Goodyear and Buckeye real estate from the front lines.  You’ve seen the news spots. You’ve read the newspaper. But what’s REALLY going on in our west valley market today? The name of the game right now is short sales. I ran an MLS search last night & currently short sales are outnumbering foreclosures 2 to 1 in Goodyear and Buckeye. This can be frustrating to some, and a non-issue to others. True, you can find an OUTSTANDING deal on a short sale….if you have time to wait.

The Waiting Game Currently banks are taking anywhere from 45 to 90 days to respond to an offer on a short sale. Once they have responded, closing is still 30-45 days out from that time. 45 to 90 days doesn’t seem like a lot of time when you first hear it, but when you’re waiting on an answer for possibly the largest purchase of your life, it can be an eternity. Short sales are definitely out for a first time homebuyer trying to get in on the government’s tax credit. For a person who already has a place to live in the meantime, it’s not a bad deal. We’ve come up with a formula that seems to be working. We are asking our buyer’s to put down $1000 earnest money into title when submitting an offer to the bank. This money is non-refundable for the first 70 days. This shows the bank that we are a serious buyer, and not just putting in offers left and right. It seems to be working. After the 70 days has expired the buyer has the option to get their earnest money back or continue to hang in there.
Release the hounds….no release the foreclosures! You may have heard rumors that banks are not releasing foreclosures until toward the end of the year. There is really no way to prove this one way or another. But judging by the short sale to foreclosure ratio mentioned above, one can only hope.

Bidding Wars I hear it all of the time. “I don’t want to get into a bidding war.” It is true that nobody wants to pay too much for a home. But with homes at a 50% reduction from 4 years ago, paying a couple of extra thousand to get the house you really want doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. Our market in Phoenix has always typically cycled every 2-4 years, so it’s only natural that prices will eventually go back up. And the couple of extra thousand a person paid to get into a home will be well worth it once the home appreciates possibly $10,000 or more. We’re seeing multiple offer situations on foreclosures. In a short sale the bank will typically only work one offer at a time, so this really doesn’t come into play.

What about sellers? Unfortunately sellers have to contend with foreclosures and other short sales on the market right now. Reasons homeowners are selling now are financial burden or job relocation. Unless you paid cash for your home or put down a very large down payment, you may have to do a short sale. We have short sale specialists on our team who are very knowledgeable about how to get these put through. Please call me for more information.

Thank you for reading Goodyear and Buckeye real estate from the front lines, please contact us today for more information.