Top cities to buy bargain fixer-uppers don’t include San Francisco

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 19:09:48 +0000

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San Francisco doesn’t offer the best area for people hoping to buy bargain fixer-upper homes, probably because even fixers sell for a fortune in the Bay Area, and not many properties end up foreclosed or otherwise abandoned to decay much anyway, given the value of property in general. So, even among our few homes for sale needing “TLC,” we don’t find many “bargains.” The properties above show that.

Among the currently MLS listed homes for sale in San Francisco proper, only 16 came up under a parameter search for “fixer-upper,” and zero came up when the term “foreclosure” was also added. RealtyTrac maps SF’s pre-foreclosures (we’ve got 180 shown in purple below), bank owned (we have 185 marked in gold below), and for auction properties (we’ve got 41, marked in red below). This section of the map shows you a portion of the RealtyTrac heat map.

A portion of RealtyTrac’s heat map for distressed property in SF.

Slim pickings, really, in a city with a lot more potential homebuyers than potential homes for sale. The city’s inventory in May was down 24.5% year-over-year.

Best cities for fixer-upper bargains

RealtyTrac, prolific provider of U.S. real estate data with a particular focus on foreclosure-related activity, analyzed national data to find the 15 best markets for buying fixers at discount prices. The figures show the number of foreclosed homes old enough to potentially be candidates for makeovers that are also valued at $100K or less– a sure sign, in more robust markets– of a bargain. Also analyzed here: the average market value of a distressed home as well as the change in the median sales price of such properties in each location year-over-year.

“Low-priced homes are still plentiful in many markets, particularly in the form of foreclosures,” said Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac vice president. “While these homes may be in need of more work than a typical home and are certainly harder to find now than in previous years, buyers and investors willing to put in a little extra legwork and sweat equity can often find the best deals in their markets on these foreclosure fixer-uppers.”

RealtyTrac analysis found that nationwide , there are more than 51,000 potential foreclosure fixer-uppers: bank-owned homes that were built before 1960 with an estimated market value below $100K.

Meanwhile, back in SF

As usually happens when we compare other parts of the country to San Francisco, our home prices stand out in sharp relief. For less than you’d need for a downpayment on a fixer here, you could buy an entire home outright somewhere else. So if your reason for wanting a fixer-upper is bargain price (though of course, “bargain” is a relative term), you might want to look elsewhere.

Anna Marie Erwert writes from both the renter and new buyer perspective, having (finally) achieved both statuses. She focuses on national real estate trends, specializing in the San Francisco Bay Area and Pacific Northwest, and writes for SFGate and CurbedSF. Follow Anna on Twitter: @AnnaMarieErwert

Article source: http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2013/06/10/top-cities-to-buy-bargain-fixer-uppers-dont-include-san-francisco/

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Top cities to buy bargain fixer-uppers don’t include San Francisco