The best deals are where the buyers aren’t
Many bargains still exist in the housing market even though the market has begun meander its journey back to what real estate pundits call “normal”.
Foreclosures and short sales are often of interest to our buying customers looking for a “deal” on a home or an investment property. Both of these circumstances present opportunities as well as traps where an inexperienced person might find himself paying too much or wasting a lot of time and effort only to loose at a game that a bank might be better at.
Foreclosures are bank owned properties that are put on the market in the usual way and most often are marketed by a real estate agent. They are listed in the MLS and compete with other properties.
When deciding what you want to look out when house hunting don’t focus on one segment in your price range. Owner ocupied homes have to compete in the market and often are price to compete with foreclosures. We get many people who have heard that foreclosures are a “good deal” and that is all they want to look at. Include all homes in your search and do the comparison.
The pending ratio chart that I have posted each week has a column labeled BO. This is the foreclosure column and you should use these numbers to tell what price range has the most inventory. Also you can move over to the pending column and see where the most activity is i.e. your competition. The best deals will be where the buyers aren’t.
