Category: Buyers
Online Real Estate Auctions Help Banks Clear Inventory to Meet End of Year Deadline
Real estate buyers find bank-owned property deals on the Freedom Realty Exchange’s online real estate auction marketplace – FRE.com Newport Beach, CA (PRWEB) September 14, 2011 Now is the time when many banks focus on their REO inventory and upcoming year-end reporting to employ a marketing and sales campaign that will generate buyer interest and [...]
Why ‘Low Ball’ Offers Don’t Usually Work
Many buyers assume that as property values continue to decline, it’s commonplace to make low ball offers on every home they’re interested in. I’ve seen people offer $200,000 to $300,000 less on well-priced million dollar homes. Some are offering $50,000 to $100,000 under well-priced homes in the median category. There are definitely deals to be [...]
Luxury real estate: How to snag a deal on a foreclosure or short sale
Opportunities to buy foreclosed — or soon-to-be foreclosed — luxury homes are on the rise. But watch out for the pitfalls that could sour what seems like a sweet deal. “We’re certainly seeing more of those properties coming to market and more of those properties foreclosed on,” says Rick Sharga, senior vice president of RealtyTrac Inc., [...]
Is Real Estate for Suckers?
Are you a dope for buying a home in the U.S. right now? If you need and want one, there’s no harm in that. Yet if you think it’s an investment that will actually appreciate, you’re taking a sucker’s bet. During the bubble years, the “greater fool” theory prevailed. When you bought a home, you [...]
In California, Real Estate Becomes More Affordable (but who can buy?)
There’s a silver lining behind the cloud of falling real estate values here in the Golden State: With mortgage rates still relatively low, housing affordability has climbed in Silicon Valley and other parts of California. According to the California Association of Realtors, 37 percent of households in Santa Clara County could afford to buy a [...]
Why the Housing Crisis Should Make You Bullish
When it comes to distressed housing, it’s hard not to be a contrarian bull. If you thought the housing crisis was bad, think again. It’s worse. New data just out from Zillow, the real-estate information company, show house prices are falling at their fastest rate since the Lehman collapse. Average home prices are down 8% [...]
Falling Real Estate Values Mean More People Can Buy
In California, property values are still on the decline. However, that’s not all bad according to a Mercury News report released earlier this week which determined that more than half of all households in the state can afford to own a home at today’s prices. Of course, that assumes that they have the money for [...]
Realtors’ survey: Short sales are rife with issues
The short sale process is complex and confusing to navigate, explaining why they take so long to close, according to a recent survey released by the California Association of Realtors on Tuesday. More than two-thirds of respondents said they were “not satisfied” or “not at all satisfied” with lenders in such transactions. The survey, which measures agents’ [...]
Short Sales Failing in California
Jonathan Lansner writes a really good column/blog in the Orange County Register that never fails to provide insight into the California real estate market. He has a post this morning about the state of short sales in California that I thought was pretty interesting. According to the article: “California real estate agents say that lenders [...]
Real estate 101: What new home buyers need to know
So you’ve decided to buy a house, but you’re not sure if your finances are quite up to speed. Even if you hope to buy six months from now, there are numerous improvements and adjustments to be made in the interim, prior to taking on a mortgage. First-time home buying is well documented as an [...]
