In April of 2004 a house on Calle Del Ciervo here in the Tucson Foothills sold for $518,000. In January 2007, it sold again for $770,000, WOW, a whopping 48% increase, in not quite three years.
And no improvements or renovations had been made during that time either. Sounds like a ' have to have it ' house, you know, at any price.
Then just one year later, in January 08, and for reasons unknown, the new owners apparently didn't have to have it anymore, and put it up for sale again. And ignoring the (ugly)fact that the market had gone down and not up, and hoping I suppose to recoup some of their closing costs and commissions and come out of it just slightly bruised but not battered, they listed it for $800,000.
But the market went down, not up, so that didn't work out.
So they reduced it and reduced it again and again, until it was finally reduced to $600,000 two weeks ago. At $600,000 it's a screamin' deal, and then it quickly went into contract. Now I have no idea what it went to contract for, but even at list price these people are going to lose a bucket of money. If they'd listed it at a more reasonable price in January - when the market was less bad than it is now - it's very likely that they'd have sold it sooner and for more $$. oh well.
But it's almost beside the point, because given their poor timing, buying in 07 and selling in 08, I don't see how they could have even come close to breaking even. And worse yet, they paid too much for it to begin with. Even though the market here in the Foothills had been in decline for 8 months when they bought it - they still paid $770,000, a 48% price increase in less than three years. Too too much.
Yes, timing is everything, and along with that, they say (whoever they are) you make your money in real estate when you buy it, not when you sell it. They are right.
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