Greetings, Fans! Over the last month the wheels have been thrown off any prior forecast on the future of our real estate market. First, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) settled several lawsuits. The media is talking about how this will change the way real estate is done in the future. President Biden even weighed in and told us the economy will be better because of all the money people will save in real estate transactions. This is a false statement. The simple important facts are real estate commissions have, in the last 50 years, been negotiable. The second fact is: the buyer has always paid the commission. Sellers build…

Greetings Fans, I do not know about you, but I am done with this cold weather! Winter has not been too bad this year, but enough cold is enough. I am ready to see the cactus blooms, trees budding, birds singing, and the sun shining for more than 10 hours a day. Our real estate market has been in a defrost mode for almost two years now. Last month we closed escrow, basin wide, on just fifty-seven homes. I have been producing these Updates since 2013. I cannot find a month this low in all my Updates. Maybe there is one back there, but I cannot see it. Fifty-seven escrows…

Happy New Year Fans, 2023 will go down as one of the slowest years for real estate sales in our Hi Desert communities. I have been offering these Updates since 2013. Last year’s sales were on par with sales in 2013-2015. Around 1,100 sales in those three years. Last year we closed 1,123 homes in our communities. One would consider this a major slowdown from the peak in 2022 of 2,066 sales. Unlike national averages, prices in all our communities dropped. 6.75% in Yucca Valley. 13.60% in Joshua Tree and 7.50% in Twentynine Palms. Yucca Valley and Joshua Tree saw the average lot size increase while Twentynine Palms saw the…

Season’s Greetings Fans, The holidays are fully on us along with the winter weather. The focus on family and holidays takes away from home buying. In our communities, November, December, January, and February tend to be our slowest months for sales in real estate. Last month was no different than most past years. There is hope for 2024. This last week we have seen interest rates dropping into the low 7% range. I have heard of some lenders even slipping into the high 6% range for borrowers with fantastic credit. The current opinion of leaders in our industry is that with the drop in interest and, more importantly, the Fed’s…

Happy November Fans, Attached you will find this month’s Hi Desert Real Estate Market Update. No big surprises but a couple of noteworthy items are included. As I mentioned last month, our market is tracking along like 2015’s market. In 2015 we closed escrow on 1,158 homes. We are currently tracking to close around 1,100 this year. The more interesting statistic is that in 2015 the average price of a home in Yucca Valley was $174,000 ($418,000 in this report). $152,000 in Joshua Tree ($437,000 in this report). In Twentynine Palms the average in 2015 was 100,000 ($266,000 in this report). Investing in Hi Desert Real estate over the last…