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Modesto Bee


Well, you can't complain about lack of variety.

Northern San Joaquin Valley home buyers these days have a staggering selection of homes in all sizes, prices and styles.

Modesto newcomer Kevin Schinmann called the choices overwhelming: "It was like going to a restaurant with a menu that listed 14 pages of unbelievable food."

If all the homes for sale in Modesto were crammed on a menu, it probably would be several inches thick and weigh a couple of pounds. A recent search of Realtor.com showed 2,273 single-family homes; 197 condos and town homes; and 131 mobile homes for sale in Modesto.

Modesto properties range from a tiny two-bedroom, one-bath house for $159,000 to a new three-story estate with 9,500 square feet of living space for $3.5 million.

There are houses on golf courses, lakes, rivers and small ranches. Some are century-old classics with big back yards. Others are energy-efficient tract homes with high-tech wiring on tiny lots.

More than 200 new homes are completed and waiting for buyers in about 77 subdivisions across Stanislaus County.

All those housing options made it tough for Schinmann to pick the perfect home for his family. His auto industry job transferred him from Chicago to Modesto this spring, so he was unfamiliar with the region and surprised by the selection.

"When there's so much to choose from, you kind of get gun-shy," Schinmann said, "because you know there's always going to be something else to look at."

And look he did. During his three-month search, Schinmann studied a couple of hundred Internet listings and toured about 40 homes.

"We ended up buying the very first house we had looked at online when we were back in Chicago," Schinmann said. But between the time he initially spotted that Bayview Drive house and the day he bought it, he said, "the price dropped $130,000."

It's been that kind of market. Prices for new and used homes have been dropping as inventory has soared. Median sales prices are down more than 13 percent since last summer and sales volume has plunged about 45 percent.

That's good news for shoppers.

"They really have the best of all worlds because they have good selection and good bar- gaining power," said Randy Feldhaus, an agent for PMZ Real Estate.

Easier to find your price range

Two years ago at the real estate market's peak, Feldhaus said, it was difficult for buyers to find homes in their price range.

"It used to be if someone called and wanted a home for under $300,000, it was hard to help them," Feldhaus recalled.

Now about 1,000 Modesto homes are priced at or below $300,000.

New homes, too, can be found for that price in Modesto and in several cities across the Northern San Joaquin Valley.

In Manteca, Florsheim Homes opened a development last month with single-family home prices starting at $295,000. Those Valley Blossom houses are as small as 1,200 square feet, which was a difficult-to-find size during the building boom years from 2000 to 2005.

"We're building a lot of smaller homes with smaller price points now," said Joe Anfuso, who runs Florsheim Homes, a Stockton-based devel- oper.

Anfuso said there's a nation- wide credit crunch making it harder for buyers to qualify for mortgages, so builders must adjust their offerings to make homes more affordable.

"You've got to give buyers what they require to get them to even consider your houses," Anfuso explained. So not only are prices coming down, but homes also are being built with more amenities, more energy-efficient features and more high-tech options. "You're getting more house for your money," he said.

That's a big switch from a few years ago when new home buyers had to camp out in line for the chance to buy a house -- any house -- from a builder. Back in 2003, for example, about 75 people lined up for the grand opening of Florsheim's Rose Classics in Turlock.

Sales are much harder to come by these days.

"Price point is the most im- portant thing right now," said Jim Lawrence, a Century 21 M&M and Associates agent who markets the new Sunset Meadows duets in Oakdale. The four-bedroom homes are priced as low as $281,950. Duets are two homes that share a single wall but are built on separately owned lots.

Such condos and town houses rarely were built during the boom years. But now housing variety is expanding continually as builders try to reduce land costs by increasing density.

Small lot developments popular

That trend will continue, predicted Stephen Smiley, senior managing director of Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, which does research and market analysis for builders.

"You're going to start seeing a lot more high-density detached housing," said Smiley, noting the increasing popularity of small-lot developments. "The days of the 6,000- and 7,000- square-foot lots are gone."

Smiley said downtown condo developments are on the drawing boards for several Northern San Joaquin Valley cities.

"We're working with a client who wants to build a nice high-end condo project in downtown Modesto in the next year or two," said Smiley, explaining that there could be retail shops on the ground floor and residential units above.

Adding more housing choices to the mix, however, may not make buying decisions easier.

Schinmann said if he had it to do over again, he wouldn't have toured so many homes. He doesn't advise others to do what he did.

"If you find a house you ab- solutely love in your price range, buy it," Schinmann said. "I wouldn't look at the other 40 houses."

Bee staff writer J.N. Sbranti can be reached at jnsbranti@modbee.com or