California to Nevada Real Estate

It shouldn't be this hard! All I want is a home!!!

If you are in the market to purchase a home in the desert areas of California or Southern Nevada you may be experiencing a great deal of frustration. Yes the deals look good, yes the media tells you now is the time to buy while we are at the bottom, yes you can find a perfect home at mid 1990’s prices BUT you just can’t seem to get a deal accepted! What can possibly be the problem?

Many Agents tell me they are receiving upwards of 60 offers on their listings! With this many offers only the best and easiest of offers is accepted. Even then, if it is a bank owned property, you get a notice from the Seller looking for the “highest and best” offer. In other words, you are forced to negotiate with yourself. If it is a short sale, many times you are subjected to the mental drain of waiting to hear if your offer was accepted. For a short sale this can take upwards of 120 days! Buyers lose interest around day 30 if they are not sure of completion of the purchase.

Here is a glance at two of the markets that I work in:

Las Vegas/Henderson- At this writing there are 5,118 homes for sale. This includes Condo’s, Townhomes, and Single Family. Last month the MLS shows 2,762 homes closed escrow for the month. This equates to almost a two month supply of inventory based on Listings-vs-Solds. Last year at this time we averaged between 11,000 and 12,000 properties for sale. We were selling between 4,000 and 5,000 properties a month. As you can see we have a dramatically reduced inventory with a slightly increased (by percentage) sales average. In this area, I advise my clients to make an offer the minute the property becomes available. If it is accepted, we go look! Not the best way to home shop but it helps to relieve the stress of visiting multiple properties, writing multiple offers, and getting ignored. The bulk of the inventory blame rest on an Assembly Bill 284 which slowed the banks efforts to bring foreclosed homes to the market starting last October.

Yucca Valley/Joshua Tree/ Twentynine Palms- At this writing there are 533 homes for sale in this market. This number is a bit misleading based on Realtors putting over priced homes on the MLS. In this area the average home sells for around $65 per square foot. If I remove homes listed for sale at over $100 per square foot, we find 347 homes available. This year in April we sold 77 homes, a 31+% decrease from 2011 same month (113 homes sold). The problem with the Hi Desert market is the overpriced inventory! With the real number of available homes at 347, we have around a four month supply of homes. When a properly priced home hits the market, it will receive multiple offers. The other problem is a lack of Buyers for this market. With only 77 homes sold, and most of these under $100k, you can imagine the feeding frenzy when a good deal becomes available.

Patience is the key if you are a Buyer in today’s market. Trust your Realtor to guide you to homes that are priced correctly for today. Don’t fall in love with the home until you have a fully executed contract. If you need help or someone to talk to about this market, CALL ME!!! I am available anytime to discuss our current market conditions. 760.221.2999.