Is The Golden Age of REO Bargains Over?
Early January of 2009 was a great time for bargain hunting home buyers. The market was filled with REO properties and the buyers fighting you for great deals were nowhere to be found. Prices were falling and 10-20 new listings were coming on the market every day. Looking at the market today, in late April, all I can say is “What happened to all the listings?”. A buyer from just a few months ago would be shocked at how few listings are actually available.
Sonoma REO Listings Are Almost Gone
This chart shows the awful truth in four bars. Buyers have cleared out the backlog of available REO inventory in Sonoma County. Pending and contingent listings far outnumber active listings, and the pool of active listings represents less than a month’s sales at the rates we have been seeing.
This is a snapshot at the end of April, 2009 and should be taken as just that. A snapshot. Sonoma County foreclosures might shoot up again. Bank owned properties currently in inventory might be released to the market in large numbers. What this chart tells me is that in the last four months many people have decided to jump into the market. The more than 800 buyers who were quick got homes already. Another 300 are in the process of buying. The ones who were slow to act are now fighting with all the rest of the late movers to get one of the 160 remaining bank owned homes in Santa Rosa or Windsor.