The Buyer Frenzy

It wasn’t too long ago when for sale and foreclosure signs lined our suburban negiborhood streets as if they were Christmas decorations. The days of low ball offers and endless selection of properties to choose from are long gone.

Today, there is buyer frenzy happening as real estate begins to turn the corner in many parts of the country. A lack of available homes for sale coupled by an increased demand has created a windfall for real estate investors and potential sellers all getting top dollar for their properties with most often dozens of offers to choose from.

You may be thinking to yourself, I’ve seen plenty of for sale signs… There are so many homes for sale online. As those statements are true, what one really needs to understand is the type of propeties available and how local marketing practices influence our perception.

Short Sales have become especially common in the San Diego area and across the nation. Upside down homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure attempt to sell their properties with the approval of their mortgage lender to get out from under them. The result, hundreds of properties in “Contingent” status whcih appear to be available for would be buyers to purchase but are in fact already under contract and waiting for lender approval at times for months on end.

In my experience, about 60% of the properties found “For Sale” on typical consumer websites such as Realtor.com, Trulia.com, etc., are actually contingent and not available any more.

The bottom line is unless you know the ins and outs of the housing market, many aspects of it may appear skewed to most people. One thing is for sure, there are way more buyers than there are available homes at this time making it harder for buyers and lucrative for sellers.

About Daniel Di Matteo

Realtor at CENTURY 21 Award, Daniel was Voted U-T San Diego’s Best Real Estate Agent in 2014. A Husband, Father, and most recently, accomplished Blog writer, which explains your visit today.