Supply and demand. There are more buyers than the number of homes for sale or available. There's a lot of first time homebuyers wanting to buy, and I believe the demand will increase more when these people who sold their properties (short sales) are able to buy again. So if you are planning to have a house the end of this year, you may need to start placing offers now. Seriously.

Good Luck,
Charita King

Tell me about it! It took us 8 offers to finally get a house and each had multiple offers. My advice - ignore the listing price on REO's, make your informed best offer based upon research of value and wait and see.
Best of luck.

I was also going to add that unless it is due to financial reasons you should not wait. The first time buyer credit ends this year and though it may take a lot of patience to purchase a property,you will be encountering higher interest rates and higher prices on properties if you wait.

I know it is discouraging, but if you keep at it as already suggested, and you maximize your strategy to buy you will find success in the end. I have been successful with my buyers who are first-time buyers with FHA financing which puts us in the pack with a lot of buyers, but I have found homes for them and in my most recent sale that just closed. We paid $360K in Lakewood and the house appraised for $376K. So they are real happy!

Good Luck, don't get discouraged and if I can be of any further help, please feel free to contact me at 714-296-7270 or email me at bstrealtor@aol.com.

Regards,
Barbara Robbins-Olexa, Broker, e-Pro(R) Internet Certified, SRES(R)
L B Brokerage
714-296-7270
bstrealtor@aoal.com http://www.barbararobbinsolexa.com

Hi Jeanne, don’t get discouraged. What you must have is a game plan where you and your selected agent work as a team.

Presently I have five clients (buyers) who are encountering this same scenario, but I have learned how to help guide and manage them through this process. The key here is keeping emotional stability, not falling in love with a home, and understanding that the right home for you will become yours.

Now as to finding a home, with out gang or crime issues, really comes down to what you can afford. So not having that dollar figure in front of me makes it impossible for me to answer this part of your question.

So bottom line, if you approach this like a game with a touch of investor persona...You will succeed in finding the right home with out over paying for it. You just need a good coach to guide you, that good coach for you is a well trained agent.