I had an appointment this morning at a listing just after Market Action was published so only covered inventory in this morning’s post. Pending sales are up over 2008 but closed sales are down. That says that more transactions are failing in escrow. A reminder that an accepted offer does not equal a “SOLD” sticker. Factors that might be included:
- Appraisals not coming in at the agreed upon sales price.
- Buyer being disqualified due to changes in lending rules during escrow.
- Buyer backing out due to economic concerns.
- Increased sale fails during the inspection period (sellers are accepting offers closer to their “drop dead” price and therefore less willing to negotiate during escrow).
- Short sales (by the time a short sale is approved and changed to “pending” in RMLS, buyers are less emotionally attached to the purchase and therefore less likely to make it through escrow.
On one of the most positive notes reported this year in Portland real estate:
Closed sales were up 72.4% compared to November 2008 and pending sales rose 19.9%. New listings dropped 7%. The 72.4% same-month increase in closed sales is the largest percentage increase on record for the area. The previous high was56.9% in December 1996.
Year to date listings are down by 19.2%. This is keeping inventory levels low as inventory is a ratio of “active listings at the end of the month in question by the number of closed sales for that month.”
The average sales price is down 11.4% for the year and 3.6% for the month. The average sales price of home is now $273,300.
Appraisals not coming in
Buyer disqualified during escrow by new lending rules
What is the problem with the lenders in Short Sales, are they serious about selling these properties? Do they make more money if they go into foreclosures? When they tack on fees or amounts owed by owner of the home and pass these on to the seller, what’s the game they’re playing and is it legal?
Correction…When they tack on fees owed by the home owner to the buyers in the short sale is this legal?
This may help explain the lack of motivation for some banks in the short sale progress: . It is part of a post I wrote about the subject in June: https://portlandrealestateblog.com/realestate/2009/07/banks-dont-want-to-own-homes-but.html