On Your Mark, Get Set, Sign It!! - The Plight Of Today's Buyer

Interesting post.  Thanks for sharing.  We are starting to see multiple offer situations on short sales and bank-owned in some areas. 

Marvin - we are seeing the same thing in San Jose, Ca.  My sense is that listing agents already have the buyer in the bag. Was talking to an agent in my office yesterday ... she took a listing ... and had it in contract before it went on the MLS. In fact, she never did put it on the MLS.  A lot of short sales are listed substantially below market value ... check your comps! I submitted an offer last night ... list price $429,000 ... offer $465,000 waiving appraisal contingency.

Marvin,

Exact same thing happening in the Bay Area. There was a home in Livermore that just got 41 offers with 6 of them being all cash.

The amazing thing is there I have not seen a single article in any paper on the truth of whats happening in the marketplace.

I have a bunch of ready, willing and able buyers, and there is nothing to buy. (unless you have all cash or you go to the listing agent directly).

It's time to become a listing agent again. Way to hard to work with buyers right now.

Exact same situation here for homes around $160,000 and down.

Hey Marvin,

Same story in North County San Diego. I have a handful of buyers that are in the $500k or below range and it's a brutal market for them as far as competition!  We are getting beat out by cash or someone is coming in slightly more than my clients can afford.  We just keep pushing forward with clean offers and highest and best prices.....I think we will find something as long as we keep a positive and aggressive attitude! 

Hang in There!!

We are running into this situation in Southern Oregon too.  I agree with Andrew.  Time to take on new listings as the tide has changed.  The short sales are taking time, and it's plenty of extra work on the listing side, but they are beginning to go through.

Your clients are just trying to low ball and so-called "steal" a home. Most of the aggressive flippers are offering way over asking price leaving other buyers in a rut. It looks like another bubble in a way - shortage of affordable inventory, no new housing and quickly disappearing foreclosures and good quality short sales.

Hi Marvin -- It's the exact opposite here in Cleveland, a buyer's dream with most short sales and REOs not flying off the market.  Perhaps your buyers should try HUD Homes as they only entertain offers for the first 10 days from buyers who will owner-occupy so investors are excluded.  Since it's all online, the process is much quicker.

It was similar down here in Phoenix over the summer Marvin.  Although things have calmed down a bit.  I think the big boy investors started coming back into the marke about the beginning of the year.  Unfortunately the buyer interested in purchasing a residence is getting squeezed out.  Good post and best of luck to you.

Frustrating...  Here's hoping for you and your buyers!!

We don't have THAT much short sale and REO activity up here. And there is not much of a feeding frenzy going on either. Good luck.

Also similar here during the summer especially under $300,000. Some buyers couldn't believe they couldn't get a house - in one instance we told the buyer that there were already 8 other offers in. They didn't believe us and call the listings agent who said there ware 15 offers! Go figure. It seems to have settled down some - for now anyway. ~Rita

We have the same thing happening here in Orange County.  Multiple offers, over listing price and many offers written to get one accepted.

I would stay on top of short sales that have been in back up for some time as often it's not the first buyer who closes on a short sale.