Today's L.A. Times has a great article that says -- finally -- what we've been saying: that it's not a buyers' market everywhere, prices on nice homes in nice neighborhoods haven't come down that much, and yes, there are still bidding wars for desireable properties. Here's the link to "Not that Cheap."
Quotes from the article: "...The supposedly wondrous buyers' market seems more consumer myth than easy pickings...," "...Just because an abandoned house in a troubled part of San Bernardino County might be going for $200,000, it doesn't mean you can get a nice place in Sherman Oaks for that amount -- or even twice that amount," "...[buyers] don't know where to vent their anger: lenders demanding higher down payments and less-favorable terms, talking heads distorting the market...or listing agents itching for bidding wars [we've seen a lot of that in Burbank]."
There's also a great sidebar entitled "Want that House? Follow these tips." The last item talks about financial institutions who prefer conventional loans over loans requiring longer closing times, e.g., FHA loans. Unfortunately, most of the buyers out there are getting FHA loans.
Good job cherry-picking the quotes. Why don't you quote this little gem:
ReplyDelete"...lenders were carefully timing the release of homes they'd repossessed to avoid further flooding the market and driving prices down more."
or this one:
"Those institutions also know that a fresh avalanche of foreclosures from people with resetting loans may be looming."
Sounds like pent-up supply to me.
Anonymous, I think the next wave of foreclosures will be sucked up by the market pretty fast, just as the last one was. And if you haven't noticed, housing inventory is currently in very, very short supply -- anything that levels out supply and demand is ultimately good for the market.
ReplyDeleteI was pleased to see the article as well. People tend to want broad, sweeping, one-size-fits-all market assessments that just aren't valid.
ReplyDeleteIf you look a the stats in most communities, the market is being driven by first time buyers who have been waiting in the wings and possibly down-sizers.
I have also noticed that depending on the job market, one community may have prices escalating or maintaining price from last years, while the community next door may be down 20%.
This is all about micro-markets and picking the right communities.
http://www.neighborcity.com/CA/Los-Angeles/