The Elk Grove real estate market has really under gone some changes in 2009! 
If you are out there trying to purchase a home in this market now, you are probably experiencing some difficulty due to these changes.
Just a year ago, our Elk Grove inventory stood at approximately 1100 active listings in the Elk Grove area (zip codes - 95624, 95757 and 95758) and today that number has dropped to approximately 900. This number is significant in itself, but the real SHIFT has come in what makes up those numbers.
Last year at this time, the inventory consisted of approximately 40%-50% REO (real estate owned) or bank owned properties, another 30%-40% were short sale listings and the balance were equity sellers. On November 3, 2008 in Elk Grove we had 279 active bank owned listings on the market, while today we have only 81! This is a significant decrease! Today, the inventory has drastically SHIFTED to less than 10% being REO listings, while approximately 65% are short sale listings and then the balance of approximately 25% being equity sellers.
In addition, the short sale listings have made a SHIFT too. A year ago, our short sales were not selling quickly and multiple offers were almost unheard of on short sales. It is not uncommon today to have 
multiple offers on our short sale listings. We had one recently that we ended up with 22 offers on it and it was accepted for $25,000 more than the list price! This has become commonplace in the past few months. Out of the 900 active listings on the market in the Elk Grove area, 774 of those are short sales! But out of the 774 short sales on the market, approximately 500 of those are already Active Short Sale Contingent, meaning there has been an accepted offer that is being negotiated with the bank. The good news with short sales is the banks are approving more of them and most of the banks are starting to get the approval process moving faster.
The other SHIFT that has occurred in the market, is the flippers...out of the 25% of equity sales on the market currently, there is a large number of these homes that have been purchased by an investor who has fixed it up and has put it back on the market for sale. Since the inventory in Elk Grove has been so low and sales have been strong over the past few months, investors are looking to capitalize on profits now from flipping homes. But with this, comes a problem for a good percentage of first time homebuyers...the 90 days flipping rule for FHA. A contract cannot be written on these homes for the first 90 days for an FHA buyer, so these homes are off limits to a large percentage of our first time home buyers in the area.
So what does this mean for those of you looking to buy? Inventory is low, competition is stiff and you must be on top of the game right now. Will this change? Will more bank owned inventory be coming on the market? And why is this happening? There is no simple answer to these questions...so watch for more in an upcoming blog.... In the meantime, you might want to check out some of these posts for some help with the answeres:
Shadow Inventory - The Latest Urban Legend?
Sacramento Short Sales - getting a mortgage means you must be proactive!
Debunking Short Sale Myths
To check the value of your home, go to www.AllElkGroveHomes.com.
Search all Elk Grove Homes here!
Lori Mode and Bruce Durham, Keller Williams Realty in Elk Grove, CA
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