Thinking of putting your house on the market in Stockton, CA? Good luck getting an agent to represent you:
In some areas of California, so many foreclosed homes are available to buy on the cheap that real estate agents are discouraging prospective sellers from even putting their houses on the market.
Perhaps the most extreme example of this is Stockton, about 85 miles east of San Francisco, where roughly three of every four homes for sale are in or on the path to foreclosure.
The city’s resale market is "pretty much gone," said Cameron Pannabecker, owner of Cal-Pro Mortgage.
"I don’t know an agent today who would take your listing unless you’re a hard-luck case. There is just too much competition," Pannabecker said.
It would have been nice had the article mentioned what percentage of homes sold were lender owned. They did mention, however, that 3,500 of 5,000 homes for sale are in some state of foreclosure, indicating that lenders are liable to dominate the market for awhile.
So much for working with your mortgage company, huh? Maybe, those darn banks taking back all those homes should stop being so greedy by gathering them in like nuts for the winter, and cut their lossess. Drop the prices and sell! And they said it couldn’t get any worse! Bah-humbug on this whole darned mess anyway!
Of course the Realtor finished up the interview with a NAR style quote
“They see prices are at a bottom.” “Do I see the tide turning? Yes,” Dias added.
To quote The Judge, a poster here a while back…
“Sell now or be priced in forever!”
I can’t recall hearing from The Judge recently.
Hey Twist,
I notice a more national perspective here. Has your move made this more so I noted in the NYT piece yesterday that the AUS TX region has had little shift in its pricing between rents and ownership?
Just wondering if you had a comment!
Metro-
The shift has been happening for a long time. Originally I was focused on the direction of home prices in the Phoenix East Valley, and how buyers could educate and protect themselves. John was the one that really inspired me to look beyond Phoenix housing and see the bigger macroeconomic picture.
That said, Austin has given me a new perspective. A lot of folks were maintaining that my “gloom and doom” view was colored by living at ground zero of the housing bust.
I think I’m more pessimistic, if anything, watching the market here in Austin. I listen to Yun and others say how great Austin is holding up, when I see foreclosures rising, prices falling and inventory rising. If this is as good as it gets nationwide, the market is in real trouble.
Phoenix however, is still my primary focus. It’s been my hope that we could broaden our scope while not neglecting Phoenix. One, it remains an important part of the story, and two, no matter where I’ve lived, I’ve considered myself an Arizonan since I was five years old. Old habits die hard. : )
Metro,
Would you by any chance have a link to that article? Couldn’t find it.