East Bay Housing Market Stats: Another REO Surprise!
February 27, 2008 by Glen Bell · View Comments
As a follow-up to last month’s REO surprise, “that one out of every five listings in the SF Bay Area is REO, Bank Owned Properties,” we asked ourselves another question.
What is really influencing housing inventory and pricing in the SF Bay Area?
We’ve always heard that new construction has been the main culprit with overbuilding leading to a glut of houses for sale. All that new housing located along highway 4, Antioch, Brentwood, Pittsburg, Oakley seems to have led the way. After all, those areas are seeing between a 15 to 25% drop from last year’s prices. (Median prices compared on a year to year basis for January).
So we ran some numbers again using DQ News and EBRD MLS services to see which has the greatest influence over listings and sales on a city by city basis. Numbers were pulled as of January 31, 2008.
SURPRISED again!
Well, with all of the subprime fallout, foreclosures, and REO news rolling around in the news, maybe it really isn’t such a surprise.
The following list seems to put it in perspective.
Glen’s East Bay housing numbers
Reasons may vary, and differ depending on location. However, it is apparent that REOs, Bank Owned Properties, are now, the major influence on housing inventory and sales in the SF Bay Area.
Banks are the competition in a big way for sellers. Banks think differently about selling. Banks are becoming more aggressive in selling their properties. Not much in show or presentation, simply priced below the competition.
In many of our conversations this week, we’ve been hearing that activity has picked up. The word seems to be that “investors” are looking for bargains in the marketplace.
We have to agree that we are seeing that with our own REO listings. So we have to ask ourselves the next big question, will investors be leading the way?
Maybe they’re smart enough to realize that timing a real estate market bottom is next to impossible. Maybe with low interest rates, lots of choices, and not many other buyers out there, this just may be the right time to pick up a bargain.
How To Buy a Bank Owned Foreclosure (aka REO) In 4 Easy Steps
January 15, 2008 by Norman · View Comments
We’re starting to get some calls from people looking to buy REO’s but need a little guidance on how to begin, so here is some basic info that you can use as a checklist to help you get things under way.
- Define your strategy. Cash flow vs. Appreciation. Let the math dictate the offer price and know how far you are willing to deviate from your baseline. Real Estate investing is too important to do based on feelings or hunches, if you don’t want to crunch the numbers, work with someone who will.
- Is your financing in place? Timing counts when buying REOs. There are other investors looking at the same properties so a deal for you is probably also a deal for a dozen other investors. There are bargain hunters in every market so you must be prepared to act when the right deal comes along.
- Don’t be disappointed by rejection or failure. It’s called a buyer’s market for a reason; other opportunities will come along as long as you aren’t too busy moping over the one that got away.
- Write clean offers, write clean offers, write clean offers. Put down at least 1 percent, have reasonable straight forward contingencies,(no contingencies dependent on your uncle’s cousin’s friend giving the final ok), and show you are willing to close in a reasonable amount of time.
Of course there is more to buying foreclosures than four simple steps so feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.
Quit Hiding Behind that Computer & Cross the Digital Divide
January 8, 2008 by Andy Kaufman · View Comments
I love online social networking.
In fact, a good portion of my online life in 2007 seemed to revolve around social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, among others With a bit of effort on my part, I’ve managed to build a quite sizable network of ‘friends’ within these sites fairly quickly.
Now, having a big online network is cool & all, but I’ve found that the real connection happens when you bridge the digital divide and make contact in person, in “meatspace“.
Last night, I attended a MeetUp group for East Bay entrepreneurs & small business owners.
How did I end up there, you ask?
Well… while doing some poking around a couple of weeks ago on MeetUp.com, I came across the East Bay entrepreneurs & small business owners group, and decided that since we share a bunch of common interests, I’d join up.
Quickly after doing so, I noticed that Patrick Schwerdtfeger, the group’s organizer was trying to put together a mastermind event, where group members could break off into small groups and brainstorm ways that we can help each other build our businesses.
I thought, “Hey, I’ve got a small business & I know a thing or two about internet marketing. This is something that I’d definitely like to check out.”
The only problem was that Patrick was looking for a venue to hold the event.
Hey! I work in a cool office and we have plenty of space. Let’s host the event at our office.
So I contacted Patrick, and after determining that there was no chance that the Green Bay Packers would be playing on that day (gotta have priorities), we committed to holding the event at our office on January 19th (more on that tomorrow)
Fast forward to last night.
Since our mastermind event is coming up, I thought it would be a good idea to actually attend a MeetUp to check this group out.
So after work, I went to my first East Bay Entrepreneur and Small Business Meetup and it turned out to be a dynamite group. I met a bunch of people, saw some great presentations and left feeling quite inspired.
So there you have it. If you’re looking to build and strengthen your network, I encourage you to check out the online tools available to us.
Just make sure to take it that extra step and connect in the real world as well.
Who knows what it will lead to?
flickr photo credits: (tag:idea, Tiago Daniel) (tag:digital divide, palmetshofer) Thanks for using a Creative Commons license!
Download a Weekly List of Active East Bay REO Listings
December 14, 2007 by Andy Kaufman · View Comments
You asked for it and we’re going to give it to you. From now on, we’ll be offering a free list of active East Bay REO (Real Estate Owned) listings in excel format.
As experienced REO investors, as well as active REO listing agents, we’re constantly trying to provide the best information possible so that potential buyers can make decisions quickly and act upon then when they identify a potential deal. By offering this information as an excel spreadsheet, our readers will be able to download and sort the data as they see fit.
Searching through the data, you’ll notice that we’ve included the MLS numbers for each property. With this number, you can click on the “Search the MLS” button on the sidebar and pull up detailed property profiles for any of the listings that you’d like.
If return, we ask that if you see a property, (or ten) that strikes your fancy, you contact us (415-449-1609). Deal?
Alameda County Residential Income REO List
Equal Housing Opportunity. Equal Opportunity Employer.