Finally, an online marketplace that really works like an exchange.  All market participants are welcome to post and list property for a reasonable fee and target the buyers most likely to buy.  Any buyer, seller and/or their real estate agent can participate.

The teardowns.com marketplace does not favor fsbo’s or MLS postings - the marketplace simply offers connection services for buyers and sellers.  Sellers can post their own property or ask their agent to do it for them.  Buyers on the other hand, sign up to see redevelopment property opportunities in the community where they have interest.  The sellers are then connected to those buyers directly.

The NASDAQ for real estate?

Popularity: 5% [?]

From where we sit (Hinsdale, IL), the market for redevelopment property has improved.  Is this temporary - I don’t know.  What we do know is that those builders that have the capital (and courage) to undertake spec projects are capturing the existing business and have become the benefactor of any new business (building new custom homes for clients).  Activity seems to be breeding opportunity.  Maybe it’s time to peek out from under the desk, get some funding, find a price point in the marketplace that is void of good product and get back to work?

While price discovery is still in process.  We are seeing buyers begin to be more aggressive in their search for property.  In some cases, we clearly have seen the pendulum swing too far to the downside filling pricing gaps formed from the great “run-up” in prices from 2002-20051/2.  New price handles in the $200’s are being bought up quickly.  On the other end, and most surprising, some new construction projects - both for “spec” and custom are valued and trading at price points actually higher than during the height of the bubble - figure that out.

It’s not easy out there but, at some point we will look back and see where we bottomed.  We just may be there now.

  Brian

Popularity: 28% [?]

Mayor Dave Bing of Detroit promises to demolish 10,000 homes in his first term in office.  Many of the countries inner-cities are looking to teardown to help “eradicate the problem” of dangerous, vacant homes. (read the full article: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100330/OPINION03/3300342/1409/Abandoned-houses-fix-hasn-t-come)

The state of the current economy and crisis in housing has created a whole new purpose for recycling older housing stock.  Not only are investors, individuals and builders redeveloping for profit and improvement in wealthy infill markets, but the “phenomenon” is helping to clean up and stabilze communities within large Metropolitan neighborhoods - a fresh start.

Popularity: 34% [?]

New economy or old – buyers are looking to buy homes at “land-value” 

Clarendon Hills, IL - March 11, 2010 - Home sellers, whether reluctant owners such as banks or long-term prideful homeowners, are finding buyers unwilling to pay a “premium” for homes that need work or have become obsolete through deterioration, neglect, deferred maintenance or are simply architecturally out of favor.  Sound familiar?   

Today’s buyer wants to know what the land is worth before entering into negotiations.  “The traditional home buyer is reluctant to pay more than replacement cost or land-value for older homes that need substantial updating or total renovation” says Carrie Kenna of Re/Max Elite and owner of Kenna Builders, in Hinsdale, Illinois. 

Additionally, foreclosures and abandoned housing has left many once marketable homes saddled with irreversible mold and structural damage, opening up a whole new category of teardown properties. “Whether a prime, two acre property in Greenwich, Connecticut, or inner city bungalow in Chicago; these property types are still clearing the market at the value of their land,” says Brian Hickey, President of teardowns.com, a marketing firm and brokerage specializing in this sector of the market. 

Regardless of what the future holds or state of the current economy, the amenity and home preference wave has gone over the crest.  The 50’s ranch and 60’s split-level are not the dream homes of the new millennium.  While not every community shares the same economics, those neighborhoods that rode the high wave of the real estate housing bubble are still in redevelopment mode.  Though the pace has changed, the essence of the transaction remains very much the same.  

About teardowns.com 

Teardowns.com was founded in 2001 to satisfy the unmet needs of homeowners whose property value was in the land.  Teardowns.com is a stand-alone marketplace for consumers, brokerage and marketing tool for real estate professionals.  The Company licenses its national brand, systems and marketing programs to traditional local agents and brokers throughout the U.S.  

Contact: Brian S. Hickey                                                                     

Tel: 630-654-4100

Popularity: 42% [?]

Susan Stark of Gibson International in Los Angeles grabbed the licenses for teardowns.com in the Brentwood and Pacific Palisades market.  Susan will own the rights to the most powerful and recognizable brand in redevelopment real estate. Susan’s expertise will be enhanced with the systems and programs offered through www.teardowns.com.

You can contact Susan at 310-345-7450 or susanstarkhomes@gmail.com

Popularity: 57% [?]