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It's NOT a buyer's market in Alameda CA. Look at COST to buy, not the PRICE of the house

By
Real Estate Agent with Alain Pinel BRE 01367196

It’s NOT a buyer’s market in Alameda CA

It’s like someone turned the spigot on, and here come the buyers. Recent news stories talk about interest rates slowly inching up (but they’re still the lowest they’ve been in 40 years) and that home sales are improving compared to a year ago. See: DSNews.com


Home sellers, if you need to sell, consider this.

Seems that was enough for buyers on the fence to start getting serious. Wiith low inventory of homes for sale, one can expect buyers on the run to find properties at a good location, at a good price and in good condition.

 

Of the 107 properties that are pending in Alameda CA

  • 72 of them were in the market for less than 60 days
  • 52 of them for less than 30 days
  • 14 of them within the week
  • 4 were in contract the same day the listing was activated
  • 43 are pending subject to short sale lender approval (PSLA)  or 40% of total listings


Short Sales are moving!

What is especially encouraging is the number of short sales in contract. This suggests that buyers and their agents are getting braver in viewing and writing offers on short sales.  This is so different in the early years of short sales when people completely bypassed short sales, and some agents huffed that only  Short sale agents are “bottom feeders”.

 

What this further suggests that the market is brisk...that buyers are looking at all types of sales...and that some buyers (and their agents) are fast on the draw when writing offers.


So those buyers who still think this is a buyer’s market....THINK AGAIN!


Cost of buying versus price of home

And, if one would visit Steve Harney’s blog, one will find that “Buying a Home? The COST Is More Important Than the PRICE”.  In his blog, you’ll see the illustration that he explains this way:

 

We do not attempt to predict future interest rates. We have that up to the experts in the field. However, we want our readers to understand the potential impact on the cost of purchasing a home if they do rise. Here is a simple table that shows, even if the PRICE of a home softens, the COST of a home could increase.



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Comments(11)

Lloyd Binen
Certified Realty Services - Saratoga, CA
Silicon Valley Realtor since 1976; 408-373-4411

Pacita, You're right.  The market on this side of the bay is very strong, also. 

Mar 22, 2012 09:56 AM
Pacita Dimacali
Alain Pinel - Oakland, CA
Alameda/Contra Costa Counties CA

Lloyd

Glad to hear it. I'm so happy to be this busy...it means I have busi-ness!

 

Mar 22, 2012 10:00 AM
Endre Barath, Jr.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties - Beverly Hills, CA
Realtor - Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002

Pacita, I find it interesting what a  "Cattle Heard Mentality" Real Estate buying is,.... when no one is buying everything is at a snails pace, than when word gets out then "everyone is buying" then it is frantic....I have finally gotten busy again:)) too.

Mar 22, 2012 10:11 AM
Pacita Dimacali
Alain Pinel - Oakland, CA
Alameda/Contra Costa Counties CA

Endre

Yes, it's quite interesting. My newest short sale listing was just a day old when I received an offer. It's been non-stop showing. So we'll only have on open house this Sunday, and look at offers afterwards.  I'm expecting multiple offers in just one week. Mind-boggling.

Mar 22, 2012 11:29 AM
John M. Scott
BRE # 01442690, Scott Keys Properties - San Francisco, CA
Broker / Owner San Francisco Bay Area

Pacita, I see this happening too. I have a client who's looking in San Pablo - Rollingwood area. She's willing to offer over list price - my only concern is will it appraise? Recent sales don't always support the higher prices just yet. Should be intersting...

Mar 22, 2012 12:32 PM
Gene Riemenschneider
Home Point Real Estate - Brentwood, CA
Turning Houses into Homes

It is not a buyers market out here either.  And you cannot ignore Short Sales anymore.

Mar 22, 2012 02:31 PM
Pacita Dimacali
Alain Pinel - Oakland, CA
Alameda/Contra Costa Counties CA

John --- Yes... we should always keep an eye out for the appraisal value. Good luck to you. I hope you get it, and I hope it appraises

Gene --- isn't it interesting that we now have more and more agents working with short sales on both sides of the transactions? I still remember when one agent huffed about short sale agents as "bottom feeders". Wish I kept his name and see what kind of sales he'd doing now.

Mar 22, 2012 03:17 PM
Marge Piwowarski
Phoenix AZ Horse Property - Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix AZ Horse Property, LLC

Pacita, You could  be describing our market as well.  Our inventory is down and lots of buyers are making multiple offers without coming close to buying a home. 

Mar 22, 2012 04:13 PM
Pacita Dimacali
Alain Pinel - Oakland, CA
Alameda/Contra Costa Counties CA

Marge -- It's a challenge to convince buyers to be more aware of the market conditions....some of them are still low-balling offers and are being pummeled by savvier vuyers.

Mar 24, 2012 04:22 AM
Gene Riemenschneider
Home Point Real Estate - Brentwood, CA
Turning Houses into Homes

With the low interest rates homes are cheaper than last year even if the prices are not going down any more.  Our area is about the same as yours.

Mar 25, 2012 08:39 AM
Adrian Willanger
206 909-7536 AdrianWillanger-broker.com - Seattle, WA
Profit from my two decades of experience

Pacita, great chart, particularly for people who like visual aids. I'm hearing quite a few stories about buyers being out and extreme inventory shortages, our market Seattle is another good example of low inventory levels.

Mar 25, 2012 08:48 AM