Do you feel like the Trivalley housing market is continually going down with homes not selling and prices dropping?  Do you feel like you see the same old homes on the market forever on your Internet home searches?  Do you feel confused that when you look at the stats that the market is actually doing well and home are selling compared to your reality?  Do you know why you are confused and your perception is off? I do.I couldn’t figure out why many of the Trivalley buyers that I am working with kept telling me that they are seeing home prices drop on the listings that I email them, while I myself am experience a much different market.  My open houses today are much busier, the phone is ring again, and I am having to deal with multiple offers again.  Why does my research show many Trivalley homes pending and selling everyday, while my buyers see prices drop on homes in their search? 

And then it hit me…I guess it depends where we are looking.  Let me explain. 

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Gone are the days when your home would sell over the weekend. Gone are the days when everyone would be looking for investment property in Las Vegas, Arizona and Idaho because that was the next best thing. Gone are the days when you had to pull your hair out as a buyer because no matter how much you paid or were willing to put up with for that Pleasanton home, your offer was just not the best one. Fast forward two years. Here are the days that nothing seems like a value…except bank owned homes, right?If you are a buyer in the Trivalley, and have spoken to me in the past 12 months, at one point you have said to me, “I would like to look at foreclosures.” (You know who you are!) The reality is that you do not want foreclosures–where you go to the court steps and buy the home in cash without getting to perform inspection or even see the interior at times. What you want is a home which has already gone through the foreclosure process, didn’t sell, and is now banked owned. Bank owned homes, more commonly known as REOs (Real Estate Owned) are now the buzz word for buyers as they are believed to be the real value out in the market.

This shift of the buyer’s attention from the entire market to just REO listings has created an interesting phenomenon in my view. As buyers zoom in only on REO listings, it has created an artificial higher demand thus defeating the primary reason why people are looking into buying REO homes. Not enough people take advantage of supply and demand. I want what you want, and you want what he wants. We as consumers don’t take advantage of going against the grain and seizing the opportunity. We all want REOs, and I am warning you to look outside of the box, as there are some great deals out there from the traditional seller.

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Until recently, it was very difficult for Trivalley home buyers with little cash to get into the housing market due to the strict loan guidelines. I remember about 18 months ago, when home buyers COULD easily attain a 95%-100% loan program to buy a house if they wanted to, but were deciding to wait on the sidelines due to the market conditions. Well, that all changed when the banks had to tighten up the loan guidelines. At that point, the sides were switched with buyers who were ready to move forward, but COULD NOT qualify for a loan based on the new programs and requirements.The combination of qualified buyers who wanted to wait, along with willing buyers who couldn’t qualify had been a leading factor to our current housing inventory in the Trivalley…no one was buying! So what’s changed since? Continue Reading

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