Lindi,
I’d be careful about saying there’s no way the trend will stick. It isnt really a totally different type of buyer and seller out there. No one really knows what will happen. I don’t pretend to know everything that the market will do, I only comment on what I actually see happening. The short sellers are moving very slowly and the banks don’t know how to handle them yet. I have heard of a few lenders turn down short sale offers only to foreclose and relist at a much lower price than they turned down. It doesn’t make sense but it is happening.
IMHO, The easy portion of the decline already happened. Further declines will be slow and painful. Here is the conversation, people will be having with themselves all over San Diego this year
If I was thinking about selling this year and saw comps that said my house was worth $100,000 or more less than it was a year or two ago I wouldnt sell it. I would say to myself
“Self $100,000 tax free money is alot and I don’t know how many paydays I’ll see like that in my lifetime. My house was once worth $100,000 more and if it happened once, it will happen again. If it takes 5 or 10 years to reap that $100,000 tax free profit, I’m willing to wait”
Right or wrong, this is how many people think. I see more and more people staying put and those that have small mortgages hanging onto to properties as rentals.
