all your stories and comments have confirmed our suspicions for the past year. realtors and loan agents and investors have become too desperate, walking a thin line of scams that need to be regulated... only problem is no budget to regulate / enforce anything. careful with your credit info, hold off buying until winter season (maybe for the next few years). thx for your postings

I'm reading these posts, especially Franks' and realize that we're being played. I was looking for homes since Jan and same situation, higher bids and realtor sold homes to their "buddies". I was looking for a house in OC and it was listed for $470K. I made an offer for $465K and seller paying for closing costs. The seller (investor) countered offer asking me putting deposit of $10K, raised the original listing price to $471K because he knew we could afford the house (got a copy of proof of fund). And, of course, the listing agent says there are several offers. The house is on the market for 30 days and suddenly after we made an offer, there are other offers? Poker game time.

I know we're not going to get the house, but I am having nothing to lose. We're going to rent another 6 months. Who knows, that same house could be another $20K under the original asking price.

Stories I read here are all too familiar to me. My wife and I have been seriously shopping since July and 4 homes we wrote offers on, ALL were lost to higher bids! We're not using FHA to qualify, all my offers have 20% down with proof of funds and my credit score exceeds 700.
I've come to the conclusion that this craziness is leading up to a new bubble which is artificially created by bunch of crooks. Both banks and Realtors/brokers are creating a feeding frenzy and that is locking honest bonified buyers out of the game!
Problem I have with this is I know with double digit unemployment and a sea of defaults on the verge of forclosures, this fake bubble is gonig to burst, especially as our inflation begins to inflate due to our growing deficit!
Does anyone else see what I'm seeing?

Yeah, its crazy how many offers the well priced properties are getting. I just put in an offer for a client and was told there are 15 other offers!


I am curious to see what will happen once the moratorium is over and the lenders start releasing more properties.



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Its a game and unlike the other real estate game few if any players go to jail. They just get the bailed out. There is no professional courtsy among theifs. The MLS should be a shame of itself to allow this to go on. Comments like "Don't bother calling for availiblty, Availiblty calls not returned, If it is listed it is available, or this one: mutiply-offers (15 offers) stop do not show, seller says enough no more offers. "Show me the offers". Yes Mr. or MS. MLS you should require the listing agent to show you the offers or a buyer social #! Our clean up the listings. Real sellers (The Public) would never have put up with this so why do banks? I guess tough times require less measures.

When the realtor mentions "no appraisal contingencies", does that mean "no inspection contingencies"? If you buy a home without an inspection, you're buying a money pit. If a first-time buyer can't get a foothold in the market without signing on to a financial disaster, then California can say goodbye to young families and the middle class.

Property hit the market yesterday in my neighborhood. Bank owned, $100k under last model sale in august and really nice, it was a zoo with agents, clients and kids all over, I wandered in and as I walked out I watched 2 different couples hand checks to their agent. A number of other places for sale in the area but not at that price or that nice. Double whammy positives and bank is going to get it done fast. Feel kind of sorry for the neighbors trying to sell at last years prices. Not to mention the eight or so homes not for sale which are currently in forclosure or already owned by the bank which none of these buyers have a clue about. So we have a new $/sq ft standard set in the neighborhood I would think. this will continue to happen in the areas you want to buy so relax and be patient. Inland Empire or low priced condos, yeah you're probably near or at the bottom but in no danger of a rebound with the amount of distressed inventory out there. Above $500k just let some time pass. House in my neighborhood was 3k sq ft and ~225/sq ft. and will undoubtedly sell for $30k+ more than list. This is an established neighborhood not ladera/talega.

I was trying to buy a 1B/1B condo through different broker. Most of them didn't tell the truth. Two broker told me to offer cash price over $5K to $20K than listing price if I really wanted it, or they had already got few cash offer. Those were not true. The truth is that the bank is holding the property and try to get the high price. Try listing broker, maybe it will help you to get one with good price.

Been around 25+ years w/ ups and downs.

This market is not firmed-up,values are blurred and questionable from percentages of distressed, pre-forclosures, R.E.O.S and lender hanky pank / HVCC bank conflict of interest. Questionable quality of buyers capacity.
Unemployment, job-creation will determine when this market firms up. There is a extended time period (perhaps 5-7 years) for firming up ahead, during which time there maybe a dip of 5%-12%. Some people are jumping the gun, this recovery is unlike any other. I'll take Blue Chip Stocks with high dividend return over this burred market.

Many homes in all areas do not quality for real estate financing. Others don't qualify for home owners insurance or fire insurance. There's a market for these homes, but not for me. These are giant warnings and I can't believe so many buyers ignore the warning. As for professionalism, there have been and always will be problems. But isn't it nice to do a deal with a real professional broker or agent?

This is absoolutley the ugliest market I've ever seen for buyers. At least Angela got some communication from the listing agent. Most go great lengths to not have to communicate. I remember back in previous sellers market counter offers like the one Angela received were commonplace. I would like to know...how are first time, FHA buyers, with 3.5% down getting homes today? I am seeing more "flip" properties come on the market as well. Isn't this part of what got us here in the first place? Buyers need to go on strike and just not play this game. I have buyers that offered on a short sale condo. It has a range price and the high end is 40k over the last sale. They got a counter offer at the high end with, of course, no repairs, per diem for late closing, full approval with her(the agents) lender. If they use her lender, no per diem. I asked the listing agent for documentation to show what she used to support that price. And after asking her pointed questions as to how many offers, expected time frames, what has been done so far, NO ANSWER!Lot's of frustration and professionl courtesy has gone out the window.

Listing agents lie all the time.

I have experienced many times which the listing agent claimed they have "received multiple offers all exceed the asking price", then later the houses were sold $20~$40k below the asking price.

A similar thing happened to my husband and I. We offered the asking price on a condo for $250,000. The property was already in escrow and we were backup offers. The property then fell out of escrow and We were told we were the strongest offer and that everything should be good. We got an email (not even an official counter offer) from the agent the next morning, saying that an attorney reviewed our offer and that they were countering us with the following stipulations: 1) We pay all attorney fees, 2) We pay all back HOA fees, 3) We pay all FedEx fees and our condo price was to be raised to $275,000. They also told us that they had multiple offers.

When our agent pressed the selling agent for more information, it turned out there were no other bids and after putting two and two together we realized the bank was really just trying to recoop some money that they had lost.

Needless to say, we kept our offer at $250,000. If they take it, great. If they don't, their loss.

I see this to often in the IE and cannot understand these counters, it is always best to educate these buyers in not making a huge mistake

Any buyer that accepts the counter proposal mentioned is making a huge mistake!

Investors. I hope the whole lot of them get screwed in this market.

We have been looking at homes in the under 400k area and on multiple listings we have had people buy the property at all cash, sometimes all cash at 30-40k over the asking price

Sure doesnt seem like a "buyers" market to me

unbelievable. who said there is a recession going on? I heard a few low price range home (below 400k) receive lots of all cash offers.