This is a story of quickly rising, and quickly falling real estate values.  In Harrisonburg.  Despite a relatively stable overall housing market.



Some parents of JMU students buy an investment property for their son or daughter to use a a residence while at JMU, and many of these parents have historically bought condos and townhomes at Hunters Ridge.

Let's take a look at sales trends for each over the past several years:



As you can see here, prices of Hunters Ridge condos and townhomes had steadily (sometimes rapidly) increased for many years before arriving  in 2009.  Last year, Hunters Ridge sales slowed down to a snails pace --- with only one condo sale in the entire year, and only 3 townhome sales. 

Good news --- townhomes and condos are starting to go under contract again.  Bad news --- it's because the prices have dropped very low!

At the moment there are 5 condos on the market at the $60,000 price point, which is well below any recent sales price.  There are also townhomes on the market for only $70,000. 

Some conclusions:

• If you're looking for a rental property, you might want to consider Hunters Ridge.
• It will take some time (years) for Hunters Ridge prices to increase anywhere near where they had been in recent past.
• Some owners that bought at Hunters Ridge in the last several years will likely have difficulty selling without taking a big loss.