Date- Feb 5, 2008-
It appears as if the current number of REO listings vs NOD/Foreclosure listings has now tipped toward a higher number of bank owned homes than NOD homes on today's active market, that, combined with the historically low interest rates and the popularity of Solano county as a centrally located, even climate, clean, friendly people, relatively low crime rates, beautiful area with a good steady source of local jobs and commute proximity to even higher paying bay area jobs without the high density living associated with the bay area makes Solano county real estate market's outlook look possibly a little rosier today than it did in say, September of 2007.
The banks are now dealing with offers coming in on short sale homes, instead of collecting the offers and letting them lay around gathering dust for months on someone's desk, the banks are carefully considering the offers of the buyers and making concessions such as offering money for SOME closing costs up front, but still generally selling as-is whereas. Sometimes, offers were sitting there for weeks or even months in the fall, whereas now they are turning some around in 24 hours!
The layer of buyers that were coming in to see lenders with their pockets empty, asking sellers to pay all of their closing costs, getting 100% loans that had low rates for the first years, getting qualified for loans that they could not repay, having credit scores that drooped below 600 in some cases, those buyers are no longer able to come in and buy the starter homes on the market. They are best advised to stay where they are at, save their money, pay off their credit debt and try again in the near future. FNMAE and HUD are working on ways to offer more loans to more people in a more secure manner that has fewer ways to fail. They are considering down payment programs for these buyers. They are slowly being replaced right now with foreign investors and buyers who have very good credit, or cash, ones who have been waiting to buy until it was a buyer's market, saving their money for a down payment, getting more choices such as homes with pools and location, location, location. These new buyers are getting lower interest rates on conventional 30 year loans with payments that are amortized and are equally spaced over 30 years. They are also enjoying a window in time that is precious and nobody knows how long they will enjoy their time to enjoy the marketplace and browse and consider, study and ponder their choices.
Yes, Virginia, it IS a BUYER'S market. Generally speaking, they don't usually last. The reason is the law of supply and demand. If there is a good supply of good homes in good condition in good locations with good amenities, buyers will eventually buy them and then there will be fewer choice homes. Once the bulk of these desirable homes are gone, then the law of supply and demand sets in and it is replaced with the fact that the supply dwindled and the choicest homes that are left will again receive the most attention, supply goes down, demand goes up, buyer's market moves into the direction of a mixed market. Unless a natural disaster, industry slow down, political unrest or calamity causes a particular region to become depressed and multitudes of jobs are lost at once, the oversupply of homes on the market will not remain constant. Solano county continues to grow jobs, and not just minimum wage jobs, but higher paying jobs for trained and educated workers, this attracts people to the area, combined with the large community of people who work at Travis Air Force base, not only military but the large civilian force out there, Solano county is the second largest employer in Solano county, many large corporations have plants here or are home-based here, and more groups are planning to move here such as State Compensation Insurance with 750+ employees expected to relocate here in the next 2 years. Solano county is most likely to continue to grow in the coming years.
Currently there are some really lovely homes on the market. They are not the homes that you see going into escrow right now. There are some homes in really sad shape on the market right now. Buyers are looking for a real bargain, they want the largest house they can buy for the least amount of money, condition is not so important to them right now...price is the most important factor right now, size second, location is third, condition is 4th. I urge anyone buying a home in ANY market to get ALL home inspections they feel would give them the best idea of the condition of that home, regardless of the price, some "issues" are just not worth the cost to fix them. With interest rates so low, buyers buying the lowest priced homes and getting the super low rates are pulling in some fantastic deals as long as they are being made aware of the condition of that home and their costs to repair them.
Call me or email me today to receive a weekly updated list of REO NOD and NOS homes in Solano county.
Barbara Adams, REALTOR Kappel and Kappel Inc 707-673-7500 BarbAdamsRealtor AT Yahoo.com
