Sacramento Real Estate Views

Sacramento Foreclosed Homes

What Can $60,000 Buy in Sacramento?

I got a call from a fellow who lives in San Diego, he just graduated from the State college there and wants to purchase a home in the Sacramento area.  His funds are limited but he’s paying all cash for the home.  He wants to spend no more than $60K.  So what kind of home can you get for $60K in the Sacramento region?

First thing I needed to let him know was that the homes in this price range can be in seemingly “dubious” areas of the region.  He is a very level headed guy, thinks that if the market goes down much further it won’t effect his long term goal and doesn’t think we’ll see prices like this in the area for some time to come if ever again.  I can’t sell a home, in this scenario, unless I feel that the decision is based on solid and basic home buying fundamentals.  Especially to someone who isn’t an investor.

I searched the entire Sacramento County area and came up with 71 homes that were listed at $50K or lower.  He has $60K to work with but I wanted to leave room for new carpet, paint and cosmetic fixing if need be and funds for closing costs.  I cut the 71 homes into about 10 due to time constraints and we went out a looked.

The Common Theme

The homes were located in the 95815, 95817, 95820 and 95822 zip codes.  They had a minimum of 2 bedrooms and one bathroom.  I looked at the marketing comments to see signs of heavy fixers.  I chose light fixers with pictures that looked as if the home could be in decent condition.

We looked at 10 homes and what we saw surprised us both.  I expected the homes to be total wrecks, however, what they needed more than anything else was some TLC.  Barring a full inspection to reveal hidden damage or damage I’m not qualified to see, I thought the condition was pretty good.   Most of the neighborhoods didn’t seem all that bad.  For the cost of carpet, paint, some handyman fix up and some light pest work, you could have a home that was more than habitable.  You could have one that was actually comfortable!  That was encouraging.

Selling Price

What was even more of a shock is that the average selling price was 91% of the listing price.  What this means is that these homes are selling for 9% less than the listed price.  This wasn’t the case just 2 months ago when virtually everything was selling for more than the list price.  This was promising.

Each of these homes had some sort of work to do to bring them up to “Nice” but whether living in them yourself or buying for investment purposes, each one of them could be “rehabbed” for approximately $10K.  Even at that number or if it were higher, there’s no way to build that cheaply at the moment.

Looking for homes in that price range?  Give me a call or send an email.  Click here. I’d be happy to create a search for you directly from the MLS so you can see what’s available.

Like what you’re reading?  Be kept up to date on the RE News from the Sacramento Region.  Click here.

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Tags: foreclosed homes, homes in sacramento

This entry was posted on Monday, December 15th, 2008 at 9:34 am and is filed under Real Estate Market Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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