Interesting situation and it almost makes me want to drive to your neighborhood just to check out this ‘auto pilot’ open house!
Sounds like it makes sense for you to stay put for now if you plan to be here for the next 10-20 years. Having recently sold a home in Feb. in a newer San Marcos neighborhood I have some similar experiences. One realtor owned 3 x homes, and she moved from one to the next as she sold them. Another 3-4 (that I know about) homes were bought by Centex employees and flipped within a year. One was the best lot in the neighborhood and he sold it for 300k+ more than he paid in 1 year. – gee, I wonder how he landed that one! In phases 1-4 (heavy investor phases until Centex started some new rules) 10-15 homes have been flipped 2 or 3 times now. We were the only home for sale in Jan, but now there are 12+ homes, all sitting and none in escorw. Prices are all reduced. We decided to sell in January because literally 75% of the people on my street indicated to us that they were also considering selling this summer and I wanted to sell before them.
Our new ‘established’ area in Encinitas where we rent a home now (15 year old homes) is the exact opposite. No homes for sale, nobody in over their head because almost all bought when prices were low, no investors. I do think there is a case to be made that neighborhoods like yours may see a steeper decline than areas like this. In the future I plan to be very cautious about where I buy and will try to steer clear of brand new communities. None of this is reason for you to sell though since the transaction costs and trouble of selling would likely outweigh and difference!
