The last four years have been interesting to say the least. Talk about a head jerk turn around in the market. These past few years have been dominated by large inventories, short sales and reo's.
I'm very optimistic though that better days are right around the corner, at least for certain markets. Recently, I have been having a hard time finding properties for certain clients. They are ready, willing and able to buy, but there are no homes that match their criteria! "You've got to be kidding me, right?"
In running the local inventory figures, we are down 30% - 40% from the all time peak! That is incredible and it can only mean good things to come!
What are you experiencing in your markets?
We still have high inventory but it seems like things are starting to pick-up I'm hopefull that this is a good sign.
Cities and towns in my primary market area generally have less than two (2) months' inventory. That's right...less than 2 months! Of course, our school district is the top unified school district in the state with over 9000 students.
We still have high inventory and the expectation of more foreclosures to come in late Fall. Ouch.
I will say inventory is off its peaks but proportionally sales have not risen either.
I agree that I believe better times are coming. I actually would like to see some more inventory on the market for certain price points. I have a few buyers aggressively looking...multi-offers are the competition.
Real Estate is "always" local, but I do believe the general trend is headed in the right direction.
Lisa, this week I took some clients out and out of 7 properties they liked 3. When we returned to the office, their first choice had multiple offers already and a cash offer had been accepted. On a side note, I was very disappointed with the listing agent for wasting my time by not changing the status in the MLS, but that can be another blog. The 2nd property had another agent show up while I was showing the property and the 3rd had an offer, but they were looking for more.
Another property came on the market this week, an REO, and the REO Agent priced it so low that it solicited a barrage of offers, 3 from my brokerage alone. Two days later, the agent is hard to find and there is no response from the bank.
In the desert activity is definitely picking up!