Foreclosed Condos in Marin Being Snapped Up

Mary Southall's column in today's Marin IJ indicates that of all the Marin condos on the market, half of them are either in escrow or have offers-to-buy pending. My experience confirms that. I have an investor that wanted to put in an offer on a bank-owned condo in the Canal area of San Rafael last week. When I called the listing agent, I was told that there were already 3 offers on this property! Mary goes on to say that "dwindling inventory means more competition for the same homes. When competition for the same product increases, the price of that product rises. The window of opportunity for first-time buyers has not closed but it is shrinking." With condo prices in many cases 25-40% lower than they were a couple of years ago, and with interest rates as low as they are now, renters that have good credit should definitely think about buying. With FHA loans, all that's needed is 3.5% of the purchase price as a down payment.