Change is good – questions remain
Change is good, right?
Changing real estate markets bring about a lot of issues that often become misunderstood or over looked.
In the past 17 years of selling homes, I don’t recall a time where people had so many questions and misconceptions on home prices, terminology and the market.
If you are reading this as a “club member,” you probably know me pretty well and know that I enjoy working with people who know me and trust what I say. There is a difference between people that call on a sign or an advertisement and people that call who have been recommended by a friend or someone that I have worked with in the past. Often, those responding to an ad are skeptical when they first call. Usually this is due to misperceptions of our industry or they have been reading the papers, which often (in my opinion) report real estate related information about 6 months too late.
A recent article in the paper said that cash buyers are playing a large part in the market right now. Really? Six months ago, when you told someone that there are bidding wars on properties and that investors are snatching homes up, paying cash, and making it hard for “normal” buyers to compete, it was often met with a “deer in the headlights” type of look. Now, people are becoming more aware of the difficulties in certain markets.
Short sales and bank owned homes come with a LOT of questions right now, as well. A short sale can be a complete nightmare or it can sometimes go fairly smooth. However, the idea of looking at a bank owned home and offering “50%” under list price typically won’t work. Banks normally price the homes (currently) aggressively and are not necessarily going to “dump them” as callers often hope. That doesn’t mean you can’t bargain or get a good price, it just means you need to understand how the process works.
Short sales are similar. Wow, can they be a LONG process. I have seen short sales take many (many) months and have seen others take less than 45 days. Yep, we recently closed a short sale in less than 45 days. This was possible because the “first” buyer decided to give up after waiting 4 months for the bank to make a dang decision. Once they got tired of waiting, they canceled. Lucky for my client, the bank had just issued an approval and we were able to get an acceptance in a couple of days and close in a “normal” amount of time. Other times, we wait months just for a response. Crazy.
Bottom line is this… If you have questions about buying or selling real estate. “Just Call Nick!”
Realty Executives – The Nick Bastian Team
2133 E Warner Rd. Suite 105A
Tempe, AZ 85284
602-803-6425
