November 2012 Sedona Real Estate Update

Our first fall/winter storm this past weekend seems to coincide with the slowdown of our local real estate market.  There are currently 409 residential units on the market, with69 of these already tied up with other buyers.  If you trim out the condos/patio homes/manufactured homes, there are only 256 single family homes that are truly available in the Sedona area.

I’d say that the biggest news for our marketplace has to be the dropoff of foreclosed homes hitting the market.  There are currently 18 foreclosed homes available in today’s market and only 3 short sales.  Short sales show that the homeowner is in financial straits – and could potentially turn into a foreclosure.  Only three homes with short sale status indicates a future dropoff of foreclosures as well.

Home sales in 2012 show a small increase in price per square foot for most price categories under $1 Million. I would expect prices to stay steady or tick upwards very slowly over the next year or so.  We’re still at historic lows for mortgage rates, so although many buyers are buying homes for cash, savvy buyers are borrowing money at low rates (some under 3.5%) and taking the mortgage interest deduction as a writeoff on taxes.

The only other news is that the former Cor d’Amor subdivision – near the Sedona Medical Center has resurfaced under another name – Rimstone.  The prior developer lost the property to the bank and it’s been sitting fallow for years after the streets and infrastructure were put in – and a new owner has purchased the land and has launched the lots on the open market for $125k-$300k.  I’d heard a rumor that a local builder put in an offer on several lots to cash in on the developer financing special – but none of these show as pending on our local MLS system – so they appear to be all available at this time.