[slow4dr]

*sorry for the long post*

Something else I bet Todd could elaborate on is "Shadow Inventory". IMO a 4-5 month surplus of houses is IMO a good amount to have a stable market. If all the houses that are currently in default were suddenly placed on the market we'd probably have a year or more of inventory driving the prices even lower.

I was in the market in SoCal with a similar budget as you just last year. I live in the outskirts(70 miles East of L.A.) so you'd be surprised what $200K can get you out here(since the $200K vs. $350K comparison). Anyway, I viewed over 100 houses and made 30+ offers over the course of 7 months. I used 20 or more different agents during this time too. I started a small database with pictures, listing dates and all pertinent information to track them all. Even though this was my second house I learned much more this time around than I did the first time. I found all the houses myself via Redfin because not one of those agents were very heplful finding what we were looking for. I was browsing Redfin 2-3 times a day trying to find properties.

I was losing my mind because I kept getting outbid and/or equal bids but cash offers. Either that or we'd find a great house but it was damaged in one way or another pushing it out of our price range due to repair costs. After nearly 7 months of stressing out we finally closed on an REO property the day after Christmas. The funny thing is we looked at this house back in the Summer and kinda wrote if off due to it needing all new floor coverings. It kept falling out of escrow so the listing agent sprung for carpet(not my favorite but since it was new I agreed). This situation was the one thing that was very surprising to me was how many houses that I made offers on were coming back on the market months later.

Many of the houses that were bid over asking were not appraising for enough so the financed offers were taking the back seat to cash offers. The absolutely craziest thing to me was in spite of that fact we were still able to buy this house and walk into 19% equity. FHA loan that I was immediately able to start negotiating the removal of PMI.


One thing that I am a little purturbed about is this house was vacant for nearly 300 days. The lawns were trash and I would strongly suggest if you end up with something like this to have the house gased before you move in. I think every creature in the neighborhood had shacked up in there.

My life lesson is to just try and be patient, the right one will come along eventually.


-J