California

Are you buying or selling a home? Then you certainly must know that this is a “new” real estate market. Not the same market as last year. Not the same market as at the beginning of this year, for that matter. This “new” real estate market is ever-changing and evolving. There’s no “status quo” here!

The beginning of 2009 started out with a resounding thud – relatively few sales … few buyers wanting, willing or able to take the step that would commit them to a mortgage payment. The state of the economy meant the state of the real estate market was definitely on hold.

But, with the spring has come a spring thaw in the real estate market. A more positive vibe is out there with home buyers (reference our prior post: Housing Market Opens up in Spring). And, let’s face it. If the buyers aren’t buying, there is no real estate market.

Which brings us to the subject of today’s article. It seems that while there are buyers ready, willing and able to jump into the market, there is a new breed of buyer out there. We’ve posted about this before – Two Real Estate Markets.

So, what is the secret to surviving and thriving in today’s “new” real estate market?
Patience is what it’s all about! Easy to say, not so easy to do.

Home buyers need patience to survive the multiple offer process, and steep competition for distressed properties. Buyers may need to write several offers before becoming the successful buyer. Have patience buyers! Your turn will come!

Home sellers need a big dose of patience to survive the competition out there. “Regular” home sellers are competing with the “distressed” sellers, and prices aren’t what they used to be. Home sellers are lamenting their home value lost to the economy. Buyers coming through their home, yet no offers.

In our opinion, buyers are being very selective right now. And sellers – this means you will, most likely, have to go through a lot of buyers before the right one appears. And when they do appear, and write an offer, consider it very seriously.

You may be able to use this real estate market to your advantage … if you take a big dose of patience along with it!Labels: home buying, home selling, patience, real estate market.

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Real estate experts hold optimistic views of the Berkeley real estate market’s future, as recent months have shown promising improvements with increases in both home sales and median prices.  Despite concerns over job security and another wave of home foreclosures, activity in the market has increased in the past few months as a result of the federal tax credit and affordability of housing due to the large inventory of homes.

If you are familiar – even vaguely familiar – with real estate terms, then you have heard the phrases “it’s a buyer’s market” and “it’s a seller’s market”. Those phrases describe who has more “control” of the real estate market.

Well, today we say “it’s a lender’s market”.

“What do you mean by that?” you ask. In our opinion, today’s real estate market is “controlled” by the lenders. If the home buyer wants to get a loan, and if a home seller wants to sell their home to the buyer who has to get a loan, then both the home buyer and the home seller have to conform to the lender’s requirements.

Home buyers must qualify for the loan with strict lender guidelines.

Home sellers know that their property must qualify for the loan via the appraisal, and stringent appraisal guidelines. These appraisal guidelines changed significantly this past May 1. Read more about it here: Home Valuation Code of Conduct, enhancing the independence of appraisers. The result? Strict appraisal guidelines.

So, in today’s real estate market – today’s “lender’s market” – it’s what the lenders want that determines the fate of the transaction.