I sat down with Israel Barden, our REO & bank owned expert with Coldwell Banker here in Big Bear Lake, for a quick video discussion on the 3 most important things buyers in this market need to understand about buying a bank owned property. [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWoSVKChFPo[/youtube] There are many factors to consider when buying a bank owned property. If you are thinking about a bank owned purchase, be sure to talk with your real estate agent and lender first. A bank owned purchase can be … [Read more...]
List Price, Sales Price, and Market Value.
October 7, 2008 by Leave a Comment
A lot of buyers today get caught up in what a property is listed for and how much they can get off of the price. They think the more off the price they can get, the better value they are getting. While this might be true in some cases, it can be false in others. Buyers should be more concerned with what the value of the property is, not what it is listed for. Take a look at the video below for more details on a specific example I came across. [viddler id=8277b8d2&w=437&h=368] (Note - if you are viewing … [Read more...]
Absorption Rates For The Big Bear Real Estate Market – September 2008
October 5, 2008 by Leave a Comment
If you are thinking of buying or selling a home in Big Bear, you may want to take a look at the absorption rate of homes that are currently for sale. This is a good way to become more informed on the current real estate market conditions in a particular area. There is an easy to understand article here describing what the absorption rate is and what it means for the real estate market. In simplistic terms, it is a mathematical equation that tells the amount of time it will take for a specified set amount of … [Read more...]
What Do Real Estate Agents Get Paid For?
October 4, 2008 by Leave a Comment
Business coach Jim Rohn has a good response to this type of question. As with any job, "You get paid for bringing value to the marketplace" Rohn says. If you are not bringing value to the marketplace, then sooner or later you are not going to get paid. This is even more true in today's tough market conditions. In the life of a real estate agent, this statement could not be closer to the truth. The role of the real estate agent has changed dramatically since the days before the internet, IDX, VOW's, blogs, … [Read more...]
Buying An REO or Bank Owned Property? Make Sure You Read The Fine Print.
June 24, 2008 by 2 Comments
Given the current real estate climate, bank owned or REO (real estate owned by banks) properties have become highly sought after by today's buyers. Whether or not they ultimately end up purchasing one, most buyers are starting off with this thought in mind. Naturally, these buyers are looking for a deal and most bank owned properties fit this category perfectly. It is not uncommon to see Big Bear REO properties selling from 75 to 90 cents on the dollar as compared to similar homes on the market. While buying a … [Read more...]
Absorption Rates For The Big Bear Real Estate Market – April 2008
April 28, 2008 by Leave a Comment
The time it will take to sell a house in Big Bear dropped by 10 months in April 2008. With the pick up in home sales that we saw in March, the absorption rate for the Big Bear real estate market dropped from 32.72 months to sell to 22.80 months to sell. This is encouraging news for home sellers though the market is still very heavily favored toward buyers. The market will need to get closer to a 1-3 month absorption rate in order to get back to a sellers market. Now that we are heading into the spring and … [Read more...]
Big Bear Home Sales On Par With Other Second Home Markets in U.S.
April 9, 2008 by 1 Comment
The National Association of Realtors recently released a report on second home sales that was reported on by The Dallas Morning News. The article states that second home sales nationwide dropped by more than 30% in 2007 when compared to 2006. This is pretty consistent with what we saw in the Big Bear real estate market in 2007. There were 1172 residential sales in 2006 as compared to 796 sales in 2007, a difference of 34%. I noticed a few important points to take from the article as it relates to the Big Bear … [Read more...]
Big Bear Home Sales For March 2008
April 6, 2008 by Leave a Comment
The Big Bear real estate market saw an increase in homes sold in the month of March with a total of 46 48 homes sold. Historically speaking, this is still considered very slow sales activity, though it is nearly 60% 65%higher than January and 50% 54%higher than February of this year. The median sales price for homes sold in the month of March also increased, going up nearly 8% ($282,000) 10% ($2865,00) as compared to the previous month ($260,000). The median sales price is still down 2% only down $1000 from … [Read more...]
Absoprtion Rates For Big Bear Real Estate – March 2008
March 16, 2008 by Leave a Comment
The absorption rate provides a clear picture of what is happening in the real estate market and is good to share with buyers and sellers. I determine the absorption rate for Big Bear by taking the previous month's sales in a particular price range or area (you can use others like bedrooms, square footage and such), and divide that into the total number of available properties in that same criteria set. This will give you the amount of months it will take for the market to absorb the properties for sale, assuming … [Read more...]
New FHA, Freddie Mac, & Fannie Mae Loan Limits – Revisited
March 15, 2008 by 1 Comment
I posted earlier this week on the new, higher conforming loan limits for Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae as well as FHA loan limits for the Big Bear, San Bernardino area. After a few more days of consideration, I think it is safe to say that these new limits will have no immediate benefit to the real estate sales in our area. I come to this conclusion based on couple key factors: Most of the homes in Big Bear are second homes. Given that approximately 70% of the homes in Big Bear are second/vacations homes for … [Read more...]
