92883 Repo Lists

REOs (17)
Pending Sales (42)
Closed Sales (22)

Standard Sales (47)

Short Sales (77)

92882 Repo Lists

REOs (12)
Pending Sales (63)
Closed Sales (26)

Standard Sales (20)

Short Sales (53)

92881 Repo Lists

REOs (6)
Pending Sales (16)
Closed Sales (13)

Standard Sales (21)

Short Sales (43)

92880 Repo Lists

REOs (10)
Pending Sales (60)
Closed Sales (26)

Standard Sales (20)

Short Sales (85)

92879 Repo Lists

So, I thought I would mix it up a little. This will give us some perspective of the current market in Corona. When I have some more time...I will add areas of Riverside and Moreno Valley.

REOs (19)
Pending Sales (45)
Closed Sales (29)

Standard (24)

Short Sales (61)

Corona Homes 4 Sale

92879 - REO (16)
92879 - Standard (17)
92879 - Short Sales (87)

92880 - REO (19)
92880 - Standard (19)
92880 - Short Sales (105)

92881 - REO (7)
92881 - Standard (18)
92881 - Short Sales (37)

92882 - REO (15)
92882 - Standard (13)
92882 - Short Sales (65)

92883 - REO (16)
92883 - Standard (41)
92883 - Short Sales (75)

If we add up all of these homes (plus the 1 house listed as an auction/probate sale)...there are 551 homes on the market in Corona.

Corona - 92880

As the housing market continues to fluctuate, it seems that as soon as we figure out where it is at…IndyMac fails, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae need help, etc. So, I decided to take a look at some hard data. Here is what I did: I looked at all of the closed sales in the 92880 zip code of Corona, CA. My intention was to see what information was out there and then what conclusions could be drawn from that information.

The data…81 homes closed escrow. Of these homes the vast majority were REOs (64 of 81). These homes spent an average of 56 days on the market. The homes that spent the longest time on the market were on for 394 and 361 days respectively. Six of them were sold in the first three days on the market. The average sales price was $379,830.25. The average listing price was $377,727.14, generating a difference of only 0.05%.

The biggest changes down were:
Address Sale List Price/Sq Type %down
8608 Vienna Dr 465,000 399,900 $162.99 REO 16.28
13756 Hill Grove St. 385,000 334,900 $116.49 REO 14.96
13746 Apple Moss Ct 390,000 339,499 $130.57 REO 14.86
13331 Kamelia St 410,000 358,900 $117.44 REO 14.24
7854 Port Arthur Dr 405,000 356,900 $133.62 REO 13.48

The biggest changes up were:
Address Sale List Price/Sq Type %up
7173 Cottage Grove 480,000 550,000 $124.97 NEW 12.73
5903 Red Haven St 350,000 398,000 $105.94 S.S 12.07
5940 Red Haven St 341,000 379,900 $184.72 REO 11.24
6171 Royal Diamond 360,500 399,900 $139.78 Resale 9.83
7316 Pinewood Ct 440,000 484,900 $147.90 Resale 9.26
13901 Burrage St 319,000 351,500 $124.22 REO 9.25

Items that are unknown about this data are: 1.) how much paid by the seller for closing costs, 2.) how many offers were received for these properties, 3.) how many of the buyers utilized down payment assistance programs, 4.) the condition of the property, and 5.) how many upgrades were done to the property.

What conclusions do we come to?

Of the six biggest downward changers, only two were bank owned properties. All six of the biggest shifts up were bank owned homes. This tells me that the banks, for the most part, are listing the homes low in hopes of running the prices up. It also tells me that the new homes, resale homes and short sales are still pricing their homes too high.

Conclusion: the banks are driving the price in this area.

Foreclosure Lists

Here are the first lists. These are the homes that are listed as bank owned in the MLS.

Corona
LakeElsinore
Murrieta
Temecula
Perris
Moreno Valley

I will update these lists every week. The subsequent lists will be much shorter because they will only include the homes listed in the previous 7 days. Also, I am thinking about adding a short sale link in the coming weeks.

Check back soon!

Short Sales pt. 2

I was on the phone with a listing agent yesterday. He told me, "I am still collecting offers," and he said, "I am going to send you a counter offer." I have heard this a million times before. A listing agent doing his job in collecting the absolute best offer he can for is client. However, this home in particular is a short sale...a wonderful property in Southern California...just a shade under 2,000 sf, with a nice swimming pool...a swimming pool that we have never seen because the listing agent will not allow us to gain access to the home because tenants reside in the home. My clients love the home. So, we wait...we hope for the best.

The problem is that the listing agent does not have a good grasp of the short sale process. He is working under a set of rules that just don't apply right now. When the home is a short sale, the home owner does not make the ultimate selling decision. This decision is made by the bank. The bank gathers all of the information and then makes a decision (which they send back to the listing agent for selecting the offer).

The process of a short sale:

1.) List the property
2.) Gather financial documents (to show financial hardship)
3.) Accept an offer
4.) Submit "short sale package" (#2 & #3)
5.) Decision about financial hardship (2-6 weeks)
6.) Decision about price (2-6 weeks)
a. Appraisal
b. BPOs
7.) Lender Approval

The listing agent should have submitted the offer to the bank so that #5 could be started. Instead, we are stuck in limbo...having waited weeks since submitting the offer...knowing that weeks of waiting lie ahead of us.

For now, my clients wait...I wait. Feeling somewhat paralyzed by the idea of getting the house that we want, but not knowing. There are a lot of land mines that we have to navigate in the coming weeks (2 approvals, inspections, tenants, etc...). Ultimately, we are waiting on a home that may not even be for sale.

Short Sales

Short sales are very hard to read, and are not always a good deal. Let me try to explain the process. In order to sell property as a "short sale"...the owner must "qualify". In order to "qualify", they (the owner) must submit documentation (bank statements, financial statements, tax returns, etc) proving that they can no longer afford their mortgage. A "short sale" is an attempt by the owner to sell the property short of foreclosure AND what they owe. In order to get the lender to look at the "short sale", they need to submit an offer from someone willing to purchase the property. Therefore, the primary motivation of the owner and the listing agent is to get the initial offer...NOT listing the property at market value. After the lender gets the initial offer (and the owner's financial statements), the lender orders an appraisal and BPOs (this is where the lender asks a few Realtors in the area how much the Realtor thinks the property is worth). This process takes 2-6 weeks...to just get an approval! After the approval, they must now accept an offer from a buyer. After they accept an offer, escrow is opened, which typically last 30 days.

Short sales are not necessarily a good deal because...1.) they are often listed below market value and banks are typically trying to sell the property for approximately market value, 2.) you are agreeing to a price on a property 10 weeks before closing the transaction. This can cause 2 problems, 1.) the buyers lender may not approve of the deal after that much time (interest rates may rise, loan programs may go away), 2.) the buyer is agreeing to a price on a property 10 weeks before it may close escrow (in a declining market the home may actually be worth significantly less before escrow closes).

The primary thing to be considered when making an offer on a short sale is the market value of the property NOT the list price.