Jay's Notes: Well the worm has turned. The real estate market went from a buyer's market to a balanced market to now a seller's market seemingly overnight. As prices get bid up during the offer stage now, many investors find out that a good deal can turn into a not-so-good deal by the end of the bidding process. Where to Invest US solved that with fixed pricing that does not allow other investors to overbid the offer price. Also, the repairs are included in our pricing, so you don't have to worry about your repair costs going up during the rehab process. To find out more about our investor-friendly approach with long-term owner support call me at (800) 957-1907 Ext 1.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Kate Carpenter and her husband
waited for two years before sensing the time was right to look to buy a
home in the suburbs of New York.
"This is the first time homes are at an affordable point," said the freelance writer, 35.
She hopes to move her two young daughters out of their rented New
York City apartment soon, taking advantage of record low mortgage rates
and signs the slump is over.
Six years after the housing market began its slide, dragging the
U.S. economy into recession, this year's spring season -- traditionally
the busiest period for home sales -- is shaping up to be the strongest
since the crash.
Sales rose more than 10 percent in April from a year earlier and
may end the year up by as much as 13 percent, according to the National
Association of Realtors.
Prices, which plunged by a third from 2006 according to some
measures, are rising in some cities. Realtors report bidding wars,
albeit more modest ones than during the bubble years, and buyers are
snapping up homes much more quickly than only a few weeks ago.
"We have more buyers than we have houses to sell," said April
Bolin, a realtor in Riverside, California, considered one of the
epicenters of the U.S. housing crash.
"We have multiple bids all the time. I recently sold a property that had 10 offers in three days," Bolin said.
A reminder of how damaged the market remains: That contested
condominium sold for the asking price of $173,000, less than half of
what it fetched at the peak of the bubble.
Even if existing home sales this year touch 4.8 million, the top
end of the NAR's forecasts, that compares with more than 7 million in
2005, before the crash.
"We're guardedly optimistic," said Ron Phipps, a broker at Phipps
Realty in Warwick, Rhode Island, a state hit hard by the 2007-09
recession. "We've seen some really good signs. We just want them to be
sustained."
WORKING OFF THE OVERSUPPLY
One of the most significant signs of recovery is the fall in the
bloated inventory of homes on the market. Nationally, it has fallen to
about six-months' supply, usually considered a healthy market, down from
more than nine months in April of last year.
Agents attribute some of the quick drawdown to a broadening of
the kind of buyers getting into the market - homeowners looking to
upgrade, first-time purchasers and retirees as well as the cash
investors who ventured in earlier and growing numbers of Wall Street
funds betting on juicy rental returns.
Some of the cities looking at a potential inventory shortage were
among those hardest hit by the crisis, including Phoenix and Miami,
because investors have already swooped on many homes. In Sacramento,
California, supply has shrunk to just 1.1 months' worth, according to
data firm RealtyTrac.