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Well. on a very good note, inventory is down *everywhere*
it is down, however, there will be more and more and more foreclosures coming the next few years...even in the loan mod situations the redefaulting rate is over 50%...so it is NOT over!
Location: Halfway between Number 4 Privet Drive and Forks, WA
1,516 posts, read 4,591,098 times
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Finding it great Sacramento has only 2.7 months housing supply! 2.7 months! Is it a sellers market over there yet? LOL
San Diego 4.3 months
Los Angeles 5.9 months
Perhaps CA IS past the bottom...
The numbers are looking good thus far, only time will tell...
Realtors are the first professionals most people meet when they go to buy a home. They typically do the handy dandy "what you can afford" based on your income or based on nothing if loans are a dime a dozen.
In my home search in 1999, in a meeting with a realtor I recall thinking, "Wow. I can afford to buy the nicest house I'd want." Then I asked the realtor to break it down into what it came out to in terms of a monthly payment. I NEARLY CHOKED.
I could afford it. If I never took another vacation, had no desire to save for retirement, never performed any maintenance or had a medical emergency/layoff. My husband and I concluded the realtor was nuts and went our way.
Realtors like that one, as the first line of home buying contact, bear some of the responsibility in this mess for telling/encouraging buyers to purchase "as much house as you can."
Realtors are the first professionals most people meet when they go to buy a home. They typically do the handy dandy "what you can afford" based on your income or based on nothing if loans are a dime a dozen.
In my home search in 1999, in a meeting with a realtor I recall thinking, "Wow. I can afford to buy the nicest house I'd want." Then I asked the realtor to break it down into what it came out to in terms of a monthly payment. I NEARLY CHOKED.
I could afford it. If I never took another vacation, had no desire to save for retirement, never performed any maintenance or had a medical emergency/layoff. My husband and I concluded the realtor was nuts and went our way.
Realtors like that one, as the first line of home buying contact, bear some of the responsibility in this mess for telling/encouraging buyers to purchase "as much house as you can."
"You guys can do this." Infamous words. The couple in the ad above are probably underwater and/or foreclosed by now. It's the Century21 Recession.
It is an exceptional error to shop houses prior to shopping for the money.
Why go to Nordstrom's with only a Macy's budget?
Or, vice versa? Why look at $200,000 homes when you want and can comfortably afford a $400,000 home?
The contact with the agent should be a placeholder only until the buyer is qualified by a lender.
I do NOT tell people what they can afford. I ask them what they are willing to afford, and discuss the hazards of buying at the top of their qualification for a loan.
If they are not working with a lender, I press them to get to a lender ASAP to plan their application and purchase activities.
I work with a lot of folks who do the same, including some who will not work with someone who has not been preapproved with credit pulled.
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