August 25, 2009
Let’s check in on the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (HPI). Here’s a summary of the latest data for the Los Angeles area, which includes LA and Orange Counties:
June 2009
Month to Month: Up 1.1% (raw)
Month to Month Up 0.4% (seasonally adjusted)
Year to Year: Down 17.8%
Change from Peak: Down 41.3% in 33 months
Since Case-Shiller lumps LA and Orange Counties together, I won’t repeat everything I wrote on the LA Sweet Digs blog. For more analysis and some graphs of the LA Case-Shiller data, check out my post over there: Case-Shiller: Nationwide Markets Simultaneously Bouncing Up.
August 24, 2009
In July, over half the offers we presented to listing agents in Southern California were on homes with at least one other offer.
To Angela Creech, our all-star agent in Orange County, this number seems low, “It feels like all my clients are trying to buy homes with other offers. Right now, pretty much every bank-owned property has multiple offers.”
Angela recently submitted offers on these two bank-owned homes:
Cypress
- $327,000 home
- 20 offers after 4 days on the market
- Will probably sell for around $375,000
Irvine
- $789,000 home
- Multiple offers after 2 days on the market
- Will probably sell for around $815,000
Tips For Bidding On A Bank-Owned Home
Anyone interested in a bank-owned home should follow Angela’s advice and show the sellers you’re serious and make your first offer your best. Specifically, you want to make an offer that is clean and competitive:
- Make a sizeable down-payment. If you can, put at least 20% down.
- Include an earnest deposit of 3%.
- Reduce inspection contingency periods from 17 to 10 days.
- Don’t ask for closing costs or put anything under “Items To Be Included.” Let the sellers keep their fridge, range and pretty set of patio furniture.
If you’re looking at bank-owned homes in Orange County, keep in mind that these properties are aggressively price to attract a lot of buyers. This works for the banks, bank-owned homes sell for at least the asking price, if not over it.
What are your experiences bidding on homes with multiple offers?
August 21, 2009
Let’s take at look at some July numbers for Orange County and see how they compare to a year ago.
Single-Family Homes
- 2,119 houses sold in July
- The median sales price was $490,000, down 5% from July 2008
Condos
- 887 condos sold in July
- The median sales price was $288,000, down 14% from July 2008
We got these numbers from DQNews.
Dig Deeper Into the Trends
These numbers are for Orange County. To see what’s happening in your neighborhood, check out our stats & trends pages.
This is our first monthly report on the inventory trends in Orange County. What numbers would you like to see in our August wrap-up?
