Focus On Condos

Let's take a fresh look at the Lompoc Valley condo market this week. When last we visited this market segment back in October, I had made mention of a couple of factors that were putting a damper on this segment. None of that has really changed much in recent months, and it would appear that we're still seeing signs that this market segment will probably lag behind the rest of the market in any price appreciation that might be coming.

As of this evening, we have 13 active listings on the market. The mix hasn't really changed much since I last reported on them - 3 REO/8 Short Sales/2 Traditional sellers. In addition, we have 6 contingent listings, all short sales.

Sales activity has been slower in recent months, with only 5 pending units (3 REO/2 SS/0 Trad), and only 11 sold units over the past three months (7 REO/1 SS/3 Trad). While the market as a whole has been bouncing around 4 months of inventory for the past several weeks, this segment (on an admittedly small number) is looking at a little over 5 months. That's still not too bad, and the well priced units still get a lot of attention.

Despite the problems with financing some of these units in our current lending landscape, they remain an attractive "buy & hold" investment for cash buyers on a limited budget. We've seen 5 sales in the past few months under $100,000. Next week, I'm going to do a piece on investment opportunities in our market, and I'll break down the numbers for you on both cash investments like this and leveraged investments. Bring your checkbook.