COARSEGOLD, Calif (FOX26) — The “For Sale” signs are up. Home prices are down. But in Madera County’s scenic foothills, buyers still aren’t buying.

In the quiet, rolling hills of Coarsegold, the housing market has come to a near standstill.

“We have a flood of inventory over the last few years,” says Caprice Parry, a local realtor. “We just don’t have the buyers to support it.”

Homes are sitting on the market far longer than usual.

Six months is now typical. A year? Not uncommon.

“You may not get a single showing for the first 30, 60, even 90 days, as crazy as that sounds,” Parry explains. “But that’s just the current market that we’re in.”

Parry says on average, 100 to 130 homes hit the market every month but only 9 to 15 get offers.

Real estate agents across the foothills say it’s not the home prices keeping buyers away, it’s the cost of fire insurance.

“If I’m representing a local buyer, I absolutely get insurance quotes in advance for them,” says Noel Escobar, another local realtor. “We regularly have insurance affect our transactions.”

Parry agrees.

“You may have a buyer who falls in love with a house, writes up an offer, and then it comes time to getting quotes for fire insurance and that’s when it’s a shock and find out how much it could be,” she said.

It’s a deal-breaker buyers never saw coming.

How much are we talking? Parry says she pays $10,000 a year. Her neighbor pays $12,000. Some clients have been quoted as high as $15,000 annually.

“When you divide that monthly, it could be $800 or more a month,” Parry says. However, she says the average fire insurance runs closer to $3,500 to $6,000 a year.

Both Parry and Escobar say that monthly cost can completely change the equation.

“I personally represented a seller recently where that happened,” says Escobar. “The buyer brought an amazing offer. We got into contract. They were not prepared for the insurance price. The insurance came in over $13,000 a year due to the necessity of the California Fair Plan. That buyer was unable to now afford the payment and backed out.”

According to Parry, fire insurance in Madera County’s rural areas can cost five to ten times more than in the valley cities.

The reason? Wildfire risk.

Parry says some sellers are adjusting. A few have begun lowering their asking prices to help offset the insurance costs and keep buyers interested but even that isn’t always enough.

This story was written by Mayra Franco for KMPH Fox 26 News and can be read here.

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