End of the Year Finds Good News for North County Real Estate

Sales of  all properties in the north county  were  6% higher in 2009 then they were in 2008 with a very strong surge in the last months of the year.   What does this really mean? What this may indicate is that the bottom has likely been reached in this area.   What we expect for 2010 is a stable market without much in the way of price increases but with a strong possibility of another year of increasing sales volume.   Sales of  bank owned properties will still be with us for some time yet as well as sellers “underwater” resorting to short sales. 

  However, sellers who do have equity who would like to sell should not be shy about selling if they intend to purchase another property.  Equity is equity and you may sell for less at the present time but you will also buy for much less and have a larger amount of available inventory to choose from.    There are two other large inducements to selling and buying now.  There have never been lower interest rates and a lot of experts do not expect that to last long. The second one is a new tax credit available until April 30th to qualifying buyers who have owned their existing homes for at least 5 consecutive years and meet other guidelines.  The most demand right now is for homes in the $400,000 and down range.  The best buys are for the larger homes in sought after locations where there are a lot of excellent buying opportunities.