We have been marketing the condo at The Grove for Randi and Tony for longer than I anticipated.  If you have been following the story at MyForSaleSign  you know that we have steadily lowered the asking price in an attempt to drive traffic through the home.  From showings and open house feedback we know the condo shows well and people like the open and spacious feeling you get from having the extra windows of an end unit.  As of today we are offering the property for $239,000.  At this asking price we are very close to the point where it won’t make financial sense for Randi and Tony to sell.

I thought I would take a look at the competition in Yuba City and in particular The Grove.  I wanted my review to be from the perspective of a potential buyer, not an experienced Realtor using MLS tools.  To accomplish this I picked one of the hundreds of sites where you can search for homes, Realtor.com.  I picked this site because I think it is well known and I am not a “showcase” member of the site where my listings will be highlighted.

My first search at Realtor.com was for any condo in Yuba City.  This meant I had no minimum price and started off with a maximum price of $500,000.  I selected “any” for both bedrooms and bathrooms.  The results yielded 51 properties.  I kept dropping the maximum price and ended up with the same 51 properties with a maximum of $275,000.  When I looked at the 51 properties they ranged from $83,000 to $244,500 and quite a few of them were half-plexes or what I call a zero-lot-line property. 

Of the 51 properties one, our listing for Randi and Tony, was shown twice.   I think the reason is because I am a member of the Placer County and Sutter/Yuba Board of Realtors, I have the home in both MLS systems. 

When looking at all the properties it is quickly clear that the lower priced units are very small, most less than 1,000 square feet and in the 2 bedroom/1 bath category.  Someone looking for a home large enough for a family or with a room for a mother-in-law is not going to be spending too much time looking at these.  I settled for looking at price range of $225 to $250,000 which yielded 15 properties.  From that group I narrowed the search by looking only at 3 or more bedrooms and 2 or more bathrooms.  This resulted in 5 properties a potential buyer of our listing would look at.

The details of the 5 condos that match a search criterion of 3 or more bedrooms, 2 or more baths and priced between $225 and $250,000 are as follows:

1)     The Grove (not ours) 3 BR/2.5 BA, 1,564 sqft., $239,000 or $152.81 per square foot

2)     1093 Courtyard (1/2 plex) 3 BR/2.5 BA, 1,444 sqft., $244,900 or $169.59 per square foot

3)     1638 Wildflower (1/2 plex) 3 BR/2.5 BA, 1,386 sqft., $249,900 or $180.30 per square foot

4)     1747 Wildflower (1/2 plex) 3 BR/2.0 BA, 1,482 sqft., $235,000 or $158.56 per square foot

5)     The Grove #20 (Ours) 3 BR/2.5 BA, 1,730 sqft., $239,000 or $138.15 per square foot

It seemed pretty clear from the above search that unit 20 at The Grove compared favorably in both size and price per square foot.  It is the largest home of the group with more square feet of living space and it could easily be converted to a 4 bedrooms.   The asking price of less than $140 per square foot was the lowest of the group.  Since some of the above homes were technically not condos I wanted to see if there were any other units in the same development.

Looking only at The Grove where unit 20 belongs to Randi and Tony, and continuing to use Realtor.com,  I found in addition to ours and number 1 above there was one additional condo for sale.  It is a 3 bedroom/2.5 bath unit with 1,564 square feet.  The asking price for this unit is $194,900 or $124.62 per square foot.  From the photo, it does not appear that it is an end unit like Randi’s. 

Finally, with a condo/townhouse as large as the one Randi and Tony want to sell, the competition can’t be just limited to other condos.  Someone looking for a place with 3 or 4 bedrooms and in the same price range of $225 to $250,000 might also look at single family homes.   This search resulted in 17 single family homes.  They were all 3 bedroom/2 bath homes and ranged in size from 1,146 to 1,962 square feet with an average of 1,347 square feet.  Only one home had more living space than Unit 20’s 1,730 square feet.  The lowest priced single family home was $235,000 and ranged up to the maximum, $250,000.  Fifteen had higher asking prices than the $239,000 for Unit 20.  The average asking price is $245,937.  On a per square foot basis the average of the fifteen single family homes in the search results is $185.66 and range from $125 to over $217 per square foot.  Only one of the houses had a lower per square foot asking price than Unit 20’s $138.

Overall, as the Realtor for Randi and Tony, I feel good about where we are on the market.  Based on the searches a potential buyer might do on the internet, we are one of three units on the market in the development.  Both units are smaller, one has the same asking price as ours, $239,000 and the other is priced significantly lower at $194,900 but looks like it may be in need some fixing up.  Neither of the two other units appears to be located on the end of a building which gives the home more windows and outdoor space.  In addition, I believe unit 20, ours, has a great location inside the development.  Compared to single family homes, we compare favorably in price, price per square foot and size but the traditional single family home has a different appeal.

Our most significant challenge at the present time is not our property, it shows well, it is in a desirable community and is priced competitively especially on a price per square foot basis.  The issue we are dealing with is the slow market.  Right now the inventory in Yuba City is high and the buyers that our out there are skeptical. 

Randi and Tony continue to have faith the right buyer will come along, they have demonstrated a level of patience I have rarely seen and are willing to stay on the market longer to make their goal of buying a larger home a reality.

Continue to follow Randi and Tony in my reality real estate series, MyForSaleSign and the MyForSaleSign Blog where we post more frequent updates.