Can you afford it now?
We've pretty much blown through the first couple of stages of grief with regard to the Southern California housing bust.
There's no room left for denial now that home prices in the Southland are down 44% from their peak in 2007, and there's not much use for anger.
Now we're bargaining.
Previously stubborn sellers are dropping listing prices and banks are increasingly agreeing to "short sales," in which a home is sold for less than the amount of its mortgage.
A real estate recovery may be at least a year off, but in this falling market homes are being listed -- and some sold -- at prices not seen in years.
The median sales price in Southern California just fell below $300,000 for the first time since 2003. On both sides of that midpoint, expectations of what a dollar -- or a million -- is worth in the housing market are being challenged as buyers try to avoid paying too much, and sellers decide what they'll give up to make a deal.
Here's a look at what's available at five price ranges.
$100,000
Palm Springs, one-bedroom, one-bathroom condominium listed for $95,000
For five figures in Los Angeles, the offerings are pretty humble. Pretty typical is a one-bedroom, one-bathroom house on East 98th Street in South Los Angeles, near the intersection of the Harbor Freeway and Century Boulevard. Its listing calls the 738-square-foot house "great for a growing family." The seller wants $85,000 for the house, which sold in 2006 for . . . $365,000.
But in Palm Springs, instead of security bars on the windows, you can get a place in a gated community. This condo complex has six swimming pools and three tennis courts. The unit is listed as a short sale, which means the lender will have to agree to let the property go for less than its mortgage amount. Craig Conley, the listing agent, said he was confident the bank would approve a sale at the asking price of $95,000. The property last sold in 2005 for $150,000. There are more than 30 other condos in the Palm Springs area for sale below $100,000, and in the last three months, more than 20 condo units there have sold for less than $100,000.
$250,000
Corona, four-bedroom, 2 1/2 -bath house listed for $253,900
Riverside County's November median price of $220,000 was down 38% from the previous year, but this Corona house shows just how much more prices could drop. The foreclosed, 10-year-old, 1,850-square-foot Corona house is now listed for sale at 47% of what it sold for in 2006, when it was purchased for $535,000.
- Home Sales and Prices Fall in Ventura County Jan 17, 1995
- Average Price Jumps 4.4% in August - Home Sales Still on a Streak, TRW Data Shows Sep 13, 1988
- Home sales tumble 20% in U.S. Jan 01, 2008
