My friend just received this newsletter from his realtor friend. My friend and others I know are fairly bright people, but seem oblivious to what’s going on. They really think now is a good time to buy:
“Dear John,
I hope this newsletter finds you well. I’m going to keep it brief this time around. First off, here is my take on the crazy market here in San Diego.
Let’s see…how many adjectives can I come up with to describe the current market? Grab a cup of coffee and put your feet up, this may take awhile!
Disturbing: The media touts falling prices, rising foreclosures and short sales. Not so good if you’re a SELLER.
Promising: The media touts falling prices, rising foreclosures and short sales. Excellent news if you are a BUYER.
Confusing: Conforming loan limits have been raised and rates are still phenomenal. What? This means you can get a larger loan (near $675K) at a rate previously reserved for smaller loans (around $425K). A 30 year fixed right now is near 5.625%. Let me repeat that…30 year fixed near 5.625%! This is good.
Exciting: If you missed your chance to buy…THIS IS IT! I’m not kidding. Prices are way down…nearing 2004 levels. My office manager heard that IndyMac bank recently released a memo authorizing its reps to accept offers that are 50 cents on the dollar! I CAN PULL UP A LIST OF INDYMAC OWNED PROPERTIES AND SHOW THEM TO MY CLIENTS. Again, not kidding here.
Concerning: I showed 30 properties in the last two weeks, all near $300,000. EVERY ONE was a short sale or bank owned. My buyers wanted to write offers on three. EVERY one had multiple offers on it, one was already in escrow after just 4 days, and ALL had offers at or above the list price.
So, on the one hand you have banks lowering prices so they can unload unwanted inventory from their books. This drives prices down. On the other hand, as soon as banks drop the price to a ‘bargain level’ buyers pour out of the woodwork with multiple offers and start bidding over the list price. This generally drives prices up!
Yikes: Ok, that’s not an adjective but you get the idea.
If you can comfortably afford to buy real estate this year, I would strongly advise it. I don’t know how much longer this will last.
I do think the market is on the verge of entering into a mini rally phase. I personally know many people who are intending to buy in the next few months. Price declines seem to have flattened out. I doubt prices will rise but I think they may stay flat for a while until all the fools are done buying into the mini rally. Just my speculation of course 😀
I do think the market is on the verge of entering into a mini rally phase. I personally know many people who are intending to buy in the next few months. Price declines seem to have flattened out. I doubt prices will rise but I think they may stay flat for a while until all the fools are done buying into the mini rally. Just my speculation of course 😀
I do think the market is on the verge of entering into a mini rally phase. I personally know many people who are intending to buy in the next few months. Price declines seem to have flattened out. I doubt prices will rise but I think they may stay flat for a while until all the fools are done buying into the mini rally. Just my speculation of course 😀
I do think the market is on the verge of entering into a mini rally phase. I personally know many people who are intending to buy in the next few months. Price declines seem to have flattened out. I doubt prices will rise but I think they may stay flat for a while until all the fools are done buying into the mini rally. Just my speculation of course 😀
I do think the market is on the verge of entering into a mini rally phase. I personally know many people who are intending to buy in the next few months. Price declines seem to have flattened out. I doubt prices will rise but I think they may stay flat for a while until all the fools are done buying into the mini rally. Just my speculation of course 😀
If the current rate of foreclosures in SD county (1400/month) with most becoming REO’s continues, I would think that there better be a lot of buyers comming into the market to flatten out the price decline. And of course all the short sales that are popping up everywhere have to be absorbed as well.
If the current rate of foreclosures in SD county (1400/month) with most becoming REO’s continues, I would think that there better be a lot of buyers comming into the market to flatten out the price decline. And of course all the short sales that are popping up everywhere have to be absorbed as well.
If the current rate of foreclosures in SD county (1400/month) with most becoming REO’s continues, I would think that there better be a lot of buyers comming into the market to flatten out the price decline. And of course all the short sales that are popping up everywhere have to be absorbed as well.
If the current rate of foreclosures in SD county (1400/month) with most becoming REO’s continues, I would think that there better be a lot of buyers comming into the market to flatten out the price decline. And of course all the short sales that are popping up everywhere have to be absorbed as well.
