Slow Down in REO Homes for Sale in the Orange County MLS
In a recent post, we discussed the Orange County REO sales trends for November, 2008 and reported that 43% of the REO homes sold in South Orange County closed for OVER the price listed in the MLS.
We’ve been saying that the REO market is the fastest moving segment of today’s Orange County Real Estate market. There are REO homes for sale across Orange County and still represent what we think are the best deals to be made in this market. However, we’ve noticed a decrease in the number of new REO homes for sale in the Orange County Multiple Listing Service (MLS) despite the media reports of increases in foreclosure rates. Here’s what’s going on.
According to a recent newsletter published by the National REO Brokers’ Association – a nation-wide organization of REO listing agents incorporated in Nevada in 1998 – there are holdbacks on REO properties across every market in the county. These holdbacks are the result of the strangest and most severe crisis in the world market that anyone has ever seen. There is so much flux in the bank and lending industry that portfolios of foreclosed properties are being held from release into the market place. Because of the widespread turmoil in the financial sector, and with so many institutions up for sale, portfolios of REO properties are being auctioned off or traded from one institution to another.
What does this mean to you as a potential Orange County home buyer? Fewer REO listings have come on the market in the last 4 – 6 weeks, and fewer are predicted in the near future. However, these Bank Owned properties will need to be sold – so they will enter the market soon. These holdbacks are temporary. We predict that we’ll start to see more REO properties for sale in the Orange County MLS in the first quarter of the New Year. Let’s see if we’re right!
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