There was also a time several years ago when AZ home prices really tanked (at least they did around Phoenix), and people with cash bought up homes for investment. It was not unusual to have someone buy one home for snowbirding in the winter and another home nearby to rent out. IIRC, some of the 3 BR/2BA homes with garages were only selling for about $120k, which was really a bargain for someone coming from a large city. Maybe they have now decided to start getting rid of those exra homes.

Bruce

"In an age where people have zero savings,"

What are you talking about?

Stax not everyone is independently wealthy or have wealthy parents to borrow money from when they are out of work. Nice try by the way.

Still attacking I see. You used to have very interesting posts some I agreed with others I did not. One of your words must fit both of us.

We aren't wealthy by most standards, but we are in the process of purchasing a condo while not having our current house on the market. Our house will be empty when we sell it. We've been fortunate to buy in the right place at the right time so we don't have to keep our house spotless while packing to move to another region of the US.

Another option is moving to work in a different state - if it’s short notice it can be easier to pack up and move into a rental in the new area and deal with selling the house remotely. When we were in a similar situation we had 3 weeks to show our house, sell our house, pack up and move (all with a newborn on our hands) and it was insanity. Fortunately it was a hot sellers market so the selling part was quick and easy, but if we had needed repairs/staging/open houses/etc we would have had to move first.

Some of baby boomers are selling their investment properties, cashing out.

Older people move into retirement homes or into homes with family. People get divorced and sell the home, moving into apartments or in with family. People's jobs transfer them to another state. People rent a house for a couple months so their house shows better without their crap in it, or they stay with parents to save money for a couple months while the new house is in escrow.

People are scared of Covid, and don't want to live where strangers are marching in and out. Plenty of folks are out of work due to the effects of the pandemic on their jobs/workplaces/employers.

We sold our last home while living there, with toddlers, and I wouldn't recommend that to anyone. Probably a lot of folks are smarter than we were in that circumstance, and know to save their sanity by planning for an interim residence.

Just curious: you mentioned that the homes where people still live there are "older" (you mean the homes are older?) or "retired" (you mean the owners are retired?)--how do you know the owners are retired from zillow--?

I was thinking of rentals and out of state transfers for sure. Especially here. And it seems like the vacancies are higher here than in another state I watch. Maybe between all that is explained here it it just adds up to the 50%. I know I had a person that said the 50% didn't jive, but, I've been keeping a tally. Mainly because I found it odd. And it's running just a bit over 50% give or take. I know it's difficult and stressful to pay for more than one home. Sometimes sales just don't go as planned and I for one would really hate to use up savings for that. Whatever the reason, as I watch the market, it just seemed really odd to have such a high rate of vacancies and was just curious.

Quote:

Just curious: you mentioned that the homes where people still live there are "older" (you mean the homes are older?) or "retired" (you mean the owners are retired?)--how do you know the owners are retired from zillow--?

I looked for patterns of vacancies and there weren't any that were blatant. Older homes sometimes shows longevity w/the owner here, so I was looking for some kind of pattern. We have many retirement communities and it actually seemed as if those were not vacant, although I realize some can be 2nd homes, but that doesn't appear to be where most of the sales are. They appear to be the every-day neighborhood family homes. Some of that is evidenced by area, bedroom/bathroom ratio, basic wear and tear (inside and outside), neighborhood community park and children's areas and price. Most are just the median price. Not rich, not poor.

I can tell retirement based on a retirement community first and foremost (age limitation). And of course those that aren't vacant is evidenced by that and several bedrooms with other uses, or the 2 bed/2 bath ratio. Tucson is a high retirement area. I'm not ruling anything out, just not finding any pattern except that they are median priced, family neighborhoods mostly.

In a world that talks of overspending, an abundance of debt, lack of emergency funds, wanting or having big and new, I was simply curious on what it could be.

We did not occupy our home when it was listed a month ago. We'd actually put in an offer on a home on the other side of the state almost two weeks earlier and we needed to do everything just right to get top dollar and a quick offer on our current home.

For us that meant moving out and having a people come in to touch-up interior paint, clean areas that are overlooked (more than just "broom clean"), clean gutters, do minor landscaping, do a light staging of our home, etc. We've leased a short-term fully furnished multiplex unit until we move into our new home (closed 9/15!).

It has been a hassle but it paid off. The offer we received on our home pays for the added expenses that we've incurred paying for the people that made our home standout. But, the piece of mind that came from multiple showings and multiple offers within days of going live really reduced the level of stress that we all go the when buying/selling homes.