Lisa Wiseman

Just last week there were 372 properties in Santa Clara County that went back to various banks. It would appear that the banks are simply sitting on them, waiting for the market to get better. This is causing a huge build-up of property that experts call "shadow inventory." Right now prices are up and inventories are down significantly in The Bay Area. If they release these homes into the market a little at a time, the values will continue to hold and demand will remain strong. However, if the banks move too quickly or release too many properties, the values will decline further-a concern of everyone in the industry, and of course home owners. Look for many more properties to enter the market and continued low interest rates for buyers.

The $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit is available for escrows that
close before December 1, 2009, with the abundance of short sales
and bank-owned properties on the market, please be aware that
transactions do not always close on time. This means that although
sometime in October is a good time to place an offer, it is no guarantee.
Good advice is to place that offer by September to be safe. More
homes are expected to hit the market in September and October.
Below is an article that briefly reviews investing in bank-owned and
short sale properties: REO & Short Sales

Did you know that not all home search sites are equal?

By that I mean that those sites run by media companies,or
companies that are not actual real estate brokerages most
likely do not particiipate in IDX (Internet Data Exchange), which
allows brokers and agents to show eachother's listings on
their websites.

This is something you might not mind if you were shopping
for a car, but wouldn't you want to view all your options when
making the biggest purchase of your life?

For many buyers, placing an offer on a home below the $400,000
has become a very daunting task.

I have placed a number of offers for very decent, qualified and pre approved clients, (even
cash buyers!), within days of a new home reaching the market, and
in over 80% of these cases, never received a response from the
agents or their assistants. I know many agents never admit to this,
as they feel it may deter their chances of getting their future offers
received, but seriously, in the end, does it matter? There are so
many offers being submitted, without acknowledgement, it seems in most cases,
buyer's offers will not even be looked at, no less even receive a response,
unless they are one of the top 3 contenders.

When I receive offers on a listing, ), I respond with both my clients'
acceptance, counter, or rejectance of any and all offers, as well as a follow up
email acknowledging the hard work we all do. I understand
that we are all underworked and overpaid these days, but it is a
common courtesy to respond to your fellow agents, as well as
karma!

I am learning that many assistants are not doing what they are paid to do. Whether
or not they are under or overpaid, I don't know, as I only hear from less than 50% of them.
Many never respond as to whether or not offers have been received, a simple or email regarding the offer, despite repeated emails, voice mails and faxes. Last week, I even had an
assistant laughing at me after making a phone call regarding my clients' offer hours after the
expiration.

This is understandably frustrating and extremely time-consuming for both the buyer and their agents.
In my experience, 90% of the offers I make are met with no response or
feedback whatsoever from the listing agent or group.

I have always considered myself the 'Queen of Follow-Through' in all my years of sales, and still
consider myself to be her, but find it incredible to be doing business in an arena that does not
care or honor the same.