Living In Pike.com

There are four 2009 triathlons scheduled in Eagle Creek Park: 6/20, 7/18, 8/22, 8/29. On these four Saturday mornings, around 8.15am, the police plan to close westbound West 56th Street between I-465 and the Eagle Creek Park entrance for up to an hour for the bicycle portion of the race.

I am just about half way done. I figure it will take about one more month. By that time I will have 6 months of 2009 in and should be able to forecast what this year will be in foreclosures.

I am also coming up with some very interesting changes of over past years. We are starting to see high end foreclosures.

Traders Hollow is one of my favorite communities in Pike Township. I have a hard time comparing it to any other community. Very unique homes in a very unique setting. Most homes are worth between $500,000 and $1,000,000 and in my opinion well worth it. I had a buyer for one 2 years ago. The house sat on the side of a hill in a very wooded area and had the biggest deck on the back that I had ever seen. During that sale my interest in Traders Hollow peaked. I vowed to myself to see every home that I could. Since that time the market has not been kind to Traders Hollow. There was a 1.4 millon dollar sale where mortgage fraud was involved. It was back on the maket and just recently sold for $550,000. Someone got a true bargin with that house. There was a brand new house that got built in 2007. Nobody ever lived in it before it got listed as a short sale and was headed on it’s way to foreclosure. The list price was $995,000. I saw the house last year with Laura Heigl. It is what I call a “one breath house”. The finished basement had flooded and men were there pumping it out. The smell was so bad that you needed to step outside, take a deep breath, hold it and run inside the house to look and run back outside to exhale. Apparently the house was put back into shape because it recently sold for $445,000. A third house, also involved with mortgage fraud, which has been off the market for about 2 years was just listed in March this year and went pending in 30 days. I had vowed to see this house when it went on the market but missed my chance. When it went pending 4/1 it was priced at $315,000. I would say during it’s hay day it was probably worth something closer to $500,000. It has great curb appeal and the pictures on the listing look interesting. The listing sheet says it was suppose to close on 4/30/2009 and it has not. Maybe the transaction is falling apart and I will get a 2nd chance to see it.

Last year my dear Realtor friend Jean Long had a listing in Traders Hollow. I had seen the house before she got the listing. Jean had it for 98 days and it sold for $500,000. This was not a foreclosed on home. It was a regular sale. The house was very unique and well suited for a big family. When it sold, I got my faith back about Traders Hollow and what the houses were really worth. You go girl!

This year, because of foreclosures, it has been a wonderful time to buy higher end housing. Most people think foreclosed housing is in the $100,000 range. For the most part in the past, that has been true. Now because of the economy, many high end houses are going or have gone through foreclosure. As you can see above, there are deals to be had.

I am not picking on Traders Hollow. I could pick just about any community in Pike Township and tell you stories. As I said before, Traders Hollow is one of my favorite communities in Pike and it is just going through the economy cycle just like all other communities.