Remember 2005? You could buy a house in January for $300,000 and sell it in December for nearly $400,000! Or you could list a house for $250,000, get ten offers and end up getting $300,000! Folks were so hungry to get in on the bonanza that Sacramentans were buying new homes in Gridley for $350,000 and commuting.
But when the real estate apocalypse hit, poor Gridley got the short end of the stick. Sacramentans went back to buying homes in Sac, Chicoans couldn’t afford the 30 mile commute and nobody from Gridley was buying $300,000-$500,000 homes in Gridley.
The beautiful new subdivisions nearly became ghost towns. But then foreclosures drove the prices on those homes so low that they again became attractive as the lowest priced newer homes around.
I’ve been showing Gridley area homes to a client for the last 3 weeks. He’s a young man whose father died and left him his home in San Jose. It took him two years to sell the home, but thanks to it being owned by his dad since the 1960’s the home that they had bought for $15,000 sold for $420,000, more than enough to buy him a clean newer home near where his extended family resides…in Gridley. He wants to keep the price under $200,000. How much home in Gridley will that buy at today’s prices?
We looked at probably 20 homes, primarily in Gridley but also in Live Oak and Oroville. The best prices on the nicest, newest homes, in the best neighborhoods seemed to be in Gridley. The homes were all built between 2002 and 2007. All were between approximately 1600 -2500 square feet. Amenities ranged from above average quality to custom tile, granite, stainless appliances and more. Some of these homes were owner occupied, the majority were either short-sales or bank-owned. Prices ranged from $167,000- $225,000! This equates to a price per foot ranging from around $89 to $113 per foot. As the old saying goes: “you can’t build ‘em for that”!
Compare this to the price per foot being paid in the middle of the last decade - $250 per foot was not uncommon in our area.
If you’re looking for a great deal in Butte County, you may want to reconsider Gridley!
But when the real estate apocalypse hit, poor Gridley got the short end of the stick. Sacramentans went back to buying homes in Sac, Chicoans couldn’t afford the 30 mile commute and nobody from Gridley was buying $300,000-$500,000 homes in Gridley.
The beautiful new subdivisions nearly became ghost towns. But then foreclosures drove the prices on those homes so low that they again became attractive as the lowest priced newer homes around.
I’ve been showing Gridley area homes to a client for the last 3 weeks. He’s a young man whose father died and left him his home in San Jose. It took him two years to sell the home, but thanks to it being owned by his dad since the 1960’s the home that they had bought for $15,000 sold for $420,000, more than enough to buy him a clean newer home near where his extended family resides…in Gridley. He wants to keep the price under $200,000. How much home in Gridley will that buy at today’s prices?
We looked at probably 20 homes, primarily in Gridley but also in Live Oak and Oroville. The best prices on the nicest, newest homes, in the best neighborhoods seemed to be in Gridley. The homes were all built between 2002 and 2007. All were between approximately 1600 -2500 square feet. Amenities ranged from above average quality to custom tile, granite, stainless appliances and more. Some of these homes were owner occupied, the majority were either short-sales or bank-owned. Prices ranged from $167,000- $225,000! This equates to a price per foot ranging from around $89 to $113 per foot. As the old saying goes: “you can’t build ‘em for that”!
Compare this to the price per foot being paid in the middle of the last decade - $250 per foot was not uncommon in our area.
If you’re looking for a great deal in Butte County, you may want to reconsider Gridley!
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