Buying a house in Murrieta CA

[NPHS Nonprofit Services]

The foreclosure moratorium was recently lifted, I expect the banks to start releasing the REO's mid August! What’s scary is the amount of modifications that are defaulting and eventually are going to become REO!!! I think we are going to see additional price corrections in some areas!!!

[mama25]

Dweej....I am going off your last post in June.

So... October is here! Your thoughts:

Have you seen the market ease up? Are there more foreclosures to come? I would imagine all of the short sales that didn't sell are in foreclosure! Is it an easier/better time to actually buy vs. being outbid?

I never understood the frenzy of people bidding on houses in the last year when job securities are at there lowest!

[dweej]

Yes, there are certainly more foreclosures to come. Many empty houses that aren't on the MLS because banks are controlling market inventory so as not to saturate the way they did in the beginning. A smart move on their part to attempt to stabilize prices. In addition, I know people personally who are about to walk away from their homes. Also, until prices increase to the point that they match with what people paid in '05 (et. al.), there will continue to be short sales and foreclosures because people will always need to move for one reason or another (job change, loss of income, divorce, death in the family), and they won't be able to sell their homes for as much as they paid for them, so they'll be forced to short sell or foreclose just to move on.

As for the market easing up, meaning I think that the summer scramble is over, I think it is. A friend of mine who put offers on homes in the late spring and got outbid on every one just went into escrow on a house that wasn't even a foreclosure! A traditional sale! (can you believe it? ). It had belonged to an elderly woman who purchased it back when it was brand new- she passed away and her daughter was just trying to sell it for current market value. It was paid off, so it was all cash to her!

If it is a good time for your family to buy (for tax reasons, for example, or to take advantage of a government program) then now is a fine time to buy. But, if you could just as easily rent, you might as well continue to wait. I just think rushing into this debacle without serious reason to might be a poor choice unless you plan to be in the home for a very, very long time.

Good luck!