Low Housing Inventory meets Thousands of Eager Buyers.
The new year is in full swing, and the inventory crunch has not gotten much better for Westside Home Buyers. With many homes being snatched off the market in a week or less, some Buyer's are feeling frustration.
An enormous portion of the homes I have seen in the last three months have sold with multiple offers, some receiving dozens of offers per day!With interest rates so low, and the prices seemingly on the rise, many Buyers are hoping to get in while the getting is good, and are finding this is much easier said than done.
We are seeing many Buyer having to wait significantly longer than they did even 6 months ago to find a home, and as such as much more willing to really fight to get it when it comes available. We are seeing the result of this in the prices, as a large amount of homes as selling well over asking.
This article in the LA Times shows some of the trending. They also note that while rates are low- bank criteria is still incredibly stringent and only the Buyers who are absolutely prepared and ready can close in 45 days. This means that if your lender or mortgage broker asks you for something- make it your first priority to get it back to him/her. I generally like to give my clients the Three-Hour rule. If you can get the loan officer or lender the documents they have requested within 3 hours- they can often complete the task that day. If you wait longer, you risk pushing back that part of the process and that could lead to a delay in Escrow.
Today's Tip- Clean out under your sinks. We all know that nice, large area under our sinks can become cluttered with cleaning materials, grocery bags and odds and ends. Take some time to clean it out this week! If you need to do an emergency repair to your sink, or lose something down the drain- the extra accessibility will be so appreciated!
Also-we're hitting record low temperatures in LA, and while our cold is nothing compared to many places across the country... our heaters and fireplaces are in full swing. Practice caution and make sure to keep everything flammable away from those areas!
