AFG Realty Blog

We all want to get the best “deal” we can when we purchase anything let alone a big purchase like a home. Many of us have read or seen the infomercials where they teach you to make an offer 25% below the list price, make the number an odd number, make the closing date short, etc… Here is a plain and simple truth in today’s market: YOU DON’T MAKE OFFERS LIKE YOUR DADDY DID!!!
The process that Realtors, appraisers, and banks use is pure mathematics. With all the information available to real estate professionals by a push of a button no one is guessing at values anymore! With all the short sale and bank owned (REO) properties on the market the definition of “fair market value” has been a skewed. The traditional definition of “fair market value” was “the most probable price a property would bring in an arm’s length transaction under normal conditions on the open market”. Arm’s length equates to “a transaction in which neither party acts under duress and both have full knowledge of the property’s assets and defects and there are no unusual circumstances”. Almost anyone knows that short sales or REO sales contradict this definition! In a short sale, the Seller is under major duress! In an REO sale the bank does not have full knowledge of the property! No one has ever seen a market like this so I think we can all agree, THIS MARKET IS AN UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCE!
So how do the professionals come to value? Easy! They look for 3 to 5 properties that most represent the property for sale and have sold in the last 4 to 6 months. They break the price down to a price per square foot and apply that value to the property for sale. As an example: The bank wants to sell a foreclosed home. The home is 1800 square feet on a 10,000 square foot lot (1/4 acre). The professional searches the neighborhood for similar homes at similar size and age. Let’s say he finds four that have sold in the last 4 months. A 2000 square foot home for $180,000 ($90 per sq ft), a 1650 square foot home for $135,000 ($81 per sq ft), a 1725 square foot home for $152,000 ($88 per sq ft), and a 1300 square foot home for $99,000 ($76 per sq ft). The professional will remove the 1300 square foot home because it is much smaller than the list home. Now he will compare the list home with the sold homes to add or subtract value based on amenities on the property. Assuming the remaining three are very similar to the list property, the professional will most likely value the list home at $153,000 ($85 per sq ft). The Seller will now list the home a little above this amount to have some wiggle room for negotiations. Plain and simple math!
If you are making an offer on a short sale: The Seller has relied on his Agent to set value. Hopefully the Agent has done similar work to my example above. The Bank will contact a couple of additional Agents to provide their opinion of value (they will use the same formula as exampled above). The Bank will compare the outside Agents value to the listing Agents value and the offer and make a decision. Many times on a short sale you can come in $10,000 to $15,000 below list value because the Bank recognizes the cost of foreclosure will be saved by a short sale.
If you are making an offer on an REO: The Bank has contacted several Agents and possibly appraisers to set the list value. The asset manager from the Bank that is in charge of the file has limited authority! He/she usually has around $10,000 that they can adjust without having to take it back to a committee or review board. Once the property is a REO keep your offer close to the list price. The exception is most asset managers can allow cost to be paid by the Bank. In other words, and as an example, if the property is listed at $99,000 you can make two different types of offers without causing the asset manager to automatically reject them. You can offer $90,000 and share all of the traditional closing cost. Or you can make an offer of $95,000 and have the Bank pay your closing cost. If you factor in the purchase cost and the loan cost as part of the closing cost example two may be much cheaper to you than example one and you would save cash to buy things for your new home!
In both cases the more simple the offer, the closer you are to value as exampled above, and the less work the asset manager has to deal with, the more likely you will be to get your offer accepted! Your real estate professional has all the tools to guide you and show you value based on similar sales. Ask your Agent to show you the information before you make an offer. With a clean and reasonable offer you will most likely find yourself the owner of a new home!
As always the real estate professionals at AFG-Realty are just a phone call or email away. We are here to help you find and acquire the property you desire!
Bob Armstrong
Broker
AFG-Realty

This statement reminds me of something my Father would always say to me when I needed money. He would claim the “Golden Rule”. In his case he was referring to “the one with the gold, rules!” I was just reading an article in the Wall Street Journal today about a recent survey conducted by Zillow (www.zillow.com ). Never mind that many in our industry find this site to be very misleading. That would be a different blog post discussion! Here are some excerpts from the article;
“Americans spend twice as much time shopping for cars than they do for home loans, Zillow.com reported Thursday. An online survey of 2,729 adults commissioned by Zillow found that on average they spent five hours choosing a mortgage, compared with 10 hours for a car and four hours for a computer. Nearly a third of the respondents devoted two hours or less to choosing a mortgage.
“Mortgages continue to be something that most people don’t want to spend time thinking about,” said Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow, a real estate information firm.
Even if you do want to shop wisely for a mortgage, that isn’t easy to do. You can’t just pick the lowest rate because the lender offering the lowest rate might have the highest fees. And one lender’s loan doesn’t necessarily have the same terms as the similar-sounding loan from the bank or broker next door. You need to look at a bunch of factors, and at the end of it you won’t necessarily know which combination is best.
Moreover, you might be told on Monday morning that your rate will be 5%. When you come back to lock in the next morning, however, the lender may tell you that the market has moved (as it does constantly) and now your rate is 5.25%. Do you have time to go back to all the other lenders and check what they’re charging today? Or are you so eager to refinance or seal your home purchase that you’ll just sign on the dotted line?” WSJ, 4/29/10 by James R. Hagerty.
Few things can make you feel as victimized as borrowing money! Someone other than you has it, and you need it. I have found myself in this situation time and time again. How many times do you just accept the “Golden Rule” and move on? One is too many!
I tell my clients, again and again, YOU HAVE TO FIND A LOAN OFFICER THAT YOU CAN TRUST!!! When I owned my own mortgage company I interviewed several loan officers. On more than one occasion I was told that the loan officer could make me a minimum of 6 points on a loan. I was appalled at how they accomplished this without the client having a clue! So you are aware, in most cases, two to three points is more than enough compensation for the loan officer.
Do not allow yourself to become a hostage in a loan situation. Ask the people you trust to recommend a good lender. Your friends, your family, your accountant, your attorney, and yes…even your Realtor should be able to provide you with someone you can trust. Lenders should have a good knowledge of the local market and have a pool of banks to “shop” your loan. Truly they are one of the most important pieces of the home buying puzzle.
At AFG-Realty we work closely with Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corporation. Our representative is Debbie Rogers. She can be reached at 760.832.1159 or drogers@alliedhomenet.com . Ms. Rogers works the southern desert areas of Nevada and California. She is knowledgeable of the market, honest, experienced, has several banks to compare, and well informed of industry changes and regulations. More importantly, she involves herself in the transaction so everyone involved is up to date and knowledgeable of how the loan process is moving along. One call and you will know why we work with Ms. Rogers.
Your lender should be the first call you make when you are considering a home purchase. Work out all your questions and develop a trusting relationship upfront and you will not feel like a hostage at the end of the transaction!

Bob Armstrong
Broker
AFG-Realty

Well here it is! Almost a year since we started this Blog and the market is still bad for the Seller and great for the Buyer. I was reading through my market forecast for 2009 and all I could see was things have gotten worse for the Sellers. Let me give you an idea of where we are today.
Today (April 9, 2010) in the Morongo Basin we have 594 active residential listings. We have sold 233 homes so far this year compared to 247 last year. The average price this year is $97,700 compared to $111,000 in 09. The average days on the market for this year is 132 compared to 140 last year. Of the active listings 20% are bank owned (REO) or short sale (almost equally split between the two). We have 178 pending sales. 21 are short sales, 84 are REO’s.
We only have a limited amount of short sale properties listed compared to other communities (less than 30) but we appear to have a huge amount of properties that are in some type of default/foreclosure, more that 1200! This does not include those properties that the bank already owns but has not listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS).
Needless to say, IT IS STILL A BUYERS MARKET!!!. As I posted in January, now is the time to get into the game! Take advantage of this. Be a Pirate and pillage!!! If you are a Seller, get out of the way if you don’t have to sell. Otherwise price your home at the level the banks and short sales are at. In our market, today, you will not get an appraisal for a loan if the property is priced over $100 per square foot. Keep in mind that the average sales price per square foot is hovering in the $65 to $75 range.
Here is my formula for Buyers looking to take advantage of this market on a per square foot basis:
$50 to $70 per square foot= great buy! Our market is selling in this range. Many foreclosures are being forced into this range. You might need to fix it up a little. This is the range to not get emotional about the house. Pillage and rape!
$70 to $80 per square foot= good buy! These will most likely be newer homes and in good shape or in good locations. This should be a turnkey purchase with little or no repairs required. This is the current average range in the Yucca Valley market.
$80 to $100 per square foot= OK buy. This should be a medium range investment (5 year). Home should be in near perfect condition and include amenities that you desire or require (like handicap accessible or a pool).
$100 and over per square foot= Better love it! This should be a long term investment like a retirement home.
As always I would suggest you contact your lender first and find the obstacles in today’s lending market that you will have to overcome. We use our in house Allied Home Mortgage representative, Debbie Rogers (760.832.1159). Money is available and is cheap but lenders are placing all sorts of strange conditions on the loans.
It’s an exciting time! Please feel free to call and talk to any of the Agents here at AFG-Realty to get answers to your important questions.
Bob Armstrong
Broker
AFG-Realty

The California Association of Realtors (CAR) has released their annual housing market report. The Report has several items worth discussion. Most notably are:
1) As of October 2009, sales in California were 28.9 percent ahead of last year for the first 10 months of the year, and have been above 500,000 for 14 consecutive months since September 2008. For the year 2009, annual sales of existing single-family homes are expected to increase 22.8 percent to 540,000, and are projected to reach 527,500 with an annual decline of 2.7 percent in 2010.
2) After months of consecutive declines, the statewide median price hit bottom at
$245,170 in February 2009. Since then, the median home price has grown steadily on a monthly basis, reaching $297,500 in October 2009. The statewide median price remains well below the monthly peak of $594,530 that was reached in May 2007, but stabilizing home prices were a welcome development after the steep price declines of 2008.Tracking with the statewide median, county-level median prices throughout most of California also bottomed out in early 2009 and increased slowly during the course of the year.
3) Despite the month-to-month gains of recent months, the median price remained below 2008 levels throughout 2009. For all of 2009, the annual median price is expected to decline 21.8 percent to $271,000, but is projected to show a 3.3 percent increase to $280,000 in 2010.
4) First-time Buyer Housing Affordability Index (FTB-HAI) - an indicator that measures the share of households that could afford an entry-level home - was at 64 percent in California, a noticeable improvement from just two years earlier when the Index hit a record low of 26 percent. The Index reached a historic high earlier in the year when it hit 69 percent in the first quarter. With home prices expected to increase slightly in the upcoming year, the housing affordability index will remain around 60 percent throughout 2010.
5) The housing market will continue to stabilize in 2010 as home prices slowly recover.

In a nut shell, CAR is forecasting that sales will decrease this year by 2.7% but that the sale price of homes is expected to rise by 3.3%. As I posted in January, now is the time to get off the side lines and into the game. Item 4 is most interesting as CAR documented that 64% of us in California can afford to buy a home! What a remarkable number compared to just 2 years ago!

Next post I will give you my annual forecast for the Spring market here in our area. Until then, knowledge is your best tool in this crazy market!

Bob Armstrong
Broker
AFG-Realty

I received an email that has me very concerned for my clients and investors. I thought I would share it with you. First let me set how we got to the email. It’s a little long but stick with me.

A client and I viewed 16 properties one Saturday. In today’s market a good business tool is to contact each listing agent to confirm that the property is still available (you see, some Realtors are too busy to change the information on the Multiple Listing Service MLS). After several hours on the phone to confirm the status of the property and arrange appointments we were set to go look. We narrowed our list to 3 properties that would work for my client. We wrote our offers. I faxed the offers to the agents and emailed them to confirm they received the offer. In my email I asked them to confirm receipt. Only one agent could respond and confirm receipt!

Now that agent wanted my client to get a pre-approval letter from a lender that she recommended. We see this on many listings. Any of you that have gone thru the pre-approval process know that it requires a great deal of time and effort on both your part and the lenders part. My client called the lender who, of course, tried to move my client to use him as his lender. After a heated discussion we received the pre-approval letter and submitted it with our offer. Now this house was listed at $110k. My client really liked the home and offered $130k with the seller paying up to $6,000 in closing cost. This is approximately $70 a square foot. A great deal for a home built in 2005. But then I received the following:

Please be advised that the bank priced this property according to its BPO and appraisal. Since your offer is above asking price, please do your due diligence as to appraised value and have your clients sign the attached addendum acknowledging that this property might not appraise for their offered price. I will need this addendum back together with the multiple offer acknowledgement, and proof of funds for amount offered above asking price before I can submit your client’s offer to the bank.

So what we are now told is, you have no appraisal contingency! If you are a buyer you must show proof of funds for the difference of the asking price and your offer price. Most entry level buyers are using FHA or USDA loans that require 3% or less down. The next step will be to require you to put the money in escrow in case the appraisal does not meet your purchase price. This puts many buyers life savings at risk! BPO is an acronym for Brokers Professional Opinion. The bank pays $50 to $100 for the letter. Unfortunately most times the letters are done by agents who are hungry for the listing. I have asked several appraisers and not found one that has done work for a bank to establish value on a property for sale! In short, the BPO is not necessarily the market value but the price the agent thought it would sell quickly for. Licensed appraisers charge $300 to $400 to do a professional appraisal but the banks have chosen to go this route! If you are in investor you have no idea of how much cash will be required (other than a total cash purchase) to complete the purchase.

Be very careful not to get into a deal where you may be agreeing to purchase something for more than it’s worth! The appraiser is the professional to set value. Don’t give up your right or your money to meet the banks requirements!

The seller in this case is Bank of America. Many of you are aware that B of A bought Countrywide. This is one of the largest lenders. If they have gone down this path, the other banks will follow.

Bob Armstrong
Broker
AFG-Realty

My strong recommendation for the coming year for both Homeowner/Buyers and Investor/Buyers is GET OFF THE SIDE LINES AND INTO THE GAME! For several reasons that I will outline below now is the time to buy and invest. Let’s look at why I feel so strongly about this recommendation:
1) At this time, until April, the federal government will give you $8,000 to purchase a home! This program will most likely not be renewed for a third time. This is an incredible deal and all Buyers should take advantage of it!
2) Interest rates are between 5% and 5.50%. It is expected that the rates will climb to finish the next New Year (2011) over 6%. I personally believe they could finish over 6.50%!
3) The banks have worked with almost every homeowner in default on their loan. Either they worked it out or are about to work it out. In any case, there are thousands of homes that are finishing the foreclosure process. Expect to see these homes hit the market in the first half of the New Year. Bank owned homes (REO) tend to sell on the lower end of market prices. In addition, here in California, there is a push to speed up the short sale process. Combined REO and short sale opportunities will create the lowest prices we have seen since the early 1990’s. How low is a different discussion. Our experience shows us that good properties get picked up quickly. It is a far better decision to purchase now and get what you want (and financed at a low interest rate) than to wait to see if you can save another 3%!
4) Inflation is on its way! Many of you have not experienced the nightmare of Inflation! Those of us that were around in the late ’70s and early ’80s can’t forget it! It does not take a rocket scientist to see that the only way for the Feds to pay back their debt is to reduce the value of the debt. Look for the Feds to ease their grip on interest rates by late in the year (see #2). Many of us are already showing concern over inflation. Google reports a sharp spike in the number of searches for “Hyperinflation”. A consumer confidence survey, published by The Conference Board, shows Americans expect prices to climb a troubling 5.1% over the next 12 months! One of the best ways to protect yourself from inflation is to have fixed rate debt. Imagine how protected you will feel if you have purchased a home at under replacement cost and with a fixed, low interest loan!
5) Today you are buying below the replacement cost of the property! In our area the average sale price of a single family home is below $75 per square foot. Most contractors tell me that they would charge between $90 to $100 per square foot to build a home on your lot. Add another $10 per square foot for the lot cost and you can see that you are purchasing at 25% to 30% below replacement cost. What a great deal!
6) For Investors, the rate of return from rental income is far above what you can get in the bank. Taking into consideration #4 above, now is the time to invest! Even if you cut the rent below the current market and pay a property management company to manage the property, most likely you will have a positive return. And this is before you factor the tax advantage and the appreciation value of the investment.
Any of the Realtor’s at AFG Realty (760.369.2347) would be happy to explain and expand on the points listed above. We recommend Ms. Debbie Rogers at Allied Home Mortgage (760.832.1159) for financing help and advice. Our partner company, AAA Property Management (760.369.1221), can answer questions related to property management cost. As you can see from above, Now is the time to get into the game!
We here at AFG Realty wish you the most successful New Year!

Bob Armstrong
Broker
AFG Realty

Wow! Time does fly. I apologize. I did not realize that we had not updated the blog for some time. I will try to get back on track. I thought I would focus on the last three months in this week’s post. Next post I will make some market forecast for the winter/spring season. Let me say this though, Now is the time to buy! If you have been sitting on the sidelines and waiting, wait no more! I will expand that thought next post but keep it in the forefront of your thought process. OK…Let’s get up to date on the information included in the reports published by the County Assessor and provided by Vicki Bishop at Fidelity National Title.
YUCCA VALLEY
The last three months saw the combined sale of 137 homes in the area (less than 47 per month). The average price of a home by the end of October has sank by more than 30% from 2008 to $85,000. By October the average price per square foot was $68.00. Currently there at 742 homes in some state of foreclosure* in the 92284 zip code!
TWENTYNINE PALMS
The last three months saw the combined sale of 66 homes in the area (less than 22 per month). The average price of a home by the end of October dropped by more than 20% to $77,000! The average price per square foot by October was $68.00. Currently there at 474 homes in some state of foreclosure* in the 92277 zip code!
JOSHUA TREE
The last three months saw the combined sale of 52 homes in the area (less than 18 per month). The average price of a home by October sank by a huge 35% to $91,000! The average price per square foot increased to $76. Currently there at 377 homes in some state of foreclosure* in the 92252 zip code!
LANDERS
The last three months saw the combined sale of 12 homes in the area (less than 4 per month). By October the average price of a home plummeted from 08 by 53% to $59,000! The average price per square foot was $60. Currently there at 106 homes in some state of foreclosure* in the 92285 zip code!
MORONGO VALLEY
The last three months saw the combined sale of 28 homes in the area (just more than 9 per month). Almost 50% of the sales happened in October! The average price of a home decreased by over 7% to $115,000 in October! The average price per square foot was $66. Currently there at 139 homes in some state of foreclosure* in the 92256 zip code!
SUMMARY
As many of you know, I am also a licensed Broker in Nevada. I have an office in Henderson with a RE/Max Broker. I will elaborate in my next post, but, like I said at the beginning of this post, GET OFF THE SIDELINE AND INTO THE GAME!!! Foreclosures in our area are slowing, prices are well below the cost of replacement, and interest rates today (at this posting) are at an all time low! Even if prices slide a little more I believe the inventory of quality homes is also beginning to decrease so your choices by April may be limited. Till our next post…
Bob Armstrong
Broker
*information gathered from Trulia.com

It appears that my “Summer Market Forecast” was a bit optimistic! New statistics came out this week for the month of July 2009 which shows much slower sales in our area than I believed would happen. I thought I would bring us up to date on the information included in the reports published by the County Assessor and provided by Vicki Bishop at Fidelity National Title.
YUCCA VALLEY
July saw the sale of 47 homes in the area. The average price of a home sank by more than 34% from 2008 to $105,000! The most expensive home sold was around $350,000. The average price per square foot was $72.00. Currently there at 802 homes in some state of foreclosure* in the 92284 zip code! This is around 10% of the community!
TWENTYNINE PALMS
July saw the sale of 25 homes in the area. The average price of a home dropped by less than 0.5% to $110,000! The most expensive home sold was around $225,000. The average price per square foot was $75.00. Currently there at 504 homes in some state of foreclosure* in the 92277 zip code! This is around 6.5% of the community.
JOSHUA TREE
July saw the sale of 18 homes in the area. The average price of a home sank by a modest 19.3% from to $83,000! The average price per square foot was $69. Currently there at 430 homes in some state of foreclosure* in the 92252 zip code! This is almost 8% of the community!
LANDERS
July saw the sale of 3 homes in the area. The average price of a home actually rose from 08 by 72.2% to $50,000! The average price per square foot was $73.00. Currently there at 430 homes in some state of foreclosure* in the 92285 zip code! This is just over 5.25% of the community!
MORONGO VALLEY
July saw the sale of 5 homes in the area. The average price of a home decreased by over 38% from to $83,000 in 2009! The average price per square foot was $77.00. Currently there at 157 homes in some state of foreclosure* in the 92256 zip code!
SUMMARY
I recently read an article where the economist was predicting that by 2012 real estate prices will be back to where they are today! He may not have been far off. As you can see from the above we have many homes in some state of foreclosure and no increase in the job market in our area in the foreseeable future. I think we will see a slowdown in sales over the remainder of the year. Prices in our area must continue to drop if we are to be competitive with other prime retirement areas. I stick with my May prediction, overall look for a further decline in price points in the Morongo Basin by at least 15% and as high as 30% by the year’s end.

Bob Armstrong
Broker
*information gathered from Trulia.com

What a great question! I have read articles and visited web sites that constantly interchange these two items, often to erroneous results. The short answer is really easy. Assessed Value is the value your property taxes are based on and Appraised Value is the value of your property on the day and time the appraisal was performed.

In California, Assessed Value is most affected by Proposition 13 that was passed in 1978. This proposition basically did two things. It created a cap of assessed value increase per year at 2 percent and capped property tax at no greater then 1 percent of the assessed value. You may pay slightly over 1 percent of the assessed value of your property due to bonds and fees approved by the voters. If you purchase a property, the purchase price is typically used as the basis for the initial Assessed Value. If during the first year property values go up 6 percent the Assessed Value will only be increased by the cap of 2 percent. What this means is that as more years go by after purchase, the difference between the Assessed Value and the Appraised Value will broaden. Only through a purchase by a new owner or a significant improvement of the property can the Assessed Value be raised to equal the Appraised Value. In general Assessed Values cannot be over the Appraised Value. If you believe this is the case you can contact your tax assessor and ask them to review your Assessed Value. If you are correct, the tax assessor will often lower your Assessed Value and, consequently, your tax bill.

Appraised Value is the value of your property at a specific date and time as figured by a California Licensed Appraiser. This value is often used by finance companies to determine the value of a property they are issuing a loan on. Many different methods are used to appraise a property. They may use a replacement method, a best use value method, a comparative market analysis or any one of a number of other methods depending on what will work best with a specific property.

An AFG Real Estate Agent can perform a comparative market analysis on your residential property. The result of this analysis should be very similar to an actual appraisal and should be the very start of pricing your home for sale or to find out if an offer you are making on a home purchase is over or under market value.

Stephen Armstrong
AFG Realty
Broker

This is one of the most frequently asked questions in our office. In the past, in our area, vacant land tumbled as the housing market fell. It was not uncommon in the late 90’s to have people offering to sell their land on the cheap to raise much needed cash. Today’s market has been very different from the past. Sellers have been holding their price points up and Buyers have been, for the most part, staying away!
Most of our land is either in acreage or infill lots. Most of the past Buyers for these lots are contractors looking to build a “spec” house. The contactor buys the lot, builds the home, sells the home and goes out on the market to purchase one or more lots to start over again. With the slowdown in the construction side of the housing market, contactors are not buying. The other large group of Buyers for vacant land is the end user. This is generally a retiree who picks the land to build their retirement home. This Buyer will pay more for the right location. With the low cost of existing housing on the market, it is not cost effective to build so this Buyer has been purchasing existing homes.
With our largest group of Buyers not buying, it is easy to see that the vacant land market is minimal at best! The following is a breakdown by city:
YUCCA VALLEY
Year to date 15 parcels have sold. The smallest was 0.26 of an acre. The largest was 5.41 acres. The cheapest sold for $4,000. This was a 4.56 acre parcel on the Yucca Grade. The most expensive sold for $55,000. This was a 0.70 acre parcel in Sky Harbor. Most of the sales appear to be infill lots with 3 being over 2 acres. Currently there are 262 parcels on the market with the largest being 320 acres.
TWENTYNINE PALMS
Year to date 29 parcels have sold. The smallest was 0.20 of an acre. The largest was 19.50 acres. The cheapest sold for $4,350. This was a 4.50 acre parcel. The most expensive sold for $80,000. This was a 19.50 acre parcel. Most of the sales appear to be split between acreage and infill with half the lots sold under 2.50 acres and half over. Currently there are 369 parcels on the market with the largest being 120 acres.
JOSHUA TREE
Year to date 14 parcels have sold. The smallest was 0.22 of an acre. The largest was 2.50 acres. The cheapest sold for $2,500. This was a 0.22 acre infill lot. The most expensive sold for $80,000. This was a 2.50 acre parcel on Uphill on the south side of JT. Currently there are 321 parcels on the market with the largest being 320acres.
LANDERS
Year to date 6 parcels have sold. The smallest was 1 acre. The largest was 5.00 acres. The cheapest sold for $5,900. This was a 2.50 acre parcel. The most expensive sold for $30,000. This was a 5.00 acre parcel on Jackrabbit. Currently there are 52 parcels on the market with the largest being 640 acres.
The current market shows over 1132 active listing for vacant land in our area! With only 72 sold year to date!
Needless to say, the market for vacant land is bleak. I expect it to get worse over the next two years as Buyers continue to look at homes for a better real estate investment.

All statistics are from the Desert Communities Board of Realtors Mutliple Listing Service as of this publishing.

Bob Armstrong
Broker
AFG Realty