Low Listing Inventory for Fresno Making it Tough For Buyers!

As of today, August 13, 2012, there are only 885 "active" listings in the Fresno MLS, for homes, condos and PUD's in the Fresno/Clovis areas. Of the 885 listings, 161 are short sales. So the actual homes that can be sold today is a mere 724 available listing. As you know, short sales take months to get approval and sometimes don't go through at all, so I don't count them as truly available properties. Also, of the 885 active listings, there are 110 "bank owned" REO listings.
This is an incredibly low amount of listing inventory! No wonder that buyers are having a hard time finding a good home to buy. I'm seeing multiple offers on nearly all listings that are clean and priced correctly. We actually need more like 2500 to 3000 listings to be a more balanced market with the number of buyers in the population of the Fresno, and Clovis communities.
This is having a positive effect on prices, as it is showing in the prices and values edging upward over the last year. The problem is we need listings. Anyone who is considering selling, must know that they can sell quickly at this time, and if they can find a suitable replacement property, they can reap the benefits of record low interest rates, such as 3.5% for a 30 year loan. It's just incredible the low rates we can get! .  Many homeowners that I talk to, would like to sell, but their property values have taken such a hit, that they are waiting for the values to increase. They are increasing but it's at a slow pace, maybe just a few percent higher than last year. I believe we have seen the bottom of the price decline, and values are slowly on the rise again.

10 Prime RE Markets for First-Time Buyers: Fresno, Calif.

I was recently interviewed along with my client and a Fresno loan agent, by Inman News, and the article was published. Fresno ranked 5th in the country for the most first time buyers and FHA financing. Click on the link below to read the article:

10 Prime RE Markets for First-Time Buyers: Fresno, Calif.

Fresno Real Estate Forecast 2012 Video by Joan Eaton

Low Pricing Generates A Frenzy of Highest and Best Offers

  In today's market it should be known, that many sellers, especially the resellers, or "flippers" that buy foreclosed homes, fix them up and resale for a profit, and also listing agents for bank owned REO properties have an interesting marketing technique whereas they list the property for a price under market value purposely, collect several offers from the buyers who are attracted by the price, then the sellers send out a multiple offer notice to buyers and asking them to make their "highest and best" offer. It is a fair practice, but it creates an artificial buying hysteria that takes. I tracked one well known reseller over the past year, and they had sold 300 properties in 2011, and the average sale price was $4000. higher than the average asking price. Very few of them sold for less than asking price and most of them sold for more than asking price, but the average was about $4000. higher. 
  So the lesson to learn here is that asking prices for most REO and "flipped" properties is just a starting point, and that buyers need to carefully study the comparable sales in the neighborhood to help in making the decision to bid higher than the asking price.