Part Three reflecting the red-hot buyer activity around North SD County Coastal - a tour of houses that have gone pending during the holiday season. JimtheRealtor December 21, 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOL5duVui34&feature=sub Without data, you only have an opinion.
If you really want to know what is going on in a market right now. The critical data is inquirys, leads, calls and showings. Plus one other stat I will reserve for my equity trading. I can also tell you showings are down and offers are down on properties which are not aggressively priced. That information will not show up in stats for weeks but is like watching the bid and ask on key stocks.
yes - first time home buyers and buyers in the good school districts are frequently willing to pay more than the lenders are in San Diego and Orange County. For you bulls out there. CA still has a very low rate of home ownership. Not that I am a bull. I still think the high end is going to collapse and pancake down everything above a conforming loan. But I reserve the right to change my mind.
Real estate market stinks where I live (NYC suburb Westchester County). Average time on market is about 12 months. And about 36 months backlog of inventories. I know plenty of properties that have been sitting for more than 18 months with no offers, and zero traffic. There is basically no real estate "market" as we know it. Plenty of sellers but no buyers. Transactions have virtually dried up. I'll bet this is a similar situation to other parts of the country.
You're right NYC is probably doing relatively better. But if you're a property owner in places like New Jersey, Westchester, Long Island you're in deep, deep trouble - the term "buyer" has become a distant memory.
its a matter of three things: location....location...location. one home on my block in SF recently sold for 15% above asking price after 2 weeks on the market. another is in the midst of a bidding war right now. i lol when i read articles about "SF Bay Area" real estate woes. The problem is that the writers fail to look at the City of SF vs the rest of the Bay Area. Moreover, within the City, specific 'hoods are doing much better then others. e.g. people working for various SV companies (goog, appl, former dna, etc) have cash from RSUs (restricted stock units - the new "stock option" ) and often pay 50% cash or more when they buy, and if they want a certain property, they are willing to pay up and outbid others. yeah, we do have foreclosures in SF (city), but they are clumped into just a few 'hoods, and there are no foreclosures at all in my zip code (although had one or two this summer). its all relative.
Housing will be soft as long as unemployment and taxes stay at these levels. housing in California is STILL expensive.