Realty World – Success Plans, Inc.

My buyers are still experiencing multiple offer situations with all of the available listings here on the San Francisco peninsula,  especially with homes that are priced under $500,000.  They are getting frustrated and some have stopped searching all together.  All I can say is to hang in there and something will come your way.  This is still the best time to buy something while interest rates and home prices are still low.   Multiple offers will continue if the inventory continues to be scarce.  There might be some relief soon as banks start to release their huge shadow inventory.  It is estimated that there is more then a million homes that are being held.  Will this HELP?  I hope so. 
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Home sales have declined in some areas and its due to high demand, low interest rates and a shortage of homes to buy.  This creates a change in the market place.  Not good for buyers but good for sellers.
Buyers around the bay area are going to be happy to see more homes on the market.  Currently homes that are under $400,000 are experiencing a seller’s market.  Most sellers are receiving multiple offers for their home.  Every home that I have made offers for my clients have had more then 1 offer.  One house in Hayward had 18 to 20 offers.  Another house in San Bruno had 6 offers. My listing in So. San Francisco received 2 offers above the asking price, right after my open house, and 1 was all cash.   My other listing in Pacifica received 8 offers, all over the asking price.  It’s like that all over the Bay Area.  It’s pretty discouraging for buyers today.
Maybe there is some relief coming soon.  There is a shadow inventory due to be release around summer.  I hope this will help the buyers that are trying to get into their home.
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It seems like the market is improving.  Sales have been increasing and here are 8 areas that are showing signs of a recovery.
I have been experiencing a market that resembles the last seller’s market not a buyer’s market.  There is not a lot of inventory available for all of the buyers here in the Bay Area.  I have a property for sale in Pacifica, Ca, listed at $338k and received 6 offers and all above the list price.  I have been also representing buyers and making offers to purchase, but have been in bidding wars.   In San Mateo county, it would take approx. 4.1 months to sell all of the homes that are on the market compared to 4.5 months same time last year.  Where are all of the bank owned properties?
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Sales of single-family Bay Area homes continuing to surge (mercurynews.com)
Bay Area home sales mostly up although prices fall. (mercurynews.com)

Capital Economics expects the housing crisis to end this year, according to a report released Tuesday. One of the reasons: loosening credit.
The analytics firm notes the average credit score required to attain a mortgage loan is 700. While this is higher than scores required prior to the crisis, it is constant with requirements one year ago.
Additionally, a Fed Senior Loan Officer Survey found credit requirements in the fourth quarter were consistent with the past three quarters.
However, other market indicators point not just to a stabilization of mortgage lending standards, but also a loosening of credit availability.
Banks are now lending amounts up to 3.5 times borrower earnings. This is up from a low during the crisis of 3.2 times borrower earnings.
Banks are also loosening loan-to-value ratios (LTV), which Capital Economics denotes “the clearest sign yet of an improvement in mortgage credit conditions.”
In contrast to a low of 74 percent reached in mid-2010, banks are now lending at 82 percent LTV.
While credit conditions may have loosened slightly, some potential homebuyers are still struggling with credit requirements. In fact, Capital Economics points out that in November 8 percent of contract cancellations were the result of a potential buyer not qualifying for a loan.
Additionally, Capital Economics says “any improvement in credit conditions won’t be significant enough to generation actual house price gains,” and potential ramifications from the euro-zone pose a threat to future credit availability.

Image by RambergMediaImages via Flickr
What next???  The interest rates are going to go up starting in March.  What else is going to happen to our real estate market?  The buyers? The sellers? 
We can never really predict what the market will do to our buying power.  We can only plan the best we can and jump through the hurdles put in front of us. 
I cannot express how important it is to line up all your “ducks” and ready them for when that right house comes, you are then in position to GO FOR IT.
With all the new legislations, rules and guidelines, buyers have to be better prepared before entering into this major purchase.  Buyers don’t have the time and money to waste.  TIME IS MONEY…in every meaning of the phrase.
Follow the ABC’s of buying and selling real estate and listen to your agent.