Okay, so now I'm up to four multiple bid situations in two weeks. Still don't know whether my buyer got the property. I was contemplating this situation, and have concluded that it indicates that buyers are indeed out there. They've just been waiting for prices to adjust -- which in some segments they have. Two of my multiple bids have been foreclosures. Another was home on a large lot in a popular "scraping" neighborhood. And the ... Read More

They say all real estate is local. And it's really true. Forbes magazine recently did an analysis of estimated 2008 housing inventory, sales rates and turnovers to determine where there is most likely to be an increase in sales in the near future. Guess what city came in at #5? The article, called Best Places for Real Estate Deals, said that a pure "buyer's market" is one where there are far more sellers than buyers. That creates a drop in demand, which ... Read More

You've probably been reading the headlines about tumult in the mortgage industry. Nothing truly bad has happened to me (or to any of my clients), but we have had one close call. A lot of mortgage lenders are closing their doors, which gets kind of scary when you've got listings under contract and getting ready to close. It's not as bad as the newspapers would have you believe. But it is an unpleasant situation. I'd love to explain to you exactly ... Read More

Everybody asks me. "Should I sell this year or next?" "Should I wait to buy until prices drop?" "ARE prices going to drop?" I always tell them I don't have a crystal ball. And I don't. And neither do the people at PMI Mortgage Corp. But apparently they have much more sophisticated market forecasting tools than I do. And they have released a report detailing the likelihood of declining home prices in the 50 major U.S. ... Read More