One of my rental home investors asks:
How are things looking one week past the expiration of the home buyer credit? Time to plan a trip?
My answer: I should track this number daily, instead of relying on memory. These numbers are approximate, but reflective of reality. This is from the BargainBot search many of my investors are subscribed to:
October 2008 — ~1,500 listings
October 2009 — ~350 listings — this was the first tax credit
January 2010 — ~650 listings — somewhat replenished
May 4, 2010 — ~420 listings — second round of tax credit
Today — 492 listings — replenishing
I’m watching particularly for houses I would want to buy for investors, since these are the ones that were picked over the most by tax credit shoppers.
It’s not my style to say, “No, don’t spend any money!” But it remains that you’ll do better if you wait for the inventory to replenish.
May 21? May 28? The big jump this week is not so much new listings but contracts that failed — usually because the contracted price was above the appraised value. We want for there to be more good houses than qualified buyers.
That’s where I’m at for now.
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