Baker Louisiana 70714: 2010 Appraiser Housing Market Observations

http://www.fhaappraisersbatonrouge.com/ – Baker Louisiana FHA Appraisers: 2010 Housing Market Observations

There’s some good news for the Baker housing market! A segment of the Baker market is now increasing in median sales price from the March 2009 period, see charting below. The parameters of the GBRAR MLS search included homes from $70,000 to $135,000, 16 years old plus, 3 bedrooms in 70714 zip code – data extracted on April 14, 2010.

Why I stated “some good news”. For the home I appraising at approximately 1,300sf, there were 33 competing listings, indicating an oversupplied market.  There's a 7 to 9 month supply of housing on the market and multiple REO properties on the market, both listed in MLS and not listed in MLS.  Remember that the Michael Tarabotto Active Rain article "The Landmines Within"  @ http://activerain.com/blogsview/930436/The-Landmines-Within stated that up to 70% of REOs are no longer listed in the local MLS and I have found this to be true.   And, since April of 2008, the previous 2 years, 20% of solds in MLS were REOs or foreclosures (20 REOs out of a total 102 comparable sales). Baker was one of the markets that investors took advantage of immediately after Hurricane Katrina buying low and selling very high. This resulted in a series of foreclosures within the Baker market dating back to 2007.