2010 REAL ESTATE TRENDS

2010 REAL ESTATE TRENDS PART ONE

According to Keller Williams, the top 10 trends in real estate for 2010 are as follows:

10. Cash Rules
9. Quicker Short Sales
8. Complicated Appraisal Rules
7. Inconsistent Construction Market
6. Increasing Mortgage rates
5. Continued Tight Lending Standards
4. Some Stabilizing Home Values
3. More Foreclosures in 2010
2. More Buyers in 2010
1. A Continued Buyer’s Market

We’ll start with numbers 10 and 9, and work our way backward.

10. Cash rules everything around you – especially when you are trying to buy a foreclosed property. So, if you are looking for a bargain, be ready to pay for it up front and quickly. If you aren’t ready, you can bet someone else is, and they will walk away owning your prized property. With most foreclosed properties being bank (or lender) owned, the motivation is to sell fast rather than high as most banks don’t want to own properties. Buyer competition can be frenzied at best, and to be in the winning circle, you have to be ready with the necessary cash!

9. The Short Sale has a reputation for being difficult; slow and often exasperating, and failing in the end. The property owner is willing to sell for a lesser amount than is owed, but often the lender is not. Sometimes it can take months before the lender voices unwillingness to sell low. Again, however, the bank (or lender) is not in the real-estate market, and the attitude toward short sales is changing. 2010 will find each side attempting to restructure and simplify the short sale and it will become a strong trend in pre foreclosure selling!

Join us next week for part two of our five part series.