I’m often asked, “Has the market hit a bottom here in Riverside County” to which I calmly reply “ No one really knows…” I’m also repeatedly told by “on-the-fence” buyers “I’m going to continue to wait to buy a home because prices are going to continue to drop and homes are going to be dirt cheap!” Now these are both two very interesting things that I consistently hear and I wanted to address them and see what others thought.   

     The BOTTOM: What technically-speaking is “the bottom?” The reason I ask this is because I think most people believe that you hit the lowest possible point for prices and then they will shoot straight back up. Similar to a “V-shape”. However, I don’t think that is what we will be seeing I think we are seeing a leveling-off with price drops. The reason I say this is because for there to be more steep drops you have to take into consideration supply and demand. For prices to drop, supply has to increase and demand stay constant or supply needs to stay constant and demand needs to drop. Here in the Inland Empire, namely Riverside County that isn’t the case. If you missed my Inland Empire July Homes Sale Report-click here, there is still a sizeable amount of supply out there on the market, but demand has shot through the roof. 300+ homes sales in Moreno Valley, 300+ in Corona, and 300+ in Riverside. Not to mention that as of August 1st, there were over 500+ pending transactions in each of these cities.

(---- Great Eastvale Home that Sold in July.

My question is how can we have a drastic drop in home prices here in Riverside County if demand is increasing? Here is a story from CNBC.Com that was posted today Click Here For the Story. A 12 percent jump over last year? Do you see a trend building here? Yes prices have dropped, but the question becomes was a 900 sq. ft. home with a 3,000 sq ft. lot in Riverside really worth $400,000? Markets correct and tend to over-correct when they do so, so we might see a few slight drops here and there, but 4,000 sq. ft. homes for $200,000 in Corona won’t be happening! The best advice I can give is, if you’re interested in buying a home, do so now because when you notice it’s the “BOTTOM” it’ll already be too late. And you would have missed out on some great opportunities. Here are just a few of them:

 

Here are the statistics on Eastvale,CA (92880), Riverside, CA (92501,92502,92503,92504,92505,92506,92507,92508,92509),Corona, CA (92877,92878,92879,92881,92882,92883) Moreno Valley, CA (92551,92552,92553,92554,92555,92556,92557) and Rancho Cucamonga, CA(91701,91729,91730,91737,91739) for the month of July. :

• Eastvale, CA (92880) Home Sales For July, 2008: (Big Jump!)

Homes Sold: 85

High Sales Price: $ 500,000

Low Sales Price: $ 115,000

Median Sales Price: $ 381,709

Avg. Sq. Ft.: 2,906

Avg. Rooms and Bathrooms: 4 Bedrooms/ 3.25 Bathrooms

 

• Eastvale, CA (92880) Pending Sales As Of August, 1, 2008:

Home Sales Pending: 149

Average List Price: $ 368,770

Avg. Days on Market: 38

Avg. Sq. Ft.: 2,892

Avg. Rooms and Bathrooms: 4 Bedrooms/ 3.27 Bathrooms

 

• Riverside, CA (92501,92502,92503,92504,92505,92506,92507,92508,92509) Home Sales For July, 2008:

Homes Sold: 365

High Sales Price: $ 2,699,000

Low Sales Price: $ 2,150

Median Sales Price: $ 289,381

Avg. Sq. Ft.: 1,942

Avg. Rooms and Bathrooms: 4 Bedrooms/ 2.47 Bathrooms

 

• Riverside, CA (92501,92502,92503,92504,92505,92506,92507,92508,92509) Pending Sales As Of August, 1, 2008 :

Home Sales Pending: 500+

Average List Price: $ 266,139

Avg. Days on Market: 52

Avg. Sq. Ft.: 1,874

Avg. Rooms and Bathrooms: 4 Bedrooms/ 2.37 Bathrooms

 

• Corona, CA (92877,92878,92879,92881,92882,92883) Homes Sales For July, 2008:

Homes Sold: 360

High Sales Price: $ 1,850,000

Low Sales Price: $ 114,000

Median Sales Price: $ 365, 871

Avg. Sq. Ft.: 2,454

Avg. Rooms and Bathrooms: 4 Bedrooms/ 3.01 Bathrooms

 

• Corona, CA (92877,92878,92879,92881,92882,92883) Pending Sales As Of August 1, 2008:

Home Sales Pending: 500+

Average List Price: $ 353,961

Avg. Days on Market: 50

Avg. Sq. Ft.: 2,501

Avg. Rooms and Bathrooms: 4 Bedrooms/ 3.01 Bathrooms

 

• Moreno Valley, CA (92551,92552,92553,92554,92555,92556,92557) Home Sales For July, 2008:

Homes Sold: 328

High Sales Price: $ 440,000

Low Sales Price: $ 0 (? maybe an error)

Median Sales Price: $ 201,390

Avg. Sq. Ft.: 1,898

Avg. Rooms and Bathrooms: 4 Bedrooms/ 2.55 Bathrooms

 

• Moreno Valley, CA (92551,92552,92553,92554,9255,92556,92557) Pending Sales As Of August, 1, 2008:

Home Sales Pending: 500+

Average List Price: $ 191,130

Avg. Days on Market: 55 Avg. Sq. Ft.: 1,865

Avg. Rooms and Bathrooms: 4 Bedrooms/ 2.56 Bathrooms

 

• Rancho Cucamonga, CA (91701,91729,91730,91737,91739)Home Sales For July, 2008:

Homes Sold: 113

High Sales Price: $ 1,229,000

Low Sales Price: $ 185,000

Median Sales Price: $ 422,141

Avg. Sq. Ft.: 2,123

Avg. Rooms and Bathrooms: 4 Bedrooms/ 2.68 Bathrooms

 

• Rancho Cucamonga, CA (91701,91729,91730,91737,91739) Pending Sales As Of August, 1, 2008:

Home Sales Pending: 194

Average List Price: $ 425,964

Avg. Days on Market: 58

Avg. Sq. Ft.: 2,182

Avg. Rooms and Bathrooms: 4 Bedrooms/2.79 Bathrooms

Riverside , Corona and Moval are booming right now! For the second straight month, Moreno Valley has seen pending sales reach 500+. July is the first month since I've been charting these statistics that, Corona and Riverside have charted 500+ pending sales and over 300 home sales. I think another month of these kind of numbers will be good for the Inland Empire Housing Market. Eastvale is holding up very well itself, and will continue to do so as the REOs/ foreclosures that become available for sale in the area are only on the market for 6-8 days max! Rancho has a lot slower activity but saw a jump in over 50 pending sales since last month. I will continue to chart these numbers in hopes that I can provide a reality to the negative bombardment by the media. Questions, Comments, Concerns? Contact Me:

Mike West, REALTOR®

Carmichael West Realty Riverside, CA 92519

Ph:(951) 830-5962

Fx:(951) 685-7678

www.therealestatefrontlines.com

Here are two more video walkthroughs of two nice REO/Foreclosure/Repo properties here in the Inland Empire. I will continue to post these as I shoot them because the last post has received a lot of traffic. Hope all is well and if you have any questions, comments or concerns; email me: realtor.mikewest@gmail.com or mike@therealestatefrontlines.com HAVE A GREAT ONE AND ENJOY!

I normally reserve my blog writing for educating the consumer and sharing my thoughts on current events. But I decided it might be helpful to those searching for foreclosed properties in the Inland Empire to have access to video walkthroughs on a great site like Active Rain. Video walkthroughs are few and far-in-between for the consumer out here so I figured I'd start up the "video revolution" for those looking for some Web 2.0 me First up we have: A great Eastvale REO (foreclosure/repo) brought to you by the Inland Empire Real Estate Specialist, Mike West. This is a huge corporate home and has a ton of space. Here are the specifics: $514,900 6 Bedrooms and 4 Bathrooms 4,596 Sq. Ft. 6,970 Sq. Ft. Lot Built in 2005 A fine piece of Inland Empire Real Estate. And: Another great Inland Empire REO (foreclosure/repo) brought to you by the Inland Empire Real Estate Specialist Mike West. This one is a Riverside REO (foreclosure/repo)and a great home on a huge lot! Here is some more information: $549,900 4 Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms 3,569 Sq. ft. (all on one level) and 1.13 Acres...Huge Lot!

Posted on: The Real Estate Frontlines

The past few weeks here at the Inland Empire Foreclosure and Real Estate Blog, have seen me: educate all of you on purchasing homes here in the Inland Empire, the fierce competition that exists with REO and Foreclosure purchases and sales statistics for homes in the Inland Empire. What I’m going to say now might be against the orthodox way of thinking but here we go anyway. If you’re a first time homebuyer, or feel that the sales price you prequal for is the max you’d like to go; I think that you might want to consider looking at 5-10k below that level and maybe even 15k depending on the market. This differs from one of my posts from a few months back, but here in the Inland Empire Housing Market (namely Foreclosures/ REOs) we’re seeing homes in hot areas getting “bid-up.” Essentially, the bank or lender is issuing a sales price that is creating a ton of activity with offers and the sales price of the home rises. If you aren’t able to afford the monthly payments that would occur due to a price rise or you would feel stretched for cash, the “bidding-war” becomes a difficult thing for you. Here are some examples from throughout the Inland Empire:

1.) Riverside REO (Foreclosure)

11219 Green Arbor Drive, Riverside, CA 92509

3 Bedrooms 2.5 Bathrooms

1,606 Sq. Ft. 6,969 Sq. Ft. Lot

List Price: $233,900 Sold Price: $249,000

2.) Eastvale REO ( Foreclosure)

12961 Pattison Street, Corona, CA 92880

4 Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms

1,905 Sq. Ft. 6,098 Sq. Ft. Lot

List Price: $289,900 Sold Price: $305,000

3.) Corona REO (Foreclosure)

746 Montague Drive, Corona, CA 92879

3 Bedrooms 2.5 Bathrooms

1,806 Sq. Ft. 4,792 Sq. Ft. Lot

List Price: $309,000 Sold Price: $320,000

4.) Rancho Cucamonga REO (Foreclosure) 7

756 Sarzana Place, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730

3 Bedrooms 2 Bathrooms 1,217 Sq. Ft. 4,795 Sq. Ft. Lot

List Price: $283,000 Sold Price; $308,000

Hopefully these properties have given you an idea on what to expect at different price ranges in different markets. In some of the markets here in the Inland Empire this is a regular occurrence. Now that you’ve got the knowledge get out there and find yourself a home!

Taken from my site: www.therealestatefrontlines.com

Let me start this entry off by saying that C.A.R. (California Asssociation of REALTORs®) was very informative and there are many things going on right now in the industry. The most important news I pulled from the Convention was about HR Bill 3221 and Senate Bill 3221. These started as energy bills and foreclosure prevention was added as a "rider" (Definition Here) The House Bill will raise FHA limits to 729,000 and about 750,000 in high-priced areas of California. The Senate would raise the limits to only 550,000. There will also be 6.5 million dollars alloted to attorneys who specialize in foreclosures! Now this is another tricky part and has some people very concerned and it's called the "bailout." With this the lender agrees to write down to 85% of the appraised value and allow homeowners to change their loan. The government will then take 3% of the equity that builds in the home. This part becomes tricky because the system for administering it hasn't been developed yet. And finally, money to local governments so that they can buy foreclosures that have been sitting on the market! WOW...this bill is getting a lot of support, but some stauch opposition from Senator Shelby Dodd. Let's see this one through! What do all of you think? Is this too late to fix a problem or just what the doctor ordered? What would you do differently?

Full HR Bill Link Click Here

Link #2

Link # 3

 ALSO POSTED ON www.therealestatefrontlines.com

  Last week I wrote about Eastvale and what it takes to get a home there. (Blog Entry Here) I highlighted the fact that the market there is extremely competitive. I focused on three main things that you need to do and one of these was: “Submit multiple offers,” oh…how true this is! Let me start off by saying that when dealing in the Inland Empire period, follow the rules in the Eastvale post. Those tips will ring true in any of the markets here. I want to elaborate on submitting multiple offers. This is essential and is the only way to insure that you’re in the running to get into a home that you want. Let me give you a situation: Let’s say that you find a short-sale…it’s your dream home and you submit an offer. You decide not to submit any offers and wait to see what comes from the short-sale. On a “good day” you might wait a month, on a “bad day” three –four months. So today is a GOOD DAY! and you “only” wait a month. At the end of that month, your agent comes back and tells you “Our offer didn’t get accepted, we have to get back out there and find a home…” But here’s the problem as you waited for a month, great properties have come up and most have opened and maybe closed escrow. You’ve missed out on great deals. What if you would have submitted offers on all the properties that you thought were nice and had potential?

  Please understand…you are dealing with a very competitive environment, and the only equalizer you have is: multiple offers and a lot of patience! You are not tied to any unaccepted offer, but when you receive an accepted offer, you have to make a decision. Technically you have seventeen days to do this, unless you are countered with something different by the seller. Good luck and get out there and start submitting!

Originally posted on my website:

www.therealestatefrontlines.com

I speak about Eastvale on the site quite often and it’s because I love working and being out and about in the area. But I have to let those of you out there know that it’s a battle out there when it comes to purchasing a home in the area. For sake of a better term, the area is HOT! Just to give you an idea…twenty-two homes have closed in Eastvale since the beginning of the month! And yes you read that correctly 22…in 17 days…These homes have had an average price of about 365k…considering most of these homes are in the 3k square foot range. Couple this with the fact that most of the homes in the area were built after 2000, and you understand why the area is hot. To get a home you’re going to need a few tips: • PREQUAL I’ve talked about this before, but make sure that you are pre-qualed before you go out and start looking in the area. You have a lot of REOs in the area and most of them require a pre-qual to even submit an offer. This will also help a REALTOR® like myself find a home perfect for you.

• BE READY TO RUN What I mean by this is that when your REALTOR® calls you and says “John I have four properties here in Eastvale for you,” you need to be ready to get out and take a look at them. Of those twenty-two homes I mentioned earlier, half were on the market for 30 days or less, 5 of them were on the market for less than 10 days!

• BE PATIENT AND PERSISTENT You might not get that first home that interests you in Eastvale, but continue to go through the process of submitting offers and looking at the homes that interest you. Some individuals luck out and get their dream home the first time that they submit an offer, others don’t. Be patient and continue with the prospective buying process.

• SUBMIT MULTIPLE OFFERS This is an essential to Eastvale, to be in the “ballgame” on any property you’re going to need to submit multiple offers. If you want a home get in on every property that interests. Just because you submit an offer doesn’t mean that you are tied into a deal. When you find a property that interests you and you get an accepted offer, then you make your decision.

GOOD LUCK!