Buyers of foreclosure have to be quick these days. Some houses go under contract fewer than 90 minutes after they are put on the market, says Brad Geisen, founder of Foreclosure.com.
"For every listing that comes out, we have 10 buyers," says Cesar Dias, an associate with Approved Real Estate Group in Stockton, Calif.
Dias had 15 minutes of fame after introducing foreclosure sales tours last year. Now the tours are defunct because there are not enough homes to show.
"We had a lot of inventory last summer. Now we're down to 1,500 listings - from more than 5,000," Dias says.
In Florida, real-estate investment companies, buying in bulk and paying cash, face competition.
Even in the hard-hit Detroit area, bargains are disappearing.
"For a good house that's not too beat up, in a good neighborhood, there's no lack of buyers in this market," says Andy Sakmar, founder of Century 21 Sakmar in Rochester, 20 miles north of the city. "There are a lot fewer of these properties than a year ago, and the super buys get multiple offers."
Source: CNNMoney.com, Les Christie (08/06/2009) We are experiencing similar multiple offers scenarios in the Phoenix area.
We've seen many attractive listings with multiple bids. Some buyers still think they can low-ball a property but usually lose out !
From my experience here in northern Colorado, if you find a good foreclosure you need to quickly make a solid offer to have a chance.
This is true in our market in Knoxville TN as well. If you think of low balling a bank, think again, as someone will usually pay.
That's how it is here, with ANY house that is affordable and priced to sell.
Thank you for commenting on this blog. I believe it is so important for buyers to realize this so that when they do find "the home of their dreams" they do not miss out on a great opportunity due to misleading information from our media outlets.