Thursday, October 1, 2009

Not Much Hope for the High End

Last Spring I reported that I was aware of several folks in the local market to purchase a home. All were actively looking and making offers at what I consider the high end (500k and up).
At the time this gave me hope that the market was starting to spring to life.

My have things changed. In the end, two gave up and stopped looking to buy, and the third is not very hopeful about their current negotiations. I believe all three attempted short sales at some point and were incredibly frustrated by the process.

This is not very encouraging news, even though it is only anecdotal. I don't really run in those circles, so if you think about it, this turn of events is even more disturbing given the small sample size!

As a sanity check, I took a brief look at homes which fit my old criteria in the 95762 zip code. If all the PS homes were to close in one month, it would mean a 4.8 month supply...which is fairly modest. So there is at least some life in the market.

2 comments:

radiophilejapan said...

I've been watching the low end of the high end market in Granite Bay for almost a year now and it still surprises me the persistently high participation of distressed homes in the listings. Actually what is not labeled reo or short sales is PS, which probably means an offer made to a short sales property with little chance of closing. I read somewhere that only 10 to 20% of short sales contracts really go all the way through. I can only think that the "regular" owners are on the sidelines waiting for the market to stabilize. Although it may sound herectic in today's real estate market, at the end of the day, there seems not to be a whole lot of choices in this range out there. That is, unless you have a lot of time and patience to try to buy a short sales.

Buying Time said...

I'm posting this for someone having trouble logging in.

Retired Renter said.....

> I think I'm one of the folks you mention AB.
> When we find what we really want at a good price, we will
> buy. Until then, sales like the following make us
> happy to sit, watch and wait. At this rate, and with
> all the Mr. Mortgage has to say, we may just wait until we
> see the market bottom in the rear view mirror !
>
> 1021 Berkshire Dr El Dorado Hills CA 95762 4 beds, 2.5
> baths, 3,225 sq ft
> REO SOLD Sept. 2008 $750K
>
> 1095 Berkshire Dr El Dorado Hills CA 95762 4 beds, 3.0
> baths, 3,225 sq ft
> REO SOLD Nov. 2008 $605K
> (Same model as one above, but without pool)
>
> Current Organic For Sale $590K
> 1105 BERKSHIRE Dr, El Dorado Hills, 95762 MLS 90061975
> 3 beds, 3 baths, 2693 sq ft. Just had big price
> reduction, and still overpriced
> IMO.