August 2010

Pete's Update

Hi again, everyone! We hope your summer has been happy and healthy so far.

The real estate market continues a "W-shaped" recovery, with several steps forward and several steps back, depending on which day you choose to look at it. The good and bad news items continue to balance each other -- creating "stability" of all things by giving buyers and sellers equal opportunities. For buyers with good credit and cash or equity in their homes, these are great times. For sellers with equity, these are also good times.

Traditional sales are generally much more attractive options for buyers than are short sales or bank-owned homes. Buyers will pay considerably more for a home that they can expect to close in 30 to 60 days. In the case of short sales or bank-owned properties buyers are never sure when or even if they will close. We have seen traditional sales of similar homes sell for 10% more than the short-sale and bank-owned versions.

I am not in the double-dip recession camp, but I believe we will have our up and down days and weeks. This period resembles the middle 1990s to me, but with much better interest rates. Back in the middle 1990s we were looking at interest rates of 11-14%. Today, we are looking at historically low 30-yr fixed-rate loans of under 5%.

The Torrey Team would like to thank you, our loyal customers and friends, for helping make the first half of 2010 the best in our 33-year history. In the first six months of this year the Torreys sold 28 properties! We really appreciate your faith and trust. Let us know if we can help you buy or sell real estate.