Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. San Francisco Chronicle, By Robert Selna:
When Luis Jimenez bought a two-bedroom house in Richmond from a bank last year for $46,000, he joined the ranks of Bay Area real estate investors, who in 2009, purchased homes in moderate-priced ZIP codes, siphoning off housing inventory and resuscitating neighborhoods hit by foreclosures - but also pushing out some first- time home buyers.
Jimenez, a handyman and construction worker, spent about $14,000 renovating the house and now is in contract to sell it for $110,000 after eight prospective buyers made offers.
Bay Area bidding wars were big news in 2005-06 at the height of the housing bubble. They were driven by buyers who feared they would lose out on the American dream if they didn't act fast, and by investors, who imagined no ceiling to rapidly rising prices.
Multiple offers made a comeback in 2009 and early 2010, but this time around they occurred mostly in below median-priced areas, and were propelled significantly by investors buying bank-owned properties.
A Chronicle analysis of sales data from MDA DataQuick, a San Diego real estate research firm, shows that house flipping activity - where a home is bought and quickly resold - increased from 2008 to 2009 in several Bay Area ZIP codes.
For instance, the Pittsburg ZIP code 94565 had 52 flip sales in 2009. In 2008, it had 13.
DataQuick defines a flip as a recently purchased home that had previously sold within 21 to 180 days prior. The firm's data do not capture homes bought at auctions.
To read this full report, please visit www.sfgate.com. For any home or lending information, please visit www.simiishome.com.
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