The awakening of the first time buyer has been cautious. There was a surge in April and early this month in home buying. The misleading fact of 1/2 of all sales have been REO or bank owned in our state is one thing but the south bay beach areas have few bank owned properties. The slowdown and lending crunch has affected prices. We have higher inventory and it takes longer to sell properties and there are price reductions that have to be factored in. The other BIG and GOOD factor is that these homes are a short drive to the beach. The glorious Pacific Ocean! This week we toured a new Bank Owned listing on Perkins in North Redondo Beach. We were excited that it was under 700K. Every agent that went on our agent thought it was a great deal. The interesting thing is that some of the listings have had to price accordingly. The new listing coming up down the street that is similar is in top condition, it is also in a block that has a preferred school district for higher performing student test scores. It will be priced slightly more than the bank owned for those 2 reasons. This is actually why some people are buying the other homes sometimes before the bank owned ones. Investors and out of the country buyers are out buying more than one property at a time. They LOVE LA! Canada, Korea, and Japan, residents, that I have met are visiting and buying.
I have a listing in Torrance with value built in of over 80K in upgrades. The electrical, plumbing, new windows and roof make it more desirable than a similar home without those updates. The sharp first time home buyer today is educated in real estate values and prices. They shop the internet and visit open houses.They don’t have to be told to get a lender although they may need to get an update from the lender they have on a regular basis. The rates are still fantastic.
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bank owned Beach first time buyer preferred school district real estate values Redondo Beach reo student test scores Torrance
