The District is Looking Good for Buyers AND Sellers

The local paper had a story last week about the strength of the real estate market for Riverside, Avondale and Ortega. Much of the interest is coming from first time home buyers eager to take advantage of teh $8000 tax incentive, out-of-town buyers moving to Jacksonville and beach residents looking to get closer to the city. Another good statistic is that people looking to move into the district are looking for their own personal homes instead of those looking to make a quick buck flipping.

“Most of the phone calls we receive are for the historic areas,” said Nabel Nunez, broker with Exit Southern Heritage Realty in Riverside. “The area has good appreciation, and a lot of people moving to Jacksonville from out of town are looking for a community like this.” We know the value of our historic properties, but it is nice to hear it from others from time to time.

Good News and Bad News

The latest statistics at Trulia have a mixed bag to offer as far as home prices go in Avondale. The fact that they are mixed has got to be good news, especially in this market. First, for the bad news. It isn't surprising in light the fear mongering news media that for the Average Listing Price dropped 7.2% to $390,421 in the past month (week ending Nov 28). The bright side of the story is that the Median Sales Price for the quarter ending Nov '07 rose 4.0%
to $245,000. AND the Average Price per Square Foot also ROSE to $181. That was a modest 1.7% – BUT it did rise!

Riverside was also a mixed bag but it, too, had more on the positive than negative side.
These numbers are also for the quarter ending Nov 28, 2007. The Average Listing Price rose to $502,093. That's a 9.7% increase. The Average Price per Square Foot also made gains of a whopping 12.8% to $123. The Median Sales Price was the sore spot with a 5.0% loss to $211,000. And according to Trulia's heat map, the most popular neighborhoods in Jacksonville, Avondale was numer one and Riverside was number two.

So take that news people! Where's your housing bubble now? Historic homes are and ALWAYS will be a good investment. And for all of you who are looking to buy, you couldn't find a better place to live!