Probably not over, but… - Posted by Alex Gurevich, TX
Posted by Alex Gurevich, TX on July 10, 2001 at 16:35:45:
… you should make that determination on your own.
I’ll probably speak to the contrary of what others have implied here: “don’t listen to the real estate agent, the deals are available in any market and yours too, you just need to learn how to find them.”
In theory, and in most cases in practice this is correct. You shouldn’t listen to what the agent is telling you. Instead, develop your own understanding of what’s going on in your market. Get busy, get going, talk to a good number of FSBO owners, make offers, see if you can negotiate something there.
Check the realities of your market with the data from MLS:
- How many houses are there for sale in your target areas? A very few or great many?
- How long do they stay on the market on the average? If the average time on the market is under 30 days - you really have a hot sellers market. If, on the other hand, you have a lot of homes on the market listed for over 90 days and a lot of “expired” listings, you are NOT in the hot sellers’ market. There should be plenty of opportunities for you to get good deals.
- Are there a lot of foreclosures in your county monthly? Get the count of foreclosures from real estate companies, or special services companies selling pre- and post- foreclosure listings to investors. You can find them at the courthouse, deed records dept.
- Are there a lot of VA, HUD homes listed for bidding weekly? What is the ratio of HUD list prices and winning bids? Find an authorized broker and get the stats of past bids for the last 2-3 months. If a number of listings is selling quite a bit below list prices it’s an indication of opportunities in HUD/VA foreclosures.
Bottom line, get your own research on the state of your market done - then you’ll know if it’s a sellers’ market, indeed.
If you find you are in the sellers’ market, you may consider relocating to an area where buying homes is not that hard. If you are a beginner with no resources or connections, a red-hot sellers’ market could slow you down by several years.
I know this from personal experience. In ‘91 when I got started in r.e., I was in the S.F.Bay Area. It so happened the market there was going through the peak, with multiple offers exceeding the asking price. It was a totally sellers’ market. For the first 9 months I made well over 100 offers on houses and didn’t get anything accepted. Cash at discounted prices or seller financing was of NO interest at all to any of those sellers. At least 30% of the offers I made were on REOs. Banks weren’t negotiating either.
I wasn’t willing to give up on real estate that easily, so I made a decision to relocate to a place where the prices were lower, the market was slower and it would be easier for me (a beginner with no resources) to make it happen. I did relocate shortly thereafter and bought my 1st home in less than a month after that. Then shortly another one and another one…
The point is, research your market on your own, try to make it happen where you are. If you feel you are banging your head against the stone wall, don’t kill yourself and don’t delay your progress. Move to a different place where it might be a little easier to get started. But do get started.