Dharmagirl, we have been looking in the area as well and we are choosing to not look at the short sales (for the most part).
The other part of the short sale equation is that if they have a 2nd mortgage (an 80/20 loan, or equity line), usually there is no incentive for the bank that owns the 2nd to approve a short sale as they get NOTHING. If the home goes to foreclosure at least they can claim on their insurance. This is at least how I understood how it works….
On another note, we have the hardest working realtor up there that will show you anything you’d like to see. She is just great…she told us in regards to short sales that she’d do the footwork by calling the listing agent first to get the story and find out if the bank has agreed to the short sale or not. If the bank hasn’t even agreed to it, then it’s even more unlikely. She also has found out how much they owe to the bank, that helps gauge what the bank might except offer wise…usually what we’d be willing to pay is way lower.
Lastly, I don’t believe any tract home (unless it’s a total mansion) should be worth 600k in Temecula. Right now you could by a nice stick built home on a few acres in wine country for that price, why would you ever look at a tract home in that price range???
If you’d like to get another realtors take on things…email me at [email protected]
