LATHROP – There are signs that the real estate home sales in Lathrop may be on the way to a rebound.
After years of foreclosures dominating the news in the housing developments wwwest of Interstate 5, the dry spell in new houses being built saw some promise of residential building activity in the last two months.
Speaking at the study session special meeting of the Lathrop City Council Tuesday night, acting city engineer Tom Ruark reported that at least two developers have pulled building permits at City Hall in the last couple of months. He said Florsheim Homes picked up 17 building permits for new homes last month, while KB Home pulled 20 permits for new residential homes over the last two months.
That’s a silver lining on the real estate horizon for San Joaquin County’s youngest incorporated city. Since the housing bubble burst four years ago, Lathrop has been one of the hardest-hit, if not the hardest-hit community in the county with the majority of its list of home foreclosures occurring in the Mossdale Landing new development where the building boom took place in the years following the turn of the new millennium.
One needed only to take a windshield drive through that area of town and around the new City Hall to see For Sale signs practically on every block planted on brown dried grass that were once lush green lawns in front of 4,000-square-foot MacMansions.
While the For Sale signs on abandoned foreclosed homes are still there, many of those real estate placards have been replaced by bold red SOLD signs. Many of these foreclosed homes, which commanded prices up to $750,000 at one time, have been snapped up by residents of Lathrop and surrounding areas such as Weston Ranch who saw the great opportunity to trade off their starter homes to houses with plenty of upgrades without having to fork over money for those extra creature comforts.
Florsheim and KB Homes were not the only ones making news in the past months. Ruark also reported that Legacy Homes of Stockton has purchased the former Shea Homes development. That project, located just north of City Hall at Towne Centre Drive, is targeted for 134 homes. Legacy has yet to pull any building permits for their new acquisition.
To contact Rose Albano Risso, e-mail ralbanorisso@mantecabulletin.com or call (209) 249-3536.
