WHB is always trying to share the news and trends that are happening in the Housing Market that directly impact Short Sales and here we are again, giving you a pulse of what’s going on in our local market.

The past couple of weeks we have noticed a trend from our local market and from articles reporting home buying activities around the nation and that trend is the increase of buyers in the market. In our previous article we talked about how the stability of low mortgage rates and tax incentives have been a supporting factor to the continued and increasing number of buyers in today’s housing market. Well, after additional news reporting that housing tax credits, which were set to expire on November 2009, will continue into 2010, along with mortgage rates remaining fairly stable for the past 4 months, buyers have been coming out in droves to check out what the hurting housing market has to offer.

Homes that are requiring Bank Approval (Short Sale) have been getting multiple offers, over the listing price. Real Estate Owned (REO) properties are also seeing the same type of activity. Not only are there multiple offers being made on these types of distressed properties, but there have been many more investors coming in with an ALL CASH offers, which cripple any offer that requires traditional bank financing. It seems as if everyone out there is not ready to go out and look for that golden deal.

Maybe it is the impression that we are near or at the bottom of this housing crisis. As much as the government and media is trying to be positive about the economy, the number of foreclosures will sure increase in the next two years. With unemployment over 10% nationwide and the drop in consumer spending, there is sure to be a lot more people with a mortgage under water.

What this means to the Real Estate Agent looking to find short sale opportunities? – Not only is it very easy to find a short sale opportunity but finding a buyer is getting much easier! Something to keep in mind is that although you may have a lot more buyers lined up, you should pre-qualify each on and select the best buyer profile for your short sale transaction. Even if you have a buyer with the highest offer they may not be the best candidate for your short sale transaction because they may not want to wait 3 or 4 months to get the purchase transaction closed.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 9th, 2010 at 8:53 pm and is filed under Bank approved short sales. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.