I got a call yesterday from a man who is going to the court house steps and buying homes. It seems the banks are now not buying the homes as much themselves. This man says in most cases as long as there is someone on the courthouse steps bidding on the home, the bank representative is letting them have it. Now this does save the bank money, but on our side it is driving down the price of homes in our market. One example is a home we sold on short sale for $165,000 and the sale did not go through as the bank said the home appraised for more. Neither the buyer or seller would bring money to the table so the home went to trustee sale. This man bought the home on the steps for $144,000. The bank did save the cost of the fixup and repair of the home, more downtime to resell, and the real estate commissions for the listing agents. On the downside, the comps in the neighborhood are now $20,000 less - 13% less.
I kept seeing the prices going down, down, down and could not figure out why as we are getting multiple offers. We seem to have a short supply of homes. Many of these homes being bought are being held a few months or rented for awhile to get prices up a bit to flip the homes.
I personally feel any activity and movement in the market is good. The part that bothers me is that once again, the banks seem to be the ones making out at the expense of our communities and the people in them. I have emailed President Obama and Governor Schwarzenegger on this in case they are not aware of this. I do not know if they can or will do anything about this. At some point, this decline has to stop so we can start rebuilding our neighborhoods, community spirit and our personal wealth.
LORI BOWERS
http://www.desertareahousingmarket.com
The Lori Bowers Group
A boutique Real Estate Office, with a full service team to serve all your Real Estate Needs
La Quinta, Palm Desert, Indio, Rancho Mirage, Coachella , Indian Wells and the surrounding Palm Springs Area.
78065 Main St., Suite 107
Old Town La Quinta
La Quinta, CA 92253
Phone: (760)777-8788 • Fax: (760)771-5355
