I attended a foreclosed home property auction hosted by Hudson & Marshall in Ventura last evening. Fortunately, my client was successful in his bid so it was worth the trip down for both of us. He was also able to save about $80,000 off the list price of the property. It was an exciting event and we were both still on a high while we waited with the other winners to sign contracts. All the winning bids are subject to investor/bank approval which will take about 5-7 days to obtain, so we will know if the deal will stick in about a week.
Is it a great time to buy? Yes. Interest rates are at historic lows, Congress just passed an $8000 tax credit for first time buyers, and prices just keep getting better and better. There are plenty of folks who are taking advantage of this opportunity. As such, jumping into the current market for foreclosure properties in Santa Maria - Orcutt CA can be a rude awakening for potential buyers. Currently, there is a lot of competition for foreclosed properties. REOs comprise the majority of sold properties in the Santa Maria and Orcutt housing market.
With the majority of single family homes and condos being listed as "short sales" in the Santa Maria CA and Orcutt CA market, buyers are considering this type of listing more often. A "short sale" is a property listing where the owner owes more than the homes' current value, but still desires/needs to sell. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon position for sellers in Santa Maria CA.
If you are sitting on the fence about buying, Congress just gave you another reason to jump into the market for foreclosures in Santa Maria, CA. The recently passed stimulus bill modestly increases the first time home buyer credit from $7500 to $8000. But more importantly, buyers now do not have to pay the credit back as long as they stay in the home a minimum of 3 years.
Sold listings were on the market an average of 77 days, were about 1900 sq.ft., and sold for about $155 per square foot. 12 of the 17 sold homes were REOs, 3 were closed short sales, and only two were regular sales. 88% of the sold activity in this neghborhood was forelcosure related; so, like many other developments that were built during the housing boom River Oaks is now overloaded with foreclosures during the housing bust.
When the bidding gets competitive, buyers are often left to wonder how asset managers make their decisions about which offer to choose. If you have 15 offers how do you select one over the other? The obvious selection would be based on the net to the lender, but there are other factors. In particular, time and time again, I see FHA buyers assed over in this market for buyers using conventional financing. That is not to say that FHA financing is not being used -- it is.
There are currently 528 homes for sale in the Santa Maria CA (and Orcutt CA) area. Approximately 250 of those homes are short sales where bank approval is necessary to complete the sale. About 141 of the remaining homes are bank owned / foreclosure listings. Thus, approximately 50 percent of the Santa Maria inventory is short saled, and about 25% is bank owned (REOs). You can search for short sales and REO Santa Maria homes at www.iLoveSantaMaria.com and www.iLoveOrcutt.com.