This owner did the smart thing by getting out while they could without losing the entire farm. By the time the bottom hits (my guess is 3-4 years), houses like this will sell for $250k-$275k. Just a couple of months ago, there were posters on this forum saying that north county was not likely to drop many % points since the demand was so high to live there. My argument has always been, “who’s going to buy these houses at high prices when….(1) it’s much harder to get a loan…… (2) the buyer is now going to have to put money down………(3) with the economy getting softer and softer, people will be losing jobs which will put more inventory on the market…….(4) the banks will be forced to dump their REO’s. (5) appraisals will be have to be realistic which will stop many sales if the seller can even find a buyer.”
All these things are starting to happen and no areas will be immune from falling $$$$$$$$$$$ prices. There are no rules as to how low they can fall before they stop falling. It’s all about jobs, affordability, loan rates, appraisals and qualifying.
Like I said: This seller did the right thing and should be happy that he didn’t take a much larger loss.