Market Upturn Predicted Second Half of Year

Although existing-home sales have been soft since the beginning of this year, they are expected to improve notably during the second half of 2008, according to a forecast by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (NAR). Statistics suggest a sizeable pent-up demand for homes, according to NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun, which will be released into the marketplace as excessive home-buyer pessimism about the market begins to subside.

“Ever since the credit crunch last year home sales have noticeably declined,” says Yun. “Subprime lending accounted for 20 percent of the market, and that suddenly disappeared last August. For brokers, these have been tough times, but given that we have historically low mortgage rates, I believe we’ll see an increase in sales the second half of the year.”

Foreclosures drive housing market

In Riverside County, home values tumbled 28.6% from May 2007 to May 2008, DataQuick said. But the volume of home sales in May of this year actually increased by 4.1% from a year earlier, to 3,444.

We are seeing the lowest prices on homes that we have seen in a few years and people are buying. Anyone who was thinking about buying before the prices started to drop, are in the market now. There are low priced home and deals to be had in every level of the market. Even people who didn't think they could afford a house, can now find something in their price point. The foreclosures have forced prices down even if the seller in not facing finacial difficulties. If you want to sell a house today it has to be priced right. And that means a price tag considerably lower than what the house would have sold for a year ago.

Those who decided to wait till the market bottomed out - well now is the time. The interest rates are starting to rise and the inventory is huge.

Homes Sales in Indio up 47 percent

Heritage Plams and Sun City Shadow Hill, two 'active adult communities' plus many other great developments, new and old, are located in Indio. Anyone looking for a home in the desert is sure to find something to their liking. According the the Desert Sun on Friday June 6th, "Indio's home sales in April were up 46.5 percent from a year ago". And in addition, the number of homes sold in Indio in April was up almost 47 percent when compared with home sales in March of this year.

The housing market is definitely improving in this area. Let's hope the rest of the country sees the same increases in the near future.

REO's

What does REO mean? Real Estate Owned and it refers to a bank that owns the real estate. This means that the home has been foreclosed on and the bank now owns the home. Banks are not in the real estate business and want these homes sold as fast as possible. They want to recover as much as they can when selling an REO so most of the time there is a deal to be had.
Still, don't be fooled into buying and REO and then finding out that you paid more than the house is worth. Remember many of these homes were financed 100% when the market was high. Now the home is not worth what the principal of mortgage was when the homeowners defaulted. Most of the time the bank is writing off a lot of the debt therefore you and find great deals on REO's for sale.
It would really be worth your while to have a reputable real estate agent work with you to determine the comps in the area you are looking to buy. Many auction companies even let you bring your realtor to the auction.
So REO's can be a great way for first time buyers and investors to find reasonably prices homes. But don't forget to do your homework before making an offer to the bank.