The Buyer’s Market is Long Gone!

Monday, October 26th, 2009 | Money, Real Estate, The Economy

As a Realtor(R), I get a kick out of the way the media is reporting the housing market. The reports are very mixed with foreclosures and housing starts. But they are not out trying to buy a house or they would be reporting a whole different story.

Just a few months ago, if a Realtor(R) was able to have a buyer in their car looking for a home, life was easy. Look at a couple of houses, take a coffee break, look at a couple more, pick the best one and put in an offer 10% below list price and you had a contract. Then over night BOOM!

I wrote and podcasted that you may have missed the market. Boy was that an understatement! I am doing things routinely now that I would have thought unethical just a little while ago. Our buyers need to be ready for a real ordeal. Last week a buyer put in an offer for a property at about $100,000. They went $5,000 over list only because that was all they could qualify for. Remember that if they can close on a house before December 1 there would be an $8,000 check to sweeten their deal .Well that was last week and almost 10 days later, NO ANSWER from the bank! There were 10 contracts on that property and no one knows if any of them will get the house. But nine of them will get closer to the drop head date and lose $8,000.

Back in the day before banks ruled the real estate system, 24-hour response time on a contract was standard. So one offer at a time would be about the maximum written. But now one offer sitting on a banker’s desk can cost my buyer big cash. Even if there wasn’t a tax credit, one contract in a week or two when it might take 15 or 20 offers to get a signed contract hurts the buyer. Interest rates might easily raise out of the range of our buyers so affordable housing is at risk with the delayed response from our friendly bankers. So that is what I see about the foreclosure side of the market.

Now that market is sweet compared to the short sale market. I have contracts were buyers are trying to buy a home putting in an offer from as long ago as JUNE!!!!!! There is one bright spot. You usually don’t hear a whole lot of complements for a bank. I have a praise for one bank that I have seen the better service than I expected, that bank is GMAC. They responded quickly waited while we negotiated with the 2nd mortgage lender and approved a sale at market price.

I guess my thoughts drifted with this post. The banks own the market and even though homes are very affordable, be prepared to look hard and put in lots of offers.

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