Crescent City/Del Norte County Market Report for October

Crescent City/Del Norte County Market Report for October -

November has been a very stressful month as far as keeping escrows moving forward goes and I have put most of my time and attention into making sure the homes I have in escrow make it to closing; my clients deserve no less, however, that meant my market report and blogging in general was put on the back burner.

I am feeling a little less stress and will spend the next few days getting caught up on various things including my market reports.

October was an exciting month with 43% more closings than the same time period in 2008. We can thank the first time home buyer tax credit for a flurry of buying as well as declining prices and low interest rates. Rates are still low, the tax credit has been extended and prices are still coming down, so I anticipate we will continue to see investors and first time home buyers snapping up the affordable homes. With the advent of the "move-up" tax credit, we may see an upsurge in sales in the over $200,000 market as well.

The median price for homes sold in October 2009 was $160,000, which is an improvement over September's abysmal $150,000. 42% of the homes sold in October were REO's or short sales, but REO listings make up less than 10% of the active listings.

What does it all mean? REO's are still a huge force in the Crescent City/Del Norte County real estate market and will continue to be throughout 2010. My personal experience with listing REO's is that they are taking longer and longer to get through the pre-listing process and onto the MLS for sale. I perceive we will see a glut of REO listings in 2010 due to backlogged inventory that overwhelmed banks are trying to process. This will in turn cause prices to continue to decline. The Crescent City/Del Norte County market will not see a stabilization in prices until REO listings taper off, hopefully by the end of 2010.

If you are a seller, inventory is low this time of year and it could be an opportunity for your home to shine in this environment of less competition. The buyers are still out there looking for a bargain. Your home needs to be competitively priced, so don't jump into this market unless you are prepared to beat out the competition.

Do not hesitate to call me if you would like more information on the Crescent City/Del Norte County real estate market.