In my area?  I have been sleeping for weeks. Hibernation.  lol   This is a good post, but on the financing side, it's not as easy right now. Many investors look at these properties as risk.... you need money down on these... financing is different, at least on the condo versions and condotels....  in regards to these patio homes... I don't think I have seen them around. There are 5 condos that went up down the street from me... and 3 of them use a community driveway.....  who knows, different areas might use different names?  different regions?

Sounding in from Honolulu. My community of Mililani is one of the areas on the island that has had patio homes since the early 1970's. They have to be priced on their own merits, just like zero lot line homes and townhouses. Mililani is a planned community, and it has a mix of every kind of housing, except condotel and highrises. Realtors here simply have to know the area, or find someone who does to help them. Condotels are strictly a Waikiki item in Honolulu, and have their own idiosyncrasies, down to whether or not the units have a sink and refrigerator or a cooktop and sink (lender criteria for what type of financing, as Owner Occupant qualified, etc.) So, to try to stay on the subject, market data here is simply a blunt measuring tool, best used as a simple broad range market indicator. The MLS monthly data breaks their report down into 19 neighborhood groupings, which is helpful, but not gospel.

Michael:  I like how the MLS monthly data is broken down in your area.  Salestraq does that for new construction and when you see the growth and appreciation for different types of homes it is much better than looking at as an all in one solution!  Our MLS does break it up by SFR and Condo/Townhome.  The patio homes are considered SFR and the condo conversions are considered condos.  Therefore, they could be watering down the prices in both of those categories!

Jeff:  I think different areas call things differently.  I do think in areas where we are seeing more high density housing being built QUICKLY to accomodate growth that the high density/lower priced housing is skewing prices

Great post!  You deserve a crown!!!!  Keep up the great writing!!!

Colleen..... where is my crown?  lol  Renee..... you do make a good point that those properties that you mentioned do lower the prices...... especially condo conversions... why?  The foundation is already up... a large part of costs... Great Point in regards to costs...

What's happening on the street always has the potential to skew the average/median prices.  The media and NAR likes to think that a raise in median prices of X% means that homes are worth X% more.  The real estate professional in the trenches knows that this is not always the case.

Renee that is why it is good to break down averages as much as you can. You can do it by subdivision, size of house, type of housing.... the point is the more narrow the focus the more accurate you will be.

We have seen some towns have a huge increase in average price (30+%), but the reality is existing had maybe a 8% increase. The overall average went up big time, but it was due to a high end new construction site and nothing to do with the true increase of existing homes. At the same time there are some towns that the average sales price has gone down due to low end condo conversions and hundreds of cheap units closing all at once.

These are easy to exclude if you keep your focus narrow and then the number mean something.

I never was one for statisics.  If people start buying new million dollar homes the average sales price will go way up.  But that doesn't mean my $200,000 resale home went up in value.  Even in my neighborhood it can get deceiving.  Sometimes all the junker homes go on the market at once and begin to skew the averages.  Again, that doesn't make the nicer home become less valuable.  People seem to like averages but I think they are a waste of time. 

Great Post, thanks.

 I actually grew up in a 'patio home' - a Hollywood Bungalow - we shared a common drivewy with our neighbor.  We both had a dtached 1 car garage with a common wall in the middle.

In Hemet, the market has traditionally been older homes from the 30's to the 70's with a few 80' and a even fewer 90's era homes - then all of a sudden, it's like everything was built this decade - how do you figure a medium on that???

JOHN OCCHI, HEMET REALTOR
www.JohnOcchi.Com

Interesting blog.With Nevada, Florida is attracting the most boomers. With investors the trend for 2003-2005 was towards condos, towhouses and carriage homes which is abit like your patio home. It is a great buyers market now. .With a very strong growth and 2.6% unemployement Fort Myers is also seeing solid commercial expension and investments in new shopping centers and commercial building in general.Very interesting to see how you were doing in your neck of the woods.We are seeing more homes/condos in the low to mid $200 and the choices are great for buyers these days.

We have all of the home styles / types in my area, Maryland and Northern Virginia.  What is built is determined by land costs.  As land becomes more expensive, the lots get smaller.  Cost of construction is still the same, so the prices of the smaller lot construction is lower. 

We have all of them.  Mmmmm, inspiration for an article. 

Lenn

THE KING & QUEEN OF BLOGGING  HEY  COLLEEN  I WANT MY CROWN BACK!!!!  Stolen from the TLW!

We have just about every kind of property out there, zero-lot, garden, patio, etc...  I get a good laugh everytime I get a relo buyer that says they want a minimum of an acre, or 2-5 acres, or they want in this city with a horse... umm, where?  This might be Texas, but it doesn't mean the land comes with each house.  Is land out there?  Yes, but not at the prices most of the buyers want to pay.  But the main thing that the buyers don't understand is that even if it's there, IS IT FOR SALE? Probably not...

A good reminder to look beyond the headlines

I think they mean a lot - especially when they contradict the doom and gloom spouted by the media - prices overall are UP for 2006.

Renee,

Thanks for the post. We still focus on the median price since we have such radical swings within a given town.

Great responses all!  Donna, yours was too funny!  You should ask them if they would just settle with putting a gun rack in their pickup truck :)

Renee, you would be surprised... Many of the pick 'em up trucks have those stainless steel trunks in the back and they have locks on them.  I'm sure many use them as gunracks!!  We have that concealed weapons law around these parts! (typing with a very thick twang)

HAHAHHA!  I just say that because I am from Omaha and people always ask me if I had a "pick em up truck with a gun rack"

Then I gotta tell them, no I was not born in a barn, no I have never milked a cow, now I didn't live on a farm people...

I just gotta roll those eyes and make em realize that Omaha metro is as big as Las Vegas metro.

Renee, here was my trip to Nebraska:

http://activerain.com/blogsview/My-Trip-to-Auburn-Nebraska?10262

My husband's family is all from there.  We're going up next month to say "good bye" to his grandfather.  I really think they were all  born in  barns.  They were definitely all raised on farms!!  I got a framed picture of me driving the combine for xmas from his mom!!