{"id":7904,"date":"2012-06-07T06:32:09","date_gmt":"2012-06-07T12:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=7904"},"modified":"2012-06-06T17:00:56","modified_gmt":"2012-06-06T23:00:56","slug":"investors-and-new-homebuyers-square-off-in-boises-fierce-housing-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/06\/07\/investors-and-new-homebuyers-square-off-in-boises-fierce-housing-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Investors And New Homebuyers Square Off In Boise\u2019s Fierce Housing Market"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p>

Chad and Samantha Boucher made offers on home after home, only to be outbid. At last, they had good luck. They're packing up their apartment and moving into their new home soon.<\/p><\/div>\n

Broker Dave Ferguson stands in front of a house in Caldwell, a good 45 minutes from downtown Boise.\u00a0 The five-bedroom home is in a quiet spot, shrouded in trees.\u00a0 In this case, that\u2019s not a selling point.\u00a0 Ferguson points upward.<\/p>\n\n

“It\u2019s a cedar-shake shingle roof,” he says. “And it\u2019s so bad with the trees that they deposit their limbs and leaves, and it actually turns to soil because it doesn\u2019t get brushed off.”<\/p>\n

The soil has led to something else: weeds, growing out of the roof.\u00a0 There\u2019s also the fact that the house was built in 1972, and no remodeler has touched it since.\u00a0 Still, an out-of-state investment group has made an offer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p>

Broker Dave Ferguson, in the entryway of the home in Caldwell<\/p><\/div>\n

“This investor that I\u2019m working with is specifically interested in homes that are undervalued, and that might be in disrepair, like this one,” Ferguson explains.<\/p>\n

The demand for this home is one sign that there\u2019s something unusual happening in Boise.\u00a0 While national figures show that the housing recovery is slow, at best, Boise is one of a few U.S. cities that have seen a fast run-up in demand, and prices.<\/p>\n

Investors and homebuyers are in stiff competition, and both say there aren\u2019t enough homes to go around.\u00a0 For example, Ferguson\u2019s investor client would rather buy newer houses, and make simpler fixes.\u00a0 But deals like that are in short supply.<\/p>\n

Just ask Samantha Boucher.<\/p>\n

“Yeah,” she says.\u00a0 “We were all sorts of frustrated.”<\/p>\n

She and her husband, Chad Boucher, know as well as anyone how tight the local housing market has become.\u00a0 A year ago, Idaho had one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation.\u00a0 Prices hadn\u2019t touched bottom.\u00a0 By early this year, it was a different story.\u00a0 Chad Boucher says the quick shift was hard to take.<\/p>\n

“Everything we put bids in on, it eventually went way above our price range that we were thinking for that house,” he says.\u00a0 “We were just like, “Man, we\u2019re going to be outbid by everybody, so why would we keep doing all this legwork for no actual gain because we can\u2019t go higher than these other people?”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p>

This bedroom of the Caldwell home opens onto a deck covered in AstroTurf. The home's main selling points are its nice neighborhood and its size: 3,000 square feet.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Bouchers have an advantage many buyers don\u2019t.\u00a0 Samantha Boucher is in the know.\u00a0 She\u2019s a real estate marketing assistant.\u00a0 On the other hand, the two of them are first-time buyers looking for a house in the most competitive price range \u2013 under $150,000.<\/p>\n

In one case, Samantha Boucher says, their competition was an investor who paid cash.\u00a0 That made her a little indignant.\u00a0 “I really wish there were things in place more often that allowed people that are first-time homebuyers, going for the American Dream and all of that sort of stuff, to actually have a chance before the investors got to have the pick, you know?” she says.<\/p>\n

The Bouchers were about to give up and keep renting, but fortune smiled.\u00a0 They\u2019ll pick up the keys to their new home this week.<\/p>\n

Realtors are divided about who is driving the local housing market.\u00a0 Some say investors account for 20 percent of their sales.\u00a0 Others say more than half.\u00a0 Either way, it\u2019s clear the extra demand is affecting prices.\u00a0 The market\u2019s turnaround has left people scratching their heads, including Marc Lebowitz.\u00a0 “Not only is it such a great distance from where we were last summer,” he says, “but it also seems to have come on more quickly than anyone expected.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to look back and go \u2013 ‘Gosh, that was fast!’\u201d<\/p>\n

Lebowitz heads the Ada County Association of Realtors. \u00a0He says one measure of a real estate market is the number of homes available, and how well that number matches demand.\u00a0 A six-month supply indicates a healthy and balanced market.\u00a0 But the number of homes now for sale would only satisfy three months’ worth of demand.<\/p>\n

That shortage has kicked the market into high gear.\u00a0 Lebowitz will admit that gives him pause.\u00a0 “I\u2019m solidly convinced that we\u2019re in a strong recovery,” he says.\u00a0 “I\u2019m not sure about the pace of it right now.”<\/p>\n

In other words, he\u2019s not sure the pace is sustainable.<\/p>\n

To explain, Lebowitz tells a story about a modest home that recently sold for 20 percent above list price.\u00a0 Immediately, the prices for nearby homes jumped.\u00a0 That\u2019s notable because escalating prices can make for risky decisions.\u00a0 Risky decisions can make for bad investments.\u00a0 And the recession was a lesson in where bad investments can lead.<\/p>\n

Still, Lebowitz has sunnier expectations for Boise\u2019s market.\u00a0 To understand why, look no further than Samantha and Chad Boucher.\u00a0 They\u2019re happy with the home they bought.\u00a0 It was at the peak of their price range, but they think it\u2019s a good buy.\u00a0 After all, prices are still far below where they were five years ago.\u00a0 Now, the Bouchers plan to watch their investment grow.<\/p>\n

An update: Broker Dave Ferguson\u2019s out-of-state investor got cold feet and decided against the Caldwell home. \u00a0Within in 12 hours, Ferguson had two more offers. \u00a0Both were from investors.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Broker Dave Ferguson stands in front of a house in Caldwell, a good 45 minutes from downtown Boise.\u00a0 The five-bedroom home is in a quiet spot, shrouded in trees.\u00a0 In this case, that\u2019s not a selling point.\u00a0 Ferguson points upward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":7908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[40,46],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7904"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7904"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7969,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7904\/revisions\/7969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}