San Diego Realtors Seeing Double Offers

How can double offers even be a possibility when the San Diego real estate market has been swirling with dismal reports about short sales, foreclosures and inventory gluts?

The markets are particularly bad in San Diego suburbs like Eastlake, Otay Mesa, San Marcos and Oceanside where so many new subdivisions were built in the last six years.

Buyers swarmed into these communities, lured by granite countertops, stainless appliances and liar EZ loans. Most buyers assumed they would be able to sell at a profit as soon as the builders next phase was released.
Fallout from this real estate mess has left no community unscathed. Even the Rancho Santa Fe real estate market has a few foreclosures pending. But more than a few San Diego Realtors are starting to whisper about the return of multiple offers.

These aren’t the same kinds of multiple and double offers we saw in 2004 and 2005, when San Diego home prices were reaching new highs each month, and we were being honored by the news media as having one of the hottest real estate markets in the US. Todays multiple offers come from home buyers and investors who have been waiting in the wings for what they see as a market bottom. Or something close to that buyers heaven.

San Diego homes attracting multiple offers are generally priced substantially under market. They also make the Realtor grapevine:

Did you hear about the 4-bedroom home in Oceanside listed at $180,000?

What do you think of that cute vintage Spanish bungalow near San Diego State at $249,000?

How about that gorgeous 2100 square-foot remodel in Lake San Marcos at $300,000?

The bottom of the San Diego real estate market is both muddy and bloody:

Buyers and investors have a sense that their toes are touching a muddy bottom. Home prices could sink a little lower, but better to buy while selection is so good and rates are low.

For most San Diego home sellers, the real estate market feels nothing short of bloody unless one is well-situated west of I-5 near the beach. For the bloodied sellers, profits have been slashed, if not lost altogether.

The multiple offer phenomena is also being noted in other decimated real estate markets, including Denver, where outstanding Realtor Kristal Kraft notes the same thing happening.

One response to “San Diego Realtors Seeing Double Offers”

Real Estate Marketing says:

July 10, 2009 at 2:34 am

Because of continuous economic downturn, many realtors and business establishment were engaged in financial issues, they tend to get big loans in order for their business to survive in this time of depression. The RE agent drop in income story has other facets.Agents incomes are way down. The figures calculated are probably directionally correct overall. What makes things worse for the agents is that they're not doing 54% less work, or incurring 54% less out of pocket costs. Many pay for system access and certain RE related services out of pocket. With income reduced but expenses holding steady, the reduction in their net income is more pronounced. Many of these agents are also spending significant amounts of time and energy working on short sales. Few of these transactions end up closing and yielding commission $ as many banks are dragging their feet on dealing with problems. The only people who seem to have it worse are the spec builders. Many are being boiled alive as the problems they put off in 2008 by renting out unsold inventory are now snowballing into massive losses.

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