Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Nope, Not Worried About Shadow Inventory....Just Any Inventory Will Do

Read a couple of different articles this morning and am, of course, sharing. Topic of today is ....surprise....lack of inventory!

For several years in the middle of this housing crisis we were very worried about a Shadow Inventory. Worried that just as housing would begin to recover, the banks would release a flood of foreclosed upon properties. I, in the beginning, was one of those believers. However, I haven't been for quite some time now.

I did believe that banks were holding properties waiting for home prices to rise. Here we are, rising prices, where are my REO properties?

It's been a natural progression though, what with all the mistakes that were made, the bills that were passed, the T's that were not crossed correctly, and now the I's that are, painstakingly, being dotted in the right spot. As natural a progression can be to create such a lack of inventory. A time period when once all is right again with foreclosure procedures, I anticipate not a flood of REO's but at some point in the next year or two, at least a nice little river of bank-owned homes.


I feel the recent increase in home prices are mostly being afforded to those standard sellers. And, reading this morning confirms that REO properties are not seeing the jump in sales prices. Why would they? Very rarely are they in the condition as a standard seller. Same with short-sales.

On short-sales, where are those? Hmmph! I certainly expected to see several SS homeowners come back on the market what with the extension of the Debt Relief Act. Hasn't really happened. But, I'm the one that does the right thing, so maybe those that could be short-selling their home have decided to strategic default instead. They were just extended that possibility to the end of this year too. Then they will be added to my pretty little river above!

I'm starting to ramble too much but had lots of thoughts today for you.

Summary? We are working out of this mess, we should see some additional inventory numbers before the end of the year. As always though, buy/sell when the time is right for you and your family.

I'm here for you. Any questions, just ask. As you can see, I'm a spewer of information!



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