I agree with CA renter. I’m tired of hearing how REO’s are “deeply discounted”. They are actually the market. If they were worth more, people would be paying more.
In the boom times the total crap that is much of the old SD housing stock sold for above asking, seemingly regardless of condition. Buyers were anticipating further appreciation and discounting the amount of renovation necessary in order to “get in the real estate game”.
But now when buyers look at these same properties, they aren’t seeing potential appreciation as much as the long neglected maintenance. All of the sudden it is “in” to make the house liveable. How else can you explain a house built in the 1950s that in 2006 sold for 450K, now all of the sudden in 2009 being a 180K “fixer”. The truth is that it was a fixer in 2006 as well but nobody cared.
The homes that are actually well maintained are few and far between in the areas I’m looking. Most of those must be owned by long term homeowners not in trouble with the mortgage. Too bad the responsible homeowners have their values dragged down by the irresponsible.
