RSS
 

Posts Tagged ‘number of homes for sale’

Making an Offer on a House

04 Oct

Step 8

It’s not all about price.

The terms of the contract are very important. The main term of the contract that all listing agent’s eyes go directly to is the type of financing. Financing is the type of loan you are using. Are you an FHA Buyer? A conventional Buyer with 20% of your own money to put towards the purchase? A VA Buyer who can use the Veteran benefit that has been awarded to you by being a Veteran? Or a cash Buyer?

At this moment in the San Bernardino/Riverside areas, the conventional Buyer and cash Buyer are King! Sorry to break this to you. Yes, the bottom line is all the Seller is looking at. No, it is not fair. The American Dream of home ownership is being beat to pieces! The investor/buyer that has all cash or the conventional buyer have a definite advantage. An FHA buyer most times is hoping that the seller won’t “mind” paying some of the closing costs but the truth is – they do “mind”. The VA Buyer is at the bottom of the heap and it breaks my heart to say this. The Veteran should have first “dibs” but in this still extremely greedy society, sellers don’t care. Whether the seller is the owner or the dreaded “bank”, they want all the money they can drag out of a buyer.

For a while now, the banks have started saying they will not supply a buyer with a termite inspection or termite repairs, so don’t ask. The banks also will not pay for a one year home warranty which is about $350. So what do you do? You as the buyer pay for these items. Yes, this is a messy time to buy a home but if you get lucky and get your offer accepted, then it is the best of times to buy a home!

 
No Comments

Posted in FHA, Homes For Sale, Real Estate Update

 

House Hunting – Short Sales

23 Sep

Step 6

The market in the Inland Empire is about 45% short sale listings at this time. If you have unlimited time on your hands and don’t mind waiting and waiting and waiting some more – then a short sale is for you!

I’ve been on both sides of a short sale. I have listed short sales and actually sold them! My hairdresser thanks me for that as I needed lots of touch-ups to hide the gray hairs that started sprouting when I was worried that the bank would foreclose before I could get a short sale approved for sale. At this time, a short sale listing is just that – a listing for sale. There is no guarantee that the house OR the seller will qualify for a short sale with the bank. So let’s back up, the short sale listing might not be able to be sold?

Yes, that is the truth! The owner/seller of the home has to qualify for a short sale of their home. A short sale means that the bank will sell the home for LESS than the current mortgage amount. But, in order for the bank to agree to selling the house as a short sale there MUST be a hardship. A hardship is a loss of job, death, divorce or illness. A hardship is not a loss of equity in the house. In other words if the seller bought the home 4 years ago at the top of the market and they owe more on the mortgage than what the house is worth then unless you have a hardship, there will be no short sale. I get calls daily from distressed sellers about this but if you remember back in the 90′s when we first experienced short sales, these rules were not in place. An owner back then could short sell their home and go right across the street and buy another home for less and many did. The rules are pretty strict this time around. In fact, do you know that the bank asks the seller for 2 years of tax returns, current bank statements and pay stubs? The reason they do is so they can look for assets. If the seller has assets, the bank wants them and they are not shy about asking for them! After all the seller signed on the dotted line for the mortgage and they promised to make the payments.

Ok, so how does this affect a Buyer, well like I said in a previous post – don’t fall in love with the house – because the bank might not grant a short sale. As a Buyer, find an experienced Buyer’s agent that knows the right questions to ask of a short sale listing agent. It takes more research to determine if the house you are interested in is able to be sold. Another thing to remember, the short sale owner because of their hardship is usually not in a good frame of mind. They are sad, depressed and can have no motivation to cooperate. That leads to not wanting to show the house to prospective Buyers. It is very common to hear that there are no showings on short sale listings or even that it is available to view at restricted times. Some sellers decide to rent their home out and then there are tenants to deal with – messy! My all time favorite showing restriction – the house is drive by only – meaning you buy it without seeing it until the bank approves the sale!

I’m sure you have friends and family that have bought short sales and can tell you all the horror stories they went through. Trust me, they are true. According to today’s newspaper, our area will not return to normal for another 5 years. So call me if you want more information about short sales, they can be negotiated and you shouldn’t be afraid of them just educate yourself and decide if you are willing to wait.

 
1 Comment

Posted in FHA, Homes For Sale, Real Estate Update

 

House Hunting – Standard Sales

16 Sep

Step 4

You know the area you want to buy and the price and size of home that is comfortable for you but now the big question.

Do you want to buy a standard sale home, short sale or bank owned home?

The standard sale home seems like the easy route. However, a large majority of the standard sellers in today’s market think they are “losing money” by selling their home. They could have sold for much more years ago but they didn’t and now life changes are prompting them to sell. Be careful because sometimes these sellers over price a home just to see if they will get a bite. Have your agent “run the comps” which is Realtor talk for – what is the home worth according to recent sales? If you find that the house is overpriced but you want to make an offer then write a good clean offer at market value. All houses sell for market value so the Sellers will need to come to grips with that at some point. Be prepared for a counter offer, 99% of all offers will get a counter offer. If the Sellers are reasonable, you will have bought a house. Don’t feel bad if they don’t take your offer. Many Sellers reject the first offer and then their homes sit on the market and at the time I am writing this, it’s almost guaranteed that their house will go down in value by waiting. Move on to another house for sale.
In the Inland Empire there is a “Perfect Storm” at this moment. Interest rates are amazingly low, you can buy a house and make mortgage payments that are close to what you are paying for rent. And there are many homes for sale. Inventory is good in this area and more homes are coming on the market all the time so don’t worry, your dream home could be just around the corner!

 
No Comments

Posted in FHA, Homes For Sale, Real Estate Update

 

Not All Homes Listed For Sale Are For Sale?

23 Jul

Say what?  That sounds ridiculous!

You’ve stayed up late looking online for your Dream Home.  The next morning you call your Real Estate Agent and tell her/him about this wonderful home that you want to see and possibly make an offer on.  But you find out the home has multiple offers and one offer has been submitted to the bank.  It is a short sale…

Why is it still listed for sale online?  It’s not available but yet it comes up every time you do more searching for homes.  This can’t be, maybe your agent doesn’t know what she/he is talking about!  So you make a call to the listing agent direct to get to the bottom of this, yes it is in escrow but you can place a back up offer.

Some Listing agents are not doing their jobs well.  This home that has an offer submitted to the bank for negotiation of the short sale should NOT be online as an active listing for sale.

So all I”m saying, don’t fall in love with that short sale home.

 
No Comments

Posted in FHA, Homes For Sale, Real Estate Update

 

Half Yearly Report

03 Jul

Half way into 2010!  Short sales are still the name of the game.  Numbers have changed quite a bit in the last 3 months.

Upland has 185 listings,  47 are short sales and 14 are Bank owned.

Rancho Cucamonga has 424 listings – up 61.  176 are short sales and 53 are bank owned.

Claremont has 114 listings compared to 96 -3 months ago.  10 are short sales and 11 are bank owned.

Ontario has 358 listings up 46.  172 are short sales and 67 are bank owned.

Good old Fontana has 658 listings – 3 months ago they had 498 – that’s 160 more listings!  289 are short sales – 71 more than the last report and 84 Bank owned down 44.

So there you have the half yearly report – good news!  More homes for sale, and super low interest rates -  it’s still a Seller’s market here in the Inland Empire.  Buyers are still hungry for more – so let’s watch how the summer of 2010 heats up!

 
No Comments

Posted in Real Estate Update, Uncategorized

 

March Stats

04 Mar

February was a good but hectic month for me – filled with nothing but Short Sales!

Are short sales the “new” norm for real estate?  Hate to say it but in this area, YES!  I am immersing myself in the world of short sales, it’s sink or swim, no getting away from them!

So knowing that, let’s look at the stats for the local cities I’ve been watching.

Upland – 159 listings, 14 of those are REO and 49 are short sales.

Rancho Cucamonga – 343 listings, 53 REO and 156 short sales.

Claremont – 84 listings, 5 REO and 11 short sales -whoa!

Ontario – 243 listings, 50 REO and 164 short sales.

Fontana – 494 listings, 81 REO and 287 short sales.

My take on these numbers for March?

Well, dear old Claremont is picking up speed – 16 more listings, 4 more REO’s and only 1 more short sale.

Overall, the other cities saw increases in listings except Rancho, down 11.   Lone wolf Fontana was the only city with more REO’s, the other cities were down for the count.

But SHORT SALES were UP in every city I’m currently watching!

The heat is on!  I just want to throw this out there.   Did you know that in the 91701 zip code, one of the most affluent in the Inland Empire,  there are 175 Notices of Default on homes?  These homeowners are 3 months delinquent.  And these homes are NOT on the market.  What happens when the loan modifications don’t work and they hit the market as SHORT SALES?   The writing is on the wall…….

 
No Comments

Posted in Real Estate Update, Uncategorized

 

February Stats

08 Feb

Last month I started reporting the number of homes for sale in Upland, Rancho Cucamonga, Claremont, Ontario and Fontana. I also reported the number of short sales and Bank owned (REO) listings. Those numbers gave us a benchmark to track the sales and listing activity for 2010.

Let’s take a look at where we are in the Real Estate market today.

Upland is coming in with 152 total listings. 40 are short sales and 17 are REO.
Rancho Cucamonga is at 332 listings. 152 are short sales and 51 are REO.
Ontario has 284 listings. 157 are short sales and 47 are REO.
Claremont is at 68 listings. 10 are short sales and only 1 REO.
Fontana is at 487 total listings. 272 are short sales and 89 are REO.

So what does this tell us from my January 5th post?

Upland, Rancho and Fontana had a spike in new listings in the last month. While Ontario and Claremont declined slightly in total listings.
Short sales are on the rise in all cities except Claremont.
And the number you have all been waiting for: REO’s, the dreaded bank inventory is DOWN in all 5 cities!

Draw your own conclusions, my take from this is that we are just starting to see the tip of the iceberg in regards to short sales hitting the market.
Buckle up, this is going to be a bumpy ride!

 
No Comments

Posted in Real Estate Update

 
Newer Entries »