Focus On Mission Hills

OK, so my mid-week post is late again. I was out of town for most of the week. So shoot me. Let's take a look at the activity in Mission Hills this week. For some background on the area, check out my first post on the neighborhood from 2009.

For the first time that I can recall since I started writing these area specific "Focus On" posts, I have a neighborhood that is completely, 100% saturated with distressed property activity. Part of that might be because it's been a very light activity area. So light, in fact, that I had to expand out to my secondary MLS to find a couple more properties.

We have a whopping 2 active listings on the market here at the moment, 1 REO and 1 short sale. Contract activity is a little sparse as well, with 2 contingent listings (both short sales) and 3 pending sales (2 REO/1 SS).

Sales activity has been high relative to those numbers, with 7 sold units in the past three months (6 REO/1 SS). For quite a while, it seemed like this area was holding value a little better than the rest of the market, but right now the numbers would indicate that we might be seeing some price erosion. A big part of that goes to property condition, though. Most of these sales have been pretty rough. Most appraisers will tell you that they try to avoid using REO properties in an area when appraising a short sale or traditional sale, but when an area is saturated they have to use them and try to adjust. If 6 out of 7 doesn't qualify as saturation, I don't know what does.

Next week I should be getting the 2010 4th quarter wrap up together, and possibly the 2010 year in review right on its heels. Make sure you check in for that. I'll try not to keep you waiting until Sunday again...