Every seller is looking for a way to get their home sold in this market. With only 1 out of every 15-20 Big Bear homes selling every month, it is understandable to want to try every possible strategy. One question that comes up a lot is whether to offer sales incentives to help entice more showings and a buyer. The most common types of these incentives include a buyer's agent bonus, raised selling commission, and the seller paying some closing costs for the buyer. While offering sales incentives can help a … [Read more...]
Warning! A Scary Story On How Not To Sell Your Big Bear Home In This Market
October 31, 2008 by Leave a Comment
Selling your Big Bear home in this market does not need to be any tougher. The real estate market conditions are scary enough these days. So you can imagine my surprise when I went out on a listing appointment recently and the seller did not want to have their property listed on the open MLS. Nope, they just wanted me to know about the home, that they wanted to sell, and that they would pay me if I brought a buyer. Their plan was to let 5-6 of the top agents in the area know about their intent to sell, offer … [Read more...]
Big Bear Lakefront Properties – A Different Kind Of Animal
October 28, 2008 by 2 Comments
Lakefront properties in Big Bear are the most sought after type of property in our area. Understandably, there is something inherently desirable, albeit romantic, about have a home on the water, not too mention a vacation cabin or second home. The tough part is that there are less that 600 homes on the lake in Big Bear, and less than 5-10% of those that are typically on the market for sale. As you can imagine, this creates quit a bit of demand and thus puts lakefront properties on the top end of the pricing scale … [Read more...]
Who Pays The Buyer’s Agent In A Real Estate Transaction?
October 27, 2008 by Leave a Comment
The real estate business is very complex. There are a lot of documents to go over, countless time frames & legalities to maneuver around, and various issues & unique personalities to deal with in every real estate transaction. While I work in this business every day, it is no wonder that buyers & sellers have a lot of questions about how our business works. One of the questions that comes up often is the title of this post, "Who pays the buyer's agent commission?" Check out the video below for my … [Read more...]
Short Sales, Foreclosures, & Bank Owned / REO Properties – What’s The Difference?
October 23, 2008 by Leave a Comment
I received a question last week on Trulia.com asking about the difference between a bank owned property and a foreclosure. These terms can be confusing to those who are not in the business, and even for some of us in the business. Here's a short video explanation of the differences between bank owned properties, foreclosures, and short sales and how they are all related in the end. Feel free to add comments or ask me any questions. [viddler id=6a9e0eb6&w=437&h=368] … [Read more...]
Sales Up, Prices Down In Big Bear Lake
October 21, 2008 by Leave a Comment
There was some surprising news to come out yesterday regarding home sales in the Southern CA area. Sales were up quite a bit in September 2008 though prices were down. I guess some news is better than no news at all but I think this report needs to be looked at in the proper perspective. I had a couple thoughts about it, check out the video below. [viddler id=75e77d9&w=437&h=368] Mr. Mortgage, as always, also has some good points on this article. … [Read more...]
Big Bear Bank Owned Buyers – Be Ready!
October 20, 2008 by 1 Comment
Bank owned properties in Big Bear are continuing to come on the market for sale at a steady pace. Don't expect that to change anytime soon. In the month of September 2008, there were 41 properties that went back to the bank. And there have already been 10 so far this month. While a few of these properties are already on the market for sale, the majority of them are still "in the listing process" with the banks and should be on the market in the coming weeks/months. What do the banks do between the time they … [Read more...]
What Time Is It? Time To Winterize Your Big Bear Home!
October 19, 2008 by Leave a Comment
It is getting to be that time of year again when the weather in Big Bear is turning colder. It is pretty common these days that the temperatures during the night hover near the freeze mark. This will only increase as we head into winter. Given that most of the people who own property in Big Bear do not actually live in Big Bear and are only able to make it up from time to time, winterizing your home now is very important. Trust me, you do not want to take the chance of frozen pipes. The resulting damage can be … [Read more...]
MLS Data vs. Public Records – Which Can You Trust?
October 18, 2008 by 5 Comments
News about the real estate market is huge these days. There is a lot of talk about prices going down, sales going down, and lots of numbers to prove the point. But, are these numbers legit? I use the Big Bear MLS to substantiate a lot of the real estate data that I provide on the Skinny. Pulling sales data from the MLS only provides part of the story however. One of the biggest problems with the Big Bear MLS data is that it does not include all of the sales in the area. Along with the increase in REO … [Read more...]
