Boise Real Estate Blog

Meridian, ID Real Estate Statistics For April 2007

May 4th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized |  Print This Post | No Comments »

Boise, ID Real Estate Statistics For April 2007

May 4th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized |  Print This Post | No Comments »

Boise's See-Through Listing Inventory

I find it interesting that there are so many vacant homes on the market in the Boise area now.

Here’s a breakdown of vacant single-family homes presently for sale in the Boise real estate market:

Boise Area (Ada County)
4,455 Total Listings
2,632 Vacant Homes (59.1% of all listings)
1,764 New Construction Homes (39.6% of all listings)

Meridian, Idaho
1,386 Total Listings
862 Vacant Homes (62.2% of all listings)
635 New Construction Homes (45.8% of all listings)

Eagle, Idaho
445 Total Listings
225 Vacant Homes (50.1%)
127 New Construction Homes (28.5% of all listings)

This is yet another indicator of current market conditions in the Boise real estate market.

I have recently noticed an abundance of new construction inventory in the $350-450k range while previewing for buyers.

It is also apparent that many resale sellers have moved on to their next home and left their present home vacant.

This is one of the best buying opportunities of the past few years if you are a buyer!

April 18th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized |  Print This Post | No Comments »

The Long View Of Boise Real Estate

I have been in the Boise area almost 7 years.

When I arrived in 2000, Boise was still a well-kept secret.

In many ways, the Boise area still remains relatively undiscovered.

You can drive down Eagle Road, the main connector between I-84 and the community of Eagle, and still see open fields being under-utilized to grow sod.

In most other cities of Boise’s size, you would see a huge shopping center sitting on that dirt.

There’s still a lot of opportunity here for those with enough vision to see what is coming.

When I got here, our residential real estate consisted of entry-level homes starting around $100,000, a middle move-up market of about $200,000, and a few homes selling above $300,000.  Today, our median sales price is around $230,000 for a home in Ada County.

Then, along came cheap mortgage money in the aftermath of 9-11 and the stock market collapse, as The Fed loosened up the money supply to reflate the economy and restore consumer confidence.

The Boise real estate market took off overnight and went from a steady 3-5% appreciation rate to a couple of years of 25% appreciation.

Today, our market has softened and you can buy a nice home here for $250-300k.

My crystal ball is a little cloudy, but I do have the advantage of a 35-year perspective in real estate.

I remember being in San Jose in the mid-70s, when homes were selling for $40-50k.

I owned half a dozen rentals there at the time.

I wish I still had them, because even in a seriously-troubled California real estate market, they would be worth at least $500,000 each.

And, they would have been free/clear by now too.

Lessons learned.

I firmly believe that our current Boise real estate market will come to be viewed as a buying opportunity in the years to come.

The Boise area offers tremendous quality of life and our housing prices are still attractive when compared to other areas where homeowners are fleeing severe traffic problems, crime, illegal immigration, and high costs of living.

April 17th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized |  Print This Post | No Comments »

Boise Real Estate Market Avoiding Subprime Problems

I continue to see many doom-and-gloom articles about the national subprime lending meltdown and how it is affecting various areas of the country.

The Boise real estate market seems to be avoiding the aftermath of the past few years of lax lending policies, according to an article in the Idaho Statesman on April 12th.

That article mentioned that U.S. foreclosures have spiked 42% in the past year, due to homeowners who bought their homes with subprime loans.

In contrast, Idaho’s foreclosure rate has remained low because our real estate market has seen some steady price appreciation over the past few years, thereby allowing borrowers to either refinance or sell their homes before getting into trouble.

While it is true that our median price has dipped slightly (about 1%), the Boise real estate market is by no means “crashing”.

And, homes in the Boise area remain relatively affordable compared to other, higher-priced areas offering a much less desirable quality of life.

I also think we are benefitting from the absence of large, national builders in our market.

We do not have Hovnanian, KB Homes, Pulte, Beazer and other national builders here, overbuilding and flooding our market with spec home inventory.

In some markets around the country, national builders have dumped so much standing inventory on the market that resale sellers cannot compete with the builders’ incentives such as free vacations, free upgrades, and even cars tossed in as incentives to lure buyers in.

Finally, the simple truth is that the Boise real estate market, as well as our population,  is pretty conservative.

I think our typical homebuyer probably uses more common sense than is  “common” in other areas of the country that got caught up in the real estate frenzy of the past few years.

April 15th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized |  Print This Post | No Comments »