Foreclosures in certain areas of Orange County are experiencing incredible sales times and multiple offers resulting in bidding wars. If you do not get your offer in within the first two days, you will be locked out. The problem is with the market hitting bottom and the start of the sales season. Add the $8,000 government rebate and you have a fire sale ! The lowest priced in categories are selling extremely fast, indicating a bounce up in prices on the lower end, with regional and localized effects being found. In other words, a county may be experiencing a decline in overall prices, but it depends on the area of that county.
REO or bank owned homes are feeling pressures on the lower end and are giving less in concessions with most Orange County purchase deals finding limits at 3% for seller concessions. Lower end homes are beginning to show reduced commissions for selling office agents at around 2.5% vs. 3% to 3.5% for harder to sell homes in need of major work.
Riverside and San Bernardino are still experiencing issues with an oversupply of homes, contributing to continued buyer's market categorization at this time.
