I was looking for a client in the SW side of Killeen for a client who wanted to stay in the Shoemaker High School district. He wanted something newer but at a great price, so I of course thought “Bridgewood foreclosure”.
Bridgewood Estates is a newer subdivision on the corner of Clear Creek and Stan Schlueter that has had a hard time since the builders left. The homes are spacious and still in great condition, but prices deteriorated, homeowners were underwater, and foreclosures were a dime a dozen. 57 homes closed in Bridgewood year-to-date 2015 (today is the 29th of December), a whopping 27 of which were foreclosures. Half of the homes sold in Bridgewood were foreclosures.
No more.
I honestly think my eyes are lying. But there are 28 homes for sale in Bridgewood now. How many are foreclosures?
1.
I have noticed that this side of town has been trending for this year. Lost of people seem to want to be either buying or renting around here. The new Wal-Mart is up and running, the builders are keeping busy in Bunny Trails, Eagle Valley, Goodnight Ranch and Purser Crossing, and it is close to the Texas A&M Central Texas campus. My own fourplex is in the vicinity, so my money is where my mouth is. I’ve always encouraged multi-family investors to check out this area.
It’s not just Bridgewood, though. I’ve looked more broadly at the market as a whole, and here are the foreclosure trends.
Typically, foreclosures have made up about 20-25% of the Fort Hood market. After peaking in 2013, it has steadily decreased. So is the market improving? Inventory has only been dropping slightly, and Killeen home values have only kept up with inflation. But foreclosures getting picked up left and right suggests to me that prices may be set to rise in 2016.
First, a note about the methodology. Looking at foreclosures on the market now is not necessarily representative of how often they sell, because the both sell more quickly than traditional homes, and sell more reliably, so foreclosures almost surely still make up more than 8% of home sales at the moment.
But it’s not that big a difference. Foreclosures are on the market an average of 30 days versus 47 for traditional sellers.
What it means to you.
This is great for Fort Hood area sellers, as foreclosures generally bring down home values. And obviously, what’s good for sellers is bad for buyers. Fort Hood is still a buyer’s market, but that window may be starting to close (interest rates are already climbing). I am personally cautiously optimistic about the trajectory of the Fort Hood real estate market. The foreclosure trend is another statistic that I hope validates my belief.