Bargain Hunting In Force

There was an article on Reuters this morning talking about home prices in California, and the following quote jumped out which got me thinking.

"We're running out of foreclosed units in most places," said Alan Nevin of MarketPointe Realty Advisors in San Diego. "It looks like we're straightening things out."

We've been talking on this blog for a while now about how demand for these lower priced homes will eventually put pressure to stabilize the market and drive prices up in the higher tiers. I started thinking about my conversations with agents over the past few month who have told me how much of a pain it is to work with foreclosures. In addition, they keep telling me how the distressed properties are really hurting their non-distressed listings, specially in Chicago where I reside.

So what are the options? Ride this out (provided you have enough hang time), or embrace foreclosures and simply deal with the additional work?

I called an agent in Los Angeles who told me that they are seeing activity in certain pockets (just northeast of LA) like they did in 2005. Multiple offers are being placed as bargain hunters are trying to take advantage of the market.

So I walked away from my conversations thinking that the agents that will win when all this is said and done are the one's that embrace the current market and focus. Why not target these buyers? Listings are sitting for 10 months, while buyers can make 10 offers in a month. Put together a campaign to find these buyers. Use BIRDVIEW's Traffic Accelerator to find these buyers. They are out there.

Here is the full aticle:
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE55B04720090612