There’s 3551 homes for sale in Ada County (Boise, Meridian, Eagle, Kuna, Star).  1029 are short sales (29%) and 348 are bank-owned (10%).

Of that 29% that make up the short sales in Ada County, 31% are “contingent”.  That means they have at least one offer on the property and are in the several month time-frame for lender approval.

This first graph shows the percentages of homes that are short sales by MLS area.  The areas with the lowest percentages of short sales are Garden City, NE Boise, N Boise, and SE Boise.  The highest areas are Star, Kuna, and SW Meridian.

For bank-owned (REOs) homes, N & NE Boise have the smallest market share.  In NE Boise, just 2% of the properties are bank-owned.  Garden City, West Boise, and the Boise Bench have the highest percentages.

You can get a list of bank-owned properties and receive email updates on new foreclosures or browse through the Boise short sales, Meridian short sales, or Eagle ID short sales.

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Boise Idaho real estate sales were up about 17% with 349 closings in June verses 292 last year.  This is the eighth consecutive month of home sales surpassing the previous year.  Below you can see how monthly home sales in 2010 have compared to 2009.

While there’s been more real estate sales in Boise, a larger percentage of those sales have been foreclosures.  In June, 39% of the sales were foreclosures compared to 26% last year.  The graph below charts the foreclosure market share in Q2 of ’10 to Q2 ’09.

The median home price in Boise Idaho was up for the third consecutive month to $151,000.  Here’s how the median home price has fluctuated over the last 13 months.

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River Heights is the newest phase of  Harris Ranch located in SE Boise.  Developed by Brighton Corporation, one of Idaho’s largest real estate developers, River Heights offers many unique amenities:

- Access to the Boise foothills by the nearby Ridge to Rivers trail system (some home-sites back to the foothills. Availability subject to change).

- Idaho Shakespeare Festival is just across the street and is a popular summer attraction.

- The new East Jr. High & Riverstone International School are next to the development.

- Less than 10 minutes to Lucky Peak Reservoir for boating, wake-boarding, and jetskiing.

- The Boise River is nearby and so is Barber park (the popular starting point to float the Boise river in the summer).

- The Boise Green Belt offers miles of paved pathways along the Boise River for a gorgeous run, bike ride, or walk.

- The River Heights community center will feature a fitness center and outdoor pool.

Phase 1 of River Heights will have 45 home-sites while later phases will bring the total number to 240.  Home prices begin in the upper $200,000′s and go to around $400,000.   Some of the current River Heights standard features include Energy Star construction, Anderson windows, full landscaping with “Xeric” landscape design elements, full fencing, hardwood flooring, premium carpeting, craftsman style interior trim, slab granite in kitchen & master-bath, custom alder cabinetry, and Bosch stainless steel appliances.

You can search for current available homes for sale in River Heights (not many spec homes are currently built, most sales are build jobs for the individual client).  You can look at pictures & floor plans for Brighton Home models.  You can also search for homes for sale in Harris Ranch.

You can search all Boise real estate by map or advanced search with no registration required.  Contact me with any questions.

Information not guaranteed & is subject to change without notice.  The River Heights development is currently listed with O2 Marketing Group, LLC. 6.24.2010.

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Perhaps you recently heard from your Realtor, lender, or the national news that interest rates were going to rise.  Around March it seemed to be one of the top headlines in the real estate industry and it has turned out to be another classic example of why I DON’T put much stock in economic predictions.

Here’s just a few I had read:

“Rates are going to be higher than they are now,” Jay Brinkmann, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association told CNNMoney.com.

“Mortgage rates are unlikely to go lower than they are now…” Christopher J. Mayer, a professor of finance and economics at Columbia Business School (NY Times).

“Clearly, when they stop printing all that money, it’s going to be a shock to the system. I have to assume that when they pull back on it, it will cause a 100- to 200-basis-points rise” to rates of 6 percent or 7 percent, he said. “When they start selling off the stuff they purchased, which by my guess would come early next year, that would cause another 100- to 150-basis-points rise.” Christopher Thornberg, principal at Beacon Economics in Los Angeles told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Nearly all economists had seemed to agree that when the Fed ceased purchasing mortgage backed securities in March that this would undoubtly force rates higher (among other factors).  The logic made sense. But the reality is our economy is so complex and dynamic that no one really knows.

I don’t write this blog saying rates are going to stay low or that they’ll go higher.  I’ll leave that up to you to decide.  I just find it interesting that even after years of failed predictions that so many people boldly make (or repeat) economic predictions as though they are a matter of fact.  It’s especially troublesome when I hear those opinions used as pressure tactics, not by the economists, but by agents or lenders who repeat them (e.g. “you better buy now… rates are going to go up”).

1) Source: Boise US Bank Branch. Subject loan underwriting requirements

Information not guaranteed & subject to change without notice.

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