There is a real estate boom going on all across the United States, as last week the National Association of Realtors revealed that housing prices rose 23.4% from June of 2020 to June of 2021. The average price went up from $294,000 to $363,300. It’s a huge gain, fueled by the cheap cost of money, thanks to low interest rates. In Danville, Virginia, however, prices are going up even faster than that, and in some instances homes are even selling at up to double their tax assessment value. There are even cases of houses that are one hundred years old, falling apart, decrepit, that are being sold at unimaginable prices. The real estate market is so hot, that I have been told that a few times houses got offers before real estate agents were able to list them on the market.
You can go to websites like Zillow and see the houses that are currently for sale and ones that have recently been sold in Danville, Virginia. This month this house sold for almost twice its tax assessment value at $58,000. It consists of 1,037 square feet and has a tax assessment of $38,000. It sold ten years ago for $41,000.
This older home sold in June for $35,00 and was built in 1910. It’s on North Main Street in Danville, some surrounding streets of which have a greater propensity for crime and troubles than the rest of the city.
This home on Kemper Road, built in 1951, sold for $44,100. Its last tax assessment valued it at $29,100.
The cheapest home I could find for sale, in Danville, that is not wildly marked up way above its tax assessed value is this one going for $19,800. It last sold in 1982 for $24,500, so anyone buying it now is getting it at a cheaper price than the last buyer did, something that makes it a rare and unique deal from a pure price perspective.
The tax assessment for this home is $15,000, which makes its listed price a mere 32% mark up from that assessment, much lower than what you often see for other homes in the area. Of, course the inside needs a little bit of work.
The homes in Danville are selling so quickly that it is becoming very difficult for a first time home buyer to spend any amount of time looking and choosing from several homes. They practically have to buy anything they can. There are out of town people scooping up the homes. Across the country there are more and more speculators borrowing money cheaply to get in this type of game, but in Danville people are also buying ahead of the opening of a Caesar’s casino, that is set to begin construction in the city by the end of the year. It will bring population growth to the city, and already there have been people of initiative moving into the area, seeing the potential for economic growth to come.
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-Mike
