Worth Noting: Builder optimistic about Grand Island
| Monday, Mar 16 2009 10:17 PM
Last Updated Monday, Mar 30 2009 04:23 PM
Homebuilder Phil Gaskill reports there are fewer listings — and brown lawns, a sign of foreclosures — in the Grand Island neighborhood in southwest Bakersfield.
“The higher-end neighborhoods tend to suffer the least and come back first,” he said.
He builds in the master-planned community and has built in Bakersfield since 1983.
Gaskill called Monday afternoon and said in early February 2008, there were 64 home listings in Grand Island, according to the Multiple Listing Service.
Here’s a breakdown:
• 32 were normal or not in foreclosure.
• 11 were spec homes, residences builders construct without specific buyers.
• 21 were distressed listings, either foreclosures or short sales, in which a lender accepts offers that are less than what a home is worth.
As of Saturday, there were 17 listings in Grand Island:
• 10 were normal.
• 4 were spec homes.
• 3 were distressed.
Gaskill said he’s seen more traffic at model homes, a second positive indicator. About 30 people came to check out models the week of March 9.
“If they’re serious buyers, about 30 days later, you start to see the deposits and the sales start to form,” he said.
Only about 15 percent to 20 percent of visitors who toured Gaskill’s models knew about the $10,000 state tax credits available to buyers of new homes on a first-come, first-served basis.
“We mention it to everybody,” he said. “I thought everybody knew about it.”
