’ Contract said.”
“Councilwoman Linda Habgood noted the public health issue. ‘There definitely have been complaints about houses that have been vacated for years at a time, and there are rodents,’ Habgood said.”
“Town Administrator Jim Gildea said the immediate intent in Westfield is to create the vacant property list. In many cases, abandoned properties are referred to as ‘zombie homes.’ The ‘zombie’ nomenclature, however, is not being used by local officials in Westfield, Gildea said. ‘We’re not using that term,’ he said.”
From Community News in New Jersey. “Atlantic Realty has no plans to build houses on the Howard Hughes tract. That’s what the developer, who purchased 658-acre property last year, is telling West Windsor Township officials. Mayor Hemant Marathe said that he met with officials from Atlantic after the sale to discuss their intention for the property. ‘We had a very open and positive meeting with them,’ Marathe said. ‘They know that we are not looking for any new housing, because I believe we have too much to begin with, and that will put too much strain on the schools.’”