IE real estate market and questionable agents (Empire: short sales, mortgages)

[serialdriller]

So i been looking for another house here in the inland empire. Been making many offers, some are short sales, some as back up offers, even some all cash offers.

A house I was interested in been on the market about 5 months now listed as a short sale. I made a backup offer on the house about 4 months ago, would have been putting 20% down.

4 days ago the listing agent calls my agent and asks if i'm still interested in the house as the first buyer fell through. I of course say yes and they have me sign a updated offer reflecting the newer date. Listing agent says my offer is the one they are going to submit to the bank.

Come today, I have my agent call the listing agent to check the status. The listing agent says over the weekend someone put a higher offer and they are going with that one.

Let me remind you, the house has been on the market about 5 months now, and just by chance from thursday to today someone made an offer. The listing agent didn't even call my agent to let me know, I had my agent call to check the status.

Seems sorta shady. Maybe its just me.

You would never know the real estate market is weak right now as seems like there are NO good deals on the market.

I even made a offer on another house. Offered 30k over the asking price. Didn't get the house. Go figure!!!

Anyone else got crazy IE real estate stories??

[Dunbar42]

No but Redfin has an Inland Empire forum that might want to check out.

[DMenscha]

Obviously I don't know your real estate market, but in spite of what the national news would like to tell you about how bad things are, there are quite a few real estate markets throughout CA (and indeed some places in the US) that are experiencing low inventories and multiple offers again.

Even in my remote part of the world, I've seen multiple offers on REO properties in the past couple of months. One my client won and one my client didn't.

Good luck to you in finding something that works for you.

[kirby10]

Have lived all over California. Real Estate agents, are like a box of chocolates....have done 20 transactions in the last 12 years....some good,
some...not so good. They are like this secret club, "having information" that only they could get, and most of the time you have no idea if truth
is coming out of their mouths. We should have sued the last real estate
agent/deal we made in northern California, but the whole deal was such
a web of deceipt, that we didn't know where to start. It cost us nearly
$8,000 more to close the deal, and we were staying in a hotel trying to
close it so, of course we weren't, but we felt like we'd been backed into a corner...sometimes I think for "sale by owner" would be more honest.......not!

[serialdriller]

I almost feel like things have changed to a sellers market right now... when really it shouldnt be....

There should be so much more inventory right now. So many people are not paying mortgages. And why should they when the system allows them to do so with no consequences?

And yeah, real estate agents are crooked...

[bouncethelight]

Originally Posted by serialdriller

I even made a offer on another house. Offered 30k over the asking price. Didn't get the house. Go figure!!!

If it was a short sale, that's a very common scenario. Short sales are usually listed at a price the current home owner made up - they have no idea how much the bank will actually take, so they make something up, and then when they get an offer, it's up to the bank to accept or reject it.

Short sales aren't for everyone. You have to be very very patient and willing to accept a lot of minor disappointments along the way. You may lose out on a dozen or more houses before you figure out how much you really should be bidding, and finally find a deal that sticks.