Tell me about Real Estate Values in Salt Lake City

126coupe · 126coupe's Garage

My 18 year old nephew F''ed up. He moved from Dana Point to Salt Lake city in Late November. My sister( the kids mother) bought a house for hom to rent. She put 45K down and financed the rest (220K 3BR house 1/4 acre). He paid one months rent and bailed!

What are her chances of getting her $$ back out?

Commission, holding costs, closing costs? Has the market in Salt Lake softened since November 2005??

I figure she will be lucky to get 10K back

How about your thoughts? I guess he got tired of shoveling snow!

motion · 02-08-2006, 03:39 PM

Ask a realtor to run comps for you. I highly doubt the home has appreciated 10% in just 2 months (enough to sell and break even). Sounds like she could probably get $20k back give or take. That's a tough lesson!

scottmandue · 02-08-2006, 04:03 PM

Any chance you could rent the place out?

jkarolyi · 02-08-2006, 04:15 PM

Don't know if this works for Salt Lake City, but here is a free way to run comps. I've found it to be very accurate:

http://www.ditech.com/equity/calculators/appraisal/form.do

motion · 02-08-2006, 04:29 PM

Cool link, Jay. Just tried it on 4 houses. It doesn't seem to take into account different models in each tract. But very cool, nonetheless!

CRH911S · 02-08-2006, 05:02 PM

Just ran a comp on my home and God, don't let the municipality find out...Clinton

JavaBrewer · JavaBrewer's Garage

I find online value calculators to be of dubious value. For example my current home listed total sq/ft at 600 less than actual and high selling price $350K less than what my two neighbors with smaller floorplans just sold for.

To get accurate values you really need to get a local realtor run comps.

JavaBrewer · JavaBrewer's Garage

I think SLC is moving up in value. They somehow managed to sidestep the big gains everyone else experienced that last couple years and if anything the homes are undervalued. The problem with SLC is that very very few people are moving there. Buyers are going to be current residents (renters becoming buyers or buyers moving up).

turbo6bar · 02-08-2006, 06:20 PM

http://www.zillow.com

Just came out. It is in Beta, but this may become huge. The founder of Expedia wants to do for real estate as he's done for the travel industry. 6% commission go bye-bye???

I also use domania.com

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

The Ditech calculator won't take my address because it has an "A" in the house number. There's a big difference between the A and B units. The Zillow site is a good $70k off what the A units are going for now.

turbo6bar · 02-09-2006, 05:59 AM

It is in Beta

PeteT · 02-09-2006, 10:23 AM

I sold my house last November for $660k. In zillow.com after "refining" the value it came in at $659k. Actually I am pretty impressed. A couple of the homes the wife and I have being looking at come in real close too. I think if you refine the value, kitchen upgrade, bath remodel the site is pretty accurate.

911skb · 02-09-2006, 02:58 PM

I agree with David above. SLC has not appreciated like some other hot spots in the country. SLC hasn't even kept up with other spots in Utah, like St George. That being said, she at least didn't buy into a bubble market that is ripe to pull back, just not a flood of people bailing from over priced markets moving to SLC. She will probably lose some of her down payment.

Check out assist2sell.com, they have lower commisions. It may take a little bit to move, but if she can afford to wait, it may be a good idea.

JavaBrewer · JavaBrewer's Garage

About two years ago my brother-in-law tried selling his house after I convinced him to move to Temecula. After 8+ months on the market and not one potential buyer he decided to stay in SLC. To make matters worse a couple of his neighbors who were facing foreclosure sacraficed their homes for $100K less than what he was asking. It can only get better there...