Need market update please help (real estate, foreclosures, rental)

[drewex]

Hi all, I've been searching for a house past 1.5 months. I'm looking for a place that is 200K to 300K single family. There is huge amount of house out there that is crap. And all the ones i like clean and buyalbe area are getting sold really fast, lots of offers. I was expecting to do low offers on house its the opposite, people over offering.

I am confused the market should be slowing down instead of picking up. People are losing jobs left and right. How are these people still afford the market. Any predictions how the market is going for next few months. Should rush to get in something thats mediocre or hold of a bit more.

Open to sugggestions, opinions

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by drewex

Hi all, I've been searching for a house past 1.5 months. I'm looking for a place that is 200K to 300K single family. There is huge amount of house out there that is crap. And all the ones i like clean and buyalbe area are getting sold really fast, lots of offers. I was expecting to do low offers on house its the opposite, people over offering.

I am confused the market should be slowing down instead of picking up. People are losing jobs left and right. How are these people still afford the market. Any predictions how the market is going for next few months. Should rush to get in something thats mediocre or hold of a bit more.

Open to sugggestions, opinions

lets look it is this way? Everyone hears about all the foreclosures and the market going south, but think about what property was worth 2 years ago? The now, 300K homes were 500 back then and really, as bad as the media makes out, foreclosures still affect a very small percentage of people. Many loosing their jobs so not live in the type of homes you are trying to buy. I don't think the market is going to sag much more, I would settle for what I can get...Who knows what will happen in a few months and most know the summer months are selling months for real estate..NO one can make a decision for you..

Nita

[Axiom]

Originally Posted by drewex

Any predictions how the market is going for next few months. Should rush to get in something thats mediocre or hold of a bit more.

Open to sugggestions, opinions

I'm sure plenty of folks would love to be able to answer that question with 100% confidence. I'd be wary of anyone who claims they can though.

Just realize any opinions you get here are probably worth what you paid for them especially since we don't know the specifics of your situation.
That said, I'll jump in and provide a counter for nmnita's opinion.

I like to keep an eye on PMI's quarterly economic and real estate trends reports. While I certainly don't think they're the final word, I do think their information is comprehensive and based on sound principles.

They just released First Quarter 2009 data and OC is still on their list of the 10 riskiest MSA's in the country. In their estimation there is a 99% chance that prices will be lower 4th quarter 2010 than they were 4th quarter 2008.

Of course that's in general terms. They don't differentiate between market segments and IMO the low end will stabilize before the high end.

Personally I'd be looking at whether the houses you're interested in are approaching rental parity. If they're close, and if you can comfortably afford the payments, and you plan to stay long term, then you should be OK buying, even if you don't get in at the absolute price bottom. Barring any crazy new financing schemes I wouldn't be concerned about another price bubble inflating anytime soon, but that's just my opinion.

For the areas and price ranges I'm interested in, buying is still so much more expensive than renting a like property, even though prices have declined from the peak, that I don't know how anyone justifies jumping into this declining market - but people are. Obviously they use a different paradigm than I do in their RE decision making.

Good Luck