Homestead mailing list

["Lisa K.V. Perry" <lisakvperry AT gmail.com>]

If you guys are interested, I propose we take an informal survey of our list
members (lurkers included) regarding the housing bubble in your neck of the
woods.  It might be interesting, what do you say?

Mention where you live and/or nearest city (the bubble would  have more
impact on the nearest city and not your off-the- beaten-path homestead),
changes noticed from spring/summer 05 to current (increase-decrease-about
the same or #) in # of homes for sale, whether you see prices coming down
with "price reduced" ads or other info, and possibly how long it's taking to
sell the property.  Include any other relevant information if you choose.

I'll go first.

I live in Floyd, VA, pop. 14,000 for all of Floyd County.  We're located 35
minutes south of Blacksburg and 45 minutes sw of Roanoke.  In Floyd, we have
had an increase of homes for sale (don't know the stats) and a few have
featured "price reduced" ads in the paper--which is unheard of around here.
Overall, things are holding steady from last year to now.  Have noticed an
increase in expensive homes ($300k++) for sale, but that may be a
coincidence.

Had a conversation with a Realtor friend yesterday who lives and works in
Blacksburg.  She saw her first ever "foreclosure" sign on a $400k home in a
popular newer subdivision in Bburg, she said she stopped to doublecheck the
sign, to make sure it said what it did.  Also, in June 05 there were 45
homes for sale in the MLS for Blacksburg (which I thought was a low #, no
wonder many of them sold the same day) and in June 06 there were 140.
Housing prices are still fairly steady, but houses are taking much longer to
sell.  Blacksburg has a pop. of 40k (which swells to 70k when VA Tech is in
session) and Roanoke is roughly 100k.

Lisa