From The Heart Of Silicon Valley

Campbell Realtors Specializes in Huntington Beach Real Estate 

Hummm….well I was raised in HB, maybe I should rename this site to Huntington Beach Realtors Specializing in Campbell Real Estate.

I am publishing a full report in my newsletter soon on this but for now here’s my answer to the “should I wait” question on real estate:

In most markets, “prices” do have a long way to fall, that is a reality. Actually it is a fact in the bay area, right now, as we write. Like a rock.

Note focusing on average list prices or yesterday’s actual prices does not tell us what is happening now or in the next few months.

Right now in the Silicon Valley about 60% of the listings are distressed – REOs and short sales. BUT, as far as listings actually in escrow, they make up about 80%. This of course is unusual in the grand history of things, but normal is not normal now.

In the next few months we will see reports that actual prices compared to list prices will be dramatically down…faster than even the worst of the so-called “doom and gloomers” here predicted. But in actuality it will be old news.

The question was should I wait or buy now? The answer is not in the newspaper, or on TV, or on an internet bulletin board. Its at the bargaining table.

via Stimulus plan..should I wait or buy… – Zillow Advice.

You tell me.

I like roost.com, its another good listing search service. The two prior posts were testing their capability of posting directly to a wordpress blog the results of your query.

Ok, its works. Not sure how useful it is though.

But I will add it to my Kelly Agent Search Galore’ page along with the other g’zillion ways a consumer can search for real estate properties. As I said in the prefix of the page though, besides being overwhelming, unless you are a member of the MLS, you are not privy to a lot of pertinent and timely information. However, for a lot of people this is very informative.

Its interesting, these days a lot of websites say they have the most complete listings of foreclosures. Yet, the best way to get those listings is like any other real estate agent, they use special searches on MLS. Now maybe there are banks that don’t use MLS, but why would bank limit visibility of a property for sale by listing with an exclusive service? Anyway, the indication of REOs or bank owned or short sale properties is up to the listing agent, and that often is in the remarks private (meaning consumers don’t get to know about it) or public, or not at all.

A real estate agent is going to do a lot better job. Wait, a good real estate agent that is. Now some real estate agents actually pay for these Foreclosure Listings services, whatever…But I don’t think they are the ones that are all that savey in finding th

Campbell Real Estate & Campbell Homes for Sale – Roost.com – Price: 339K & above

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San Jose Real Estate & San Jose Homes for Sale – Roost.com – Price: 0K & above

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Ok, I hang around Realtors,  in fact I am married to one.  So I have opinions, but I think less on the emotional side than seems to be the norm out there.   Right now, the real estate collapse has exploded into an “Economic Crisis”.  There are a lot of opinions on who is to blame, as opposed to understanding and analyzing  the real complexities of the situation and how we got here.

People are pushing political agendas, it is a political year, and extreme  partisanship, unashamed biasness has infected most of the information outlets.  Both mass and new media has lost the willingness to be objective (much less the actual ability to be objective).   When everything is this crazy, like a life raft in a stormy ocean you have to cling to something you know that is real.  Even though you still might drown.

I prefer a surfboard analogy.  The Law of Supply and demand is the underlying force beneath the market.   Bay Area Real Estate prices will always go up, because demand will always go up (unless you believe population will go down, in that case quit reading).   The simple fact is single Real Estate is a fixed supply (unless you think a volcano will occur in the middle of the bay, and quickly fill up and cool off leaving with concrete, asphalt ad parking, i.e. LA).

There are a lot of variables layered on top of this fundamental though,  so many to discuss that this post would become a novel.  So many  the forest can’t be seen from the trees as they say, oops another metaphor, sorry about that.

Anyway, the so-called bubbles and their implosions that happen within long run trends occur because of these variables, like stormy waves, there are those that drown, and those that come out richer, a lot richer.  Catch a wave and your sitting on top of the world.  Like Warren Buffet rich.  The smart ones like it when everyone is fearful he says.

Yep, the wave you don’t want to catch is the one everyone’s trying to ride, so why wait?….