Ventura County REO Market changing for the better.
Have the banks gone soft on us? Have the buyers beaten them into submission? Or are they finally wising up?
The phenomena I'm talking about is SPEED!
Last year a typical REO listing might have gone like this:
- Occupancy check (day one).
- Cash for Keys offer presented to occupant (week one).
- Property vacated and re keyed (week four)
- Trash out, cleaning, maintenance start-up (week five)
- Property listed in MLS (week nine).
You read it correctly, NINE WEEKS from occupancy to listing date.
In this market, waiting the extra five weeks from possession to listing has, in my opinion , been costing the banks a lot of money. It also creates a problem where the five week old BPO and appraisal help to overprice the property. These overpriced REO's stay on the market a lot longer going through price reduction after priced reduction, costing the banks even more.
The "SPEED LISTING" as I have fondly nicknamed my new found phenomena goes something like this:
- Property vacated, re keyed, two BPO's and appraisal (day one)
- Trash out, cleaning, maintenance start-up (day three)
- Property listed in MLS, sign up, lock box installed (day six)
That''s correct, SIX DAYS from possession to listing.
This new model is absolutely the way it should be. In our still down market this not only avoids extra carrying costs but it allows the property to be priced much more aggressively creating multiple offers in many cases.
If this trend plays out, my latest REO listing may go from cash for keys (possession) to escrow in 14 days or less.
Hopefully this new phenomena the "SPEED LISTING" will become the "norm" and we will start seeing a decline in the REO inventory. This decline, I believe, will be a major indicator that the bottom has past and we are on our way to a "normal" market!
Rudy Detgen
Troop Real Estate Inc.
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