Since Jeff and Jim became “partners” in buying, renting, holding, selling and trading single family homes (SFH) for TheMonopolyProject we have significantly increased our search activities. We’re looking for “The Perfect Monopoly” house. We completed the purchase of the house on 29th Avenue in Apache Junction on the 16th of February. We purchased for $246,000 on 2/16/2021. Currently the Zestimate® shows $254,888. Given today’s crazy market in Phoenix, we’re sure we could get more than that. But we’re not selling now. We are long term holders.

But we are still digesting our last purchase. Our target is 1-2 houses per year, so we are not in a big hurry to buy NOW. Especially since the market the market is TOO crazy.

“It’s crazy. There is no inventory,” the CEO of KB Home told CNN Business.

“She listed a fixer-upper in suburban Washington, DC for $275,000 on a Thursday. By Sunday evening, she had 88 offers.

…

The four-bedroom, 1,800 square-foot home sold for $460,000, nearly a 70% increase from the asking price. She said the winning bid was not the highest offer, but it was all-cash with no contingencies and it had paperwork in place. The buyer, she said, is an investor who is likely to renovate and resell at an even higher price.”

“Home Prices Soar 18% To An All Time High; A Record 58% Of Houses Sell Within Two Weeks Of Listing”: “45% of homes sold for more than their list price, an all-time high. This was 18 percentage points higher than the same period a year earlier.”

We are fine with sitting for now.

We are still intrigued by the new home market in Casa Grande. There are financial and non-financial advantages to a new home versus an existing home:

  1. Financial 1: After qualifying for the loan, you only must put down the earnest deposit. In the meantime, the house that is being built appreciates in value. Typically, the new home builder raises the prices of the houses as the development is built out. So, it is best to be first in line, buy at the beginning of that development.
  2. Financial 2: The new home builders offer incentives if you use their services such as lenders and title companies. The question is whether you are really getting a good deal. We plan to have out loan agent Brian Szabo shadow the purchase to see how good a deal we are getting.
  3. Non-financial 1: The home will be move in ready. No need for repairs.
  4. Non-financial 2: We can “watch” the house being built. Jeff is an expert at this since he was VP of new home for KB when he first started in real estate.

The Lucid Motors story in Casa Grande continues:

Lucid had received a $1 billion-plus investment from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

And Jeff has some good advice for the equity in your home: