Biggest Discounts (Belated) August Update

I apologize for the tardiness of this post. Unfortunately I did not receive the data until almost the end of the month.

Let’s check in on our stats once again and find out where buyers are currently getting the biggest discounts off asking price. If you are a potential buyer, this will help you to know which neighborhoods may be softer in terms of sale price discounts off list price, and help you know where to look for potential bargains.

In the charts below, we have taken all sales data from last month in Orange County and sorted it by city. We calculated the overall difference between the sale price and the list price. Note that this reflects the final list price, after all price drops in the listing. Any areas with fewer than ten sales are excluded from the top and bottom ten rankings, but interested readers may download the full data summary in Excel format (xls).

Here are the top ten areas with the largest overall discount:

The overall discount rate dropped slightly from June to July, moving from 3.2% to 3.1%.

Here are the ten areas with the smallest discounts:

In the 40 areas we ranked, the median discount was 2.7%.

Here’s the bonus graph, showing the discout off the original list price:

The overall discount off the original list price also decreased, from June’s 8.2% to 7.5% in July.

Is the area you’re shopping not on either the top 10 or bottom 10? No problem, just download the full rankings in Excel format and hit the “FullSummary” sheet.

Of the 2,713 sales we tracked in the 1-month period, 592 homes sold for 5% or more off the asking price, while 335 homes sold for 5% or more above the asking price.

Case-Shiller: Nationwide Markets Simultaneously Bouncing Up

Let’s check in on the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (HPI). Here’s a summary of the latest data for the Los Angeles area, which includes LA and Orange Counties:

Since Case-Shiller lumps LA and Orange Counties together, I won’t repeat everything I wrote on the LA Sweet Digs blog. For more analysis and some graphs of the LA Case-Shiller data, check out my post over there: Case-Shiller: Nationwide Markets Simultaneously Bouncing Up.

Bidding On Bank-Owned Homes

In July, over half the offers we presented to listing agents in Southern California were on homes with at least one other offer.

To Angela Creech, our all-star agent in Orange County, this number seems low, “It feels like all my clients are trying to buy homes with other offers. Right now, pretty much every bank-owned property has multiple offers.”

Angela recently submitted offers on these two bank-owned homes:

Cypress

• $327,000 home
• 20 offers after 4 days on the market
• Will probably sell for around $375,000

Irvine

• $789,000 home
• Multiple offers after 2 days on the market
• Will probably sell for around $815,000

Tips For Bidding On A Bank-Owned Home

Anyone interested in a bank-owned home should follow Angela’s advice and show the sellers you’re serious and make your first offer your best. Specifically, you want to make an offer that is clean and competitive:

1. Make a sizeable down-payment. If you can, put at least 20% down.
2. Include an earnest deposit of 3%.
3. Reduce inspection contingency periods from 17 to 10 days.
4. Don’t ask for closing costs or put anything under “Items To Be Included.” Let the sellers keep their fridge, range and pretty set of patio furniture.

If you’re looking at bank-owned homes in Orange County, keep in mind that these properties are aggressively price to attract a lot of buyers. This works for the banks, bank-owned homes sell for at least the asking price, if not over it.

What are your experiences bidding on homes with multiple offers?

The Market Wrap-Up For July

Let’s take at look at some July numbers for Orange County and see how they compare to a year ago.

Single-Family Homes

• 2,119 houses sold in July
• The median sales price was $490,000, down 5% from July 2008

Condos

• 887 condos sold in July
• The median sales price was $288,000, down 14% from July 2008

We got these numbers from DQNews.

Dig Deeper Into the Trends

These numbers are for Orange County. To see what’s happening in your neighborhood, check out our stats & trends pages.

This is our first monthly report on the inventory trends in Orange County. What numbers would you like to see in our August wrap-up?

Case-Shiller: Orange County Price Drops Continue Moderation

Let’s check in on the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (HPI). Here’s a summary of the latest data for the Los Angeles area, which includes LA and Orange Counties:

May 2009
Month to Month: Down 0.1% (raw)
Month to Month Down 0.9% (seasonally adjusted)
Year to Year: Down 19.8%
Change from Peak: Down 41.9% in 32 months

Since Case-Shiller lumps LA and Orange Counties together, I won’t repeat everything I wrote on the LA Sweet Digs blog. For more analysis and some graphs of the LA Case-Shiller data, check out my post over there: Case-Shiller: Los Angeles Price Drops Continue Moderation.

Biggest Discounts July Update

Let’s check in on our stats once again and find out where buyers are currently getting the biggest discounts off asking price. If you are a potential buyer, this will help you to know which neighborhoods may be softer in terms of sale price discounts off list price, and help you know where to look for potential bargains.

In the charts below, we have taken all sales data from last month in Orange County and sorted it by city/town. We calculated the overall difference between the sale price and the list price. Note that this reflects the final list price, after all price drops in the listing. Any areas with fewer than ten sales are excluded from the top and bottom ten rankings, but interested readers may download the full data summary in Excel format (xls).

Here are the top ten areas with the largest overall discount:

The overall discount rate dropped from May to June, moving from 3.7% to 3.2%. Newport Coast dropped from #1 last month to #3 this month, with North Tustin debuting on the top ten at #1.

Here are the ten areas with the smallest discounts:

Of the 37 areas we ranked, only four came in in with an average sale price above the average list price.

Here’s an added bonus. The following chart shows the top ten areas with the largest overall discount from the original list price, instead of the final list price:

Newport dominates the top ten areas with discounts off the original price, taking the top two spots at over 16% off each.

Is the area you’re shopping not on either the top 10 or bottom 10? No problem, just download the full rankings in Excel format and hit the “FullSummary” sheet.

Of the 2,511 sales we tracked in the 1-month period, 154 homes (6%) sold for 10% or more off the asking price, while 252 homes sold for 5% or more above the asking price.

OC Home Price Drops Still Slowly Moderating

Let’s check in on the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (HPI). Here’s a summary of the latest data for the Los Angeles area, which includes LA and Orange Counties:

April 2009
Month to Month: Down 0.9%
Year to Year: Down 21.3%
Change from Peak: Down 41.8% in 31 months

Since Case-Shiller lumps LA and Orange Counties together, I won’t repeat everything I wrote on the LA Sweet Digs blog. For more analysis and some graphs of the LA Case-Shiller data, check out my post over there: Case-Shiller: LA Home Price Drops Still Slowly Moderating.

June City/Neighborhood Price Reductions

Let’s take our monthly look at which cities and towns have the most price reductions.

The following charts show the percent of MLS, FSBO or REO listings that were price-reduced at some point before leaving the market (either sold or removed unsold from the market) in the past 90 days. Cities/towns or neighborhoods in which the number of homes taken off the market was too small to provide believable estimates are excluded from ranking.

For those that are interested, I have uploaded the full data set in Excel format here. The downloadable Excel file also includes charts showing the top ten cities/towns/neighborhoods with the least reduced-price listings.

First up are the top ten cities with the most price-reduced listings:

Of the 42 cities/towns we ranked in Orange County this month, 15 had price-reduced ratios of fifty percent or more.

Getting a little more granular, let’s look at the top ten Orange County neighborhoods for price reductions:

Of the 51 neighborhoods we ranked in Orange County this month, 9 had a price-reduced ratio of fifty percent or more. On average, the neighborhoods with more price reductions had median closed prices roughly double the medians in neighborhoods those with fewer price reductions.

The general trend in Orange County looks to be heading slightly toward less price reductions, however every city and neighborhood is of course different. Some may be getting softer while others get tighter. Download the full spreadsheet to check where your neighborhood came in.

Biggest Discounts June Update

Let’s check in on our stats once again and find out where buyers are currently getting the biggest discounts off asking price. If you are a potential buyer, this will help you to know which neighborhoods may be softer in terms of sale price discounts off list price, and help you know where to look for potential bargains.

In the chart below, we have taken all sales data from last month in Orange County and sorted it by city/town. We calculated the overall difference between the sale price and the list price. Note that this reflects the final list price, after all price drops in the listing. Any areas with fewer than ten sales are excluded from the top and bottom ten rankings, but interested readers may download the full data summary in Excel format (xls).

Here are the top ten areas with the largest overall discount:

The overall discount dropped just a bit in June from our previous update in April, falling to 3.6% from 3.8%.

Here are the ten areas with the smallest discounts:

Here’s an added bonus. The following chart shows the top ten areas with the largest overall discount from the original list price, instead of the final list price:

Apparently sellers in Laguna Beach tend to be the most overly-optimistic with their original list prices. 13 of the 36 ranked cities/towns in Orange County came in with discounts from original list over 10%.

Is the area you’re shopping not on either the top 10 or bottom 10? No problem, just download the full rankings in Excel format and hit the “FullSummary” sheet.

Of the 2,347 sales we tracked in the 1-month period, 200 homes (9%) sold for 10% or more off the asking price, while 268 homes sold for 5% or more above the asking price.

Case-Shiller: OC Home Prices Creeping Toward a Bottom?

Let’s check in on the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (HPI). Here’s a summary of the latest data for the Los Angeles area, which includes LA and Orange Counties:

March 2009
Month to Month: Down 1.4%
Year to Year: Down 22.3%
Change from Peak: Down 41.3% in 30 months

Since Case-Shiller lumps LA and Orange Counties together, I won’t repeat everything I wrote on the LA Sweet Digs blog. For more analysis and some graphs of the LA Case-Shiller data, check out my post over there: Case-Shiller: LA Home Prices Creeping Toward a Bottom?.