I think real estate everywhere is doing poorly. I live in MD and it is bad.
Permalink | Report

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071021/news_1b21dean.html

I used to live in Chula Vista which, according to this article is down 25%. Now I live closer to San Carlos which, according to this article is also in the stinker.

Whee.
Permalink | Report

very well homes are now at reasonable prices..

http://www.zillow.com/homes/map/westville,-IN_rb/

For the most part family homes $220k and lower
Source(s):
http://www.zillow.com/homes/map/westville,-IN_rb/

Permalink | Report

My entry level condo here in Los Angeles (Sherman Oaks) was purchased in June 2006 for $475K. It's now worth (thanks to the foreclosures) around $375K. That's a 21% drop in value. Ouch...
Source(s):
http://www.zillow.com/homes/map/Sherman-Oaks,-CA-91423_rb

Permalink | Report

I work for a real estate law firm that specializes in residential foreclosures across NY state. I'll state the obvious and say that we have been extremely busy lately.

Interestingly, many of the properties we are foreclosing are not the types you see in the news where hard working middle class people are being evicted. I have seen plenty of summer homes, one person who lost 8 homes that were obviously bought to be flipped, and tons of homes that people couldn't afford but bought anyway. Honestly, who gives a $500k mortgage to someone on social security? And why did one person spend more on their attorney than they owed on the mortgage!?

The banks we deal with have also been bending over backwards to help people by being lenient with late payments. The banks don't want the homes to go to auction any more than the owner and often times will renegotiate the mortgage to prevent it.

Home values are falling by me, but only because they were overpriced to begin with and now there are many more on the market. The problem is that people can't get loans any more and this prevents them from buying a house making things worse.

I know this doesn't exactly answer your question Jason, but feel that my post is more valuable showing the other end of the story rather than just chiming in to say homes are cheap in Suffolk County.
Permalink | Report

Real estate is pretty horrible here in Michigan. I'm currently in college at Wayne State University, but I also live in the suburbs of Detroit in a city called Berkley.

My parents' house is currently up there for $290K and it was over $400K when we bought it a bit over 12 years ago. Property values are dropping pretty quickly and there really isn't much movement here.

We've got our own school district so you'd think there would be a lot of kids, but the fact of the matter is, a lot of couples are moving in, starting families, and not moving out, so there are some areas of the city that have aged so they're almost devoid of children.

Newer couples don't really want to move in anymore because they want to start a family but their children won't have many friends so houses are going unsold, prices get slashed pretty low and they still don't sell.

It's pretty sad, Berkley's a great town to grow up in. A great school district, but there aren't a lot of Berkley born kids anymore so the district's indefinitely shared with Huntington Woods (to the south) and there are some "school of choice" spots to help get children in bad neighborhoods elsewhere into a better schooling system but overall I fear the city could become pretty barren within the next 20 years.
Source(s):
http://www.zillow.com/homes/map/Berkley,-MI_rb/#/homes/for_sale/map/Berkley...

Permalink | Report

I live on long island NY and the real estate market here has grinded to a hault. In my neighborhood home values have fell 30% and that is if you are lucky enough to find a buyer. With the current contraction of wall street I feel the bottom is still far away. Batten down the hatches the perfect storm has arrived.
Permalink | Report

Here in Safford, Arizona, prices were greatly inflated due to a housing shortage from hiring so many people. Average prices in the area were about $200k for a small, 2 bedroom house. You could buy a much better house in Tucson for the same price (maybe a 4 bedroom house), as an example of how inflated the prices are here.
Permalink | Report

Oklahoma has a great real estate market. Here is a typical house in my neighborhood that is for sale:
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2813-NW-169th-St-Edmond-OK-73012/63215040_zpid/

3 beds, 2.0 bath,1,956 sqft, Lot 7,489 sqft,Built in 2004 for $186,000. If the price seems low, keep in mind that it cost $154,000 when it was built in 2004. That's a 20% increase in value even in the real estate downturn.
Source(s):
www.zillow.com

Permalink | Report

I live in the SF Bay Area (San Jose) and the market here isn't coming down much, but it has a bit. There are a ton of places on the foreclosure listings, and I think they're affecting the market. I've seen a few places pop up as rentals because the owners couldn't get what they wanted as a selling price.

I'm in the market to buy now, so I'm trying to take advantage of the downturn. People are going to benefit from the misfortune of some folks. I might as well be on the positive side of the exchange.
Source(s):
Personal experiences; watching the local market.

Permalink | Report

It's doing pretty poorly in NYC. Investors have been doing this crazy thing where they buy up buildings and then sell them for much more than they paid, in order to raise property values. That has backfired, because now no one wants to buy and neighborhoods like bedstuy and even east village aren't progressing economically like they were even six months ago.
Permalink | Report

I live in Southern Mississippi, and frankly, things here are ok. We bought our house in Hattiesburg for about $226k 3 years ago, and we can probably get that for it now. In between, the market rose about 10% and then pulled back that same 10%.

The biggest thing I've noticed is there just aren't as many homes on the market in my area as there were when prices were rising, which leads me to believe that many were cashing out equity and buying up during the price runup after Hurricane Katrina. Because of the influence of Katrina (many people left the coast/New Orleans and relocated here because it is the largest town within reasonable distance from the coast in Mississippi), the price spike here was not driven by speculation from what I can gather, but simply an increase in demand as is normal.

There ARE a lot of new developments that are strugging, including one whose land is being auctioned in a couple weeks, but for established neighborhoods, things aren't bad at this point.
Source(s):
http://www.zillow.com/homes/map/hattiesburg,-ms_rb/#/homes/for_sale/map/hat...

http://www.realtor.com/hattiesburg/nbregion.asp?st=ms

Permalink | Report

It's not as bad here in Indianapolis as it has been elsewhere, but then our home values were never as overinflated here as they got to be elsewhere. A good friend of ours who couldn't afford another, larger home just closed on one last week. Two houses that had been unsold in our neighborhood also just have new owners since Thanksgiving. And there don't seem to be more homes up for sale than usual, either here or anywhere along where I normally drive.

Here is the Zillow report. http://www.zillow.com/real-estate/IN-Indianapolis-home-value/

I notice that while home values around the country were waning, ours here were increasing until about June, when they dropped sharply. I think that had to do with the new property tax rehash that was released then. We just had another adjustment this month (thanks, federal judges for messing that all up) so who knows what will happen. My taxes went down but I know other people saw an increase. My property value actually went up a little, too.

I also find this page very interesting:
http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Indianapolis-Indiana/market-trends/

It seems we're pretty steady here, although values are decreasing right now. It's just not the ski slope other cities have.

Finally, here's something recent from the local paper, via a blog (link expired in the paper):

http://geistfishers.com/blog/homes-sales-show-their-first-increase-this-year/
Permalink | Report

I live in Central Mass. where the property values have dropped dramatically. I purchased a single family w/a slab foundation and less than 900 sq. ft. for about $168,000 2 years ago. The current values range from $160,000 to $175,000. This is not a major hit for me but many of the smaller lower priced homes in MA have "held" their value much better than the McMansions and larger (1500 sq. ft +) homes that have been the most common new builds over the past several years. Many of the foreclosures in the area are due to people overextending themselves with their credit. Many people are deciding that walking away from properties that have lost 30% + of their value is better than paying off the loan. It comes down to what is more important to you. Holding onto your property and struggling for the next several years or walking away and taking the credit hit.

Here's a link to Worcester and the property values from Zillow. http://www.zillow.com/real-estate/MA-Worcester-home-value/

Here is a news brief from a week ago about home values and taxes:
http://wbz.com/pages/3448020.php
Permalink | Report

On the island of Maui, expensive properties have held their value. Lower end condos have significantly decreased in price. There are new short sale listings every day.
Permalink | Report

I live in Central PA, and the market has been hurting the last year here, but is still hanging in there. Homes by me are selling at higher than value or near value still, although they tend to be hanging around a few weeks to a few months longer depending on the situation and the asking price. There are obviously more bargains to be had, but on my street alone, 3 houses have sold in the last 3 months a good value and have had people move in immediately and start upgrades or aesthetic adjustments which is a good sign.

I know in seashore areas of NJ and central NJ the market has pretty much tanked, but I think small town America, especially areas with lower tax rates and good schools are hanging in there for those reasons. We see people moving out of the larger houses in city like areas to grab a lower cost home, lower tax, and a good school system.
Source(s):
Central PA Sales - http://www.zillow.com/homes/map/17078_rb/#/homes/for_sale/map/17078_rb/40.3...

2008 Fall Real Estate Report - http://www.pageturnpro.com/1906/

Permalink | Report