Interesting article today in the Arizona Republic:

Under-$200,000 market gives home sales a push
Affordability lures first-time buyers, investors

I personally haven’t seen the “bidding wars” on short sales mentioned in the article. Not to say it isn’t happening, but in my experience the short sales are sitting there until the bank takes them back (for the most part).

But there is no question that the under $200K inventory is growing. I’ll crunch some numbers this weekend and report back.

There was one small part of the article I found particularly interesting.

23 year old Bradley Crutchfield, an assistant technician at the Gila River Indian Casino and part time ASU student said he recently bought his first home — a $243,000 foreclosure in Chandler.

It was in the (price) range of what I was looking for, but it was my top end and I was only willing to pay that if I could be closer,” Crutchfield, 23, said. “I’ve been looking for about two years now when the market was really high, and I had the urge to buy. Then the market went down, and I seriously wanted to buy.” (my emphasis)

Mr. Crutchfield echos the sentiments we are hearing from a lot of people right now. Particularly younger and first time buyers.

Just a few days ago I answered “Maybe, maybe not” to the question, “Is now a good time to buy a Phoenix home?” And I stand by that answer. But as Crutchfield and others in the article demonstrate, for some, the answer is yes.

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