I came across this message on Piggington this morning, and found it quite apt for the market right now:
OMG I just want to buy a freaking house!
Folks, I’m just having a really tough time buying a house in San Diego. Just about everything that we come across is a short sale or it’s bank owned, or the seller will only take cash.
We’ve been trying since December to make something happen and it’s just a big black hole when it comes to getting our offers accepted. Honestly, I’m beginning to think that nobody in this town will accept a VA loan offer. Our offers are serious, over list and at the top end of the comps in the areas we wish to buy in but still no luck. …
Seriously, what’s it going to take besides a mattress full of cash to buy a house?
This poster is not alone. Every buyer I’ve talked to lately is frustrated in today’s market, putting in 10 offers and getting beat out over and over. Remember our blogger-buyer, David Cleveland? We chronicled his search for a house earlier this year. The frenzy seems to have picked up even more since then.
North County broker Jim Klinge has had a bunch of posts this week trying to catalog the reasons for all of the frenzy — summed up in this one.
Kris Berg posted last week about some of the urgency showing up in the market while first-time buyers scuttle to close their deals by the end of next month.
She broke the squeeze down by price segment:
But, all price ranges are not created equal. What I am seeing is the big squeeze. Put another way, homes at the lower price points being more affordable and therefore enjoying the greatest demand are the stuff we are hearing about, with their attendant multiple offers and feeding frenzies. The problem with so many of these properties is that they are dead-end streets. Buyers are moving in but no one is moving out (think short sale or bank-owned), which leaves us one moving van short of a normal market.
This has become a problem for the mid- and high-priced homes. Demand is less, and a smaller buyer pool can wreak havoc on prices and market time. Fortunately for these sellers, inventory is low, but it is low for all of the wrong reasons; too many would-be sellers don’t have the equity position to make the move they might otherwise have, so they stay put.
It’s not clear where Berg draws the line for low-, mid- and high-priced homes, but I’ve been hearing about that frenzy showing up most dramatically on listings priced lower than about $350,000.
I’d love for you to chime in. If you’re selling, how many offers have you seen? How have you had to adjust your expectations in this market? If you’re buying, what has your house hunt been like? How many offers have you written? Has it been enough to deter you from trying? Leave a comment in Survival if you’re not already there.