Menifee Home Prices Falling Down

The Californian has an article today concerning the value of homes in South West Riverside County falling down compared to a year ago...

Real estate markets have slowed across Southern California for more than a year now, but the slowdown in Riverside and San Bernardino counties was significant, an economist said. That's because a relatively large number of borrowers with low credit scores have been flocking inland in search of less expensive houses, observers said.

Read the full article here...
http://www.nctimes.com/..../4_01_595_15_07.txt

The article reports that the recent sub-prime mortgage fiasco has caused lenders to be more strict against borrowers with risky credit. Whereas in the past, we could sell our homes to people with below-average credit, now we can't, making it tougher to find buyers.

Here in the Menifee Hills development, where I live, I see several homes for sale, including at least one identified as a bank repo. Some of the homes for sale are the same model and from the same builder as mine, and they are listed at prices below than what I was hoping for.

Though, I'm probably one of the lucky ones who bought their home six years ago, when prices were still half of what they are now. If I were to sell, I can afford to drop my price below the others. Those who bought their homes only one or two years ago, don't have that margin.

Have any of you homeowners taken the time to browse the model homes at some of these new developments? My wife and I visited the Pacific Mayfield models off of Evans road about two months ago, and were impressed with the value. For the price they were selling, you got quite a bit of home with a lot of extras thrown in.

I'm not a Realtor, but the way I see it, if you're trying to sell your home, it's these new homes is what you have to compete against.