I think fundamentally this market cannot be sustained and yet I expected to not buy until 2011-but the tax credit is really making things confusing. I have made two offers – one was an REO around Mt. Helix area and the other a short sale in Lakeside.
Both were offered more than the asking price and both were bought much higher. On the first one it was a fixer n a decent location and the offer was $5000 over asking. On the second one in Lakeside it was a small house on fairly large lot and offer was around the asking price on the high end, but the asking price varied by $25K. The short-seller had spent a lot of $ on upgrades, electrical and some kitchen remodel. The I think prices are still not stable and there seems to be bidding wars in this market – and with the tax credit, this is not going to go away soon. So the goverment again has a vested interest in creating the bidding war to raise comps and receive property taxes based on the assessment… But the experience of this repeatedly happening to myself and others makes me think the market is ustable and unhealthy. Also – some friends of mine lost a beautiful home that they had dumped thousands of money in — I think it was on 4 acres. But they lost it and I don’t know the details yet but I am guessing they mismanaged their upgrades and used helocs and got in over their heads. It was a short sale//they owned the home for many years prior to the big bubble.
