A few weeks back, someone asked what would happen to home prices in Sun City when KHov gets their models open (sometime this fall)? I said i felt things would explode, with both prices and inventory increasing dramatically. While some may think it pure speculation on my part, there is a historical perspective to my answer. Obviously the only records to refer to are from DEVCO, so lets take a peak at why i say that: Sun City held model home openings in the following years: 1960, 1961, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1974 and 1976. The years i will focus on are during Sun City's prime years 1968-1978. Sales traffic increased for 3 of the 4 openings, and by a lot. The one down year was 1974 when there was a recession that impacted the number of visitors and sales. Here's the Sales Traffic stats from those years: * 1968 - 122,979. 1969 - 180,569. new model year + 57,000. * 1970 - 196,066. 1971 - 247,753. new model year + 50,000. * 1973 - 276,394. 1974 - 232,744. new model year - 43,000 * 1975 - 200,262. 1976 - 288,437. new model year + 88,000. Clearly new model years impacted traffic flow. I suspect the KHov project will do the same thing Webb's openings did, more people looking at Sun City and we know when people look, they often buy. Here's another bit of history that i recommend KHov embrace: Hold a soft opening just for Sun City residents. It was SOP for DEVCO to open their models prior to the grand opening to show residents the new models and to get their feedback. And while i'm pounding away on the keyboard, let me ask those shopping for a home if any of you have subscribed to any of the pre-foreclosure features available on some of the home sites out there? I haven't so i have no idea how or if they work. It just seems to me to make sense to open as many doors as possible to buying right in Sun City.
Interesting; i was just playing around on the ipad and when visiting the Trulia site it asked me if i wanted to download the app for it. I did and was quite surprised how user friendly it is. My PC maps always are scrunched together with a million dots of home locations. The Trulia app was wholly different with streets, amenities and home prices clearly marked. Very nice for anyone shopping Sun City properties.
BP - we have not looked at pre-forclosures in our Sun City search. Much of what I've read has advised being cautious in this area. To be honest, I'm a little leary of foreclosures in general. I do look at them when they come up in searches though. I use both the realtor.com and Trulia apps (Android). I like some of the features of Trulia including the new listing alert but find realtor to be more reliable, quicker and more in depth overall.
I understand your reluctance on foreclosures M, but they have been a fact of life in Sun City for years now and there's been some pretty good deals along the way with them. I certainly wouldn't put all my eggs in that home buying basket but i'd want to see what's out there. In fact if it's not too expensive, i might sign up for the Trluia deal; just out of curioucity
We're making our AZ move in 9 to 13 months. I've spent lots of time researching various communities including SC. I also spent a few years as a real estate broker here in MN (representing buyers only). Concerning foreclosures I will say that banks are generally very willing to negotiate prices. Banks are in the money business, not real estate. They DO NOT want real estate holdings on their books. Now, about the danger of dealing in a foreclosure: here's where a top notch home inspector is worth their weight in gold. Banks sell foreclosures "as is" but that does not mean you have to accept the property after signing a contract. Every contract to purchase should have an inspection contingency. You agree to buy the property "as is" but you have to know what it "is" therefore you have an inspection done. I've even seen banks fix items uncovered in an inspection even though it's sold "as is". Banks want real estate OFF THEIR BOOKS. I'll take another step down this road. When choosing an agent I ignore their claims of "top selling" or member in some "president's club" and so forth. I don't care how good an agent is at SELLING. I'm looking for an agent that will PROTECT ME in my purchase. I want an agent who is more interested in my satisfaction than in selling. So what if an agent is able to convince people to list their homes with them? A good agent, in my opinion, is an agent interested only in building a solid reputation not just increasing their ability to brag about the numbers of homes sold. One of the first questions I ask any agent representing me as a buyer: "who's your home inspector and why did you choose him/her?". Then, "has your inspector ever killed a deal because they found so much wrong with a property?". The inspector I used here in MN was very, very good. He would scare the bejesus out of clients with his list of existing and potential problems. I didn't mind at all. My clients knew exactly what they were getting and so should you, even in a foreclosure. One last item: YOU can shop for, and choose the inspector. You DO NOT have to use the agent's 'go to' home inspector. Choose wisely, ask questions, dig deep. Don't rely on agent who is a 'top producer' or some such malarky. Whew! Had no idea I was going to go on such a rant. :nonchalance:
That's some great advice, Rusco. I appreciate the insight. I couldn't agree more with your take on inspections/inspectors. I've had the feeling in a few of our real estate transactions (buying and selling) that the inspector was finding enough to make you think they were doing their job but not enough to kill the deal. In my opinion, there's an inherent possibility of a conflict of interest when it is the agent's inspector. It doesn't have to be expressed and it may just be the inspector wanting to please the agent in the hopes of future business. This is not meant to impugn either profession. I would just echo the importance of hiring the right inspector.
On the KHOV front, has anyone been by the proposed building site lately to see if it's been cleaned up at all?
Thanks R for the information; when it comes to foreclosures, what I know comes mostly from watching House Hunters on HGTV. I do know over the pat several years there's been some incredible buys in Sun City on bank owned properties. Every month in the General Managers report, it includes the number of bank owned properties. While the number is down significantly, more hit the market every month, albeit less. Here's the other thing about Sun City foreclosures: Because Sun City properties are as well built as they are, the potential for expensive issues like structural problems is virtually nil. Clearly electrical, roofs and plumbing are worries, but you get those with almost any vintage Sun City home. And for folks who want to come in and remodel from the ground up, the key is in buying it right. Foreclosures are just another option; especially if time is on your side. I did talk to a friend who does some investing in properties and she said the service she uses is like $50 a month; way more than I would pay for information. With all that said, I really enjoy you guys jumping in with comments. I love to learn and there has been some incredible posts here. The Sun City realty market got turned on it's ear when Meade was purchased by Coldwell Banker. Then a bunch of the Meade people broke off and started Tempus. Compound that with a shrinking base of potential properties to hit the market and i'm seeing realtors doing things they wouldn't have done in the past. Seems even some of the good ones are pandering for listings by overpricing them.
Hi All, Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Has anyone that called and got on "the list" w/KHov been notified? I'm supposedly on the list and have heard nothing. We are in the process of looking for a new realtor. The one we had been working with is very nice, but it seemed we were always telling her about properties. As you said BP, inventory is shrinking so this isn't something that is working out well. We would not turn down a foreclosure, but we haven't signed up for a listing. Next week we are off to Kentucky for my nephews wedding (great kid and would go to the ends of the earth for him), when we get back it will be nose to the grindstone to get all this in order.
It used to be the rule of thumb to try and buy in the summertime; less lookers often meant less buyers and better prices. I'm not sure that's still the case, but I would be aggressively looking this summer, just because of what may happen when KHOV starts bring in the hordes of lookers. As has been said several times in past threads, find a good Realtor, let him/her know what it is you want and the minute something comes up (or even better, before) be ready to move on it. There's been a recent phenomena of late, where agents are now putting up "coming soon" signs. Often this triggers sales before they ever get the For Sale sign up (usually just after so it looks like they sold it quickly). The advantage of an agent that lists lots of homes is you may have then send you a heads up before they put it on the market for sale. The thing that makes Sun City different is homes get put up constantly, most often because of death or the need to move to extended care facilities. No question there's less inventory now, but don't let it lull you into complacency. But as I've said before, if the model isn't there today, it will be available in the future, it's just the nature of this type of community.
Any more work being done at the new KHov site? Curious they aren't contacting people on the interested list. Maybe you had to be at that original showing at Lakeview to be on the preferred list.
Nothing going on there yet aggie. As i think back about the comment made at the board meeting the other day, i think the guy that said it probably heard what KHov originally wanted; 25 lots to get started on to see how they sold.
