It’s a buyer’s market for real estate sales

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – July 7, 2009 – A combination of factors from interest rates to inventory is bringing more buyers into the market.

Meanwhile, federal programs are helping distressed owners keep their homes as tough times in the real estate market turn around.

“You might say it’s a perfect storm for buyers at this time,” says Carolyn Bierbaum, general manager at Cressy & Everett. “Buyers that are qualified to buy should buy. Why not jump in when interest rates are as low as they have ever been?”

Mortgage payments are often lower than rent, so worries about employment are canceled: “It’s going to have the same outcome,” she says.

A tax credit for first-time homeowners and a glut of houses on the market complete the perfect storm.

“There’s tons of inventory for them,” Bierbaum says. “They can pick and choose. We have more than a six-month supply. That means it’s a buyers’ market.

“What I am hearing from the agents who are busy is they have lots of interested buyers.”

Successful agents know how to assess risk factors, weigh advantages and communicate clearly with clients. Twenty-five percent to 30 percent of the agents are enjoying business at least as good as before the downturn.

“Today’s Realtor needs to know who their client is,” Bierbaum says. “They need to distinguish themselves,” both in their degree of knowledge and their facility with modem communications tools, such as texting and Facebook, which is a focus for many in the generation of first-time homebuyers.

“They need to relate to their client in the mode their client is in. We’re moving into the X and Y generation, and these people use their thumbs on a little machine.”

Some customers still prefer the traditional services where the agent finds the house, shows it to them and takes them to the lender.

The firm has brought in educators to teach agents how to handle short sales and other special elements of the unusual market.

Short sales, which involve the lender’s accepting the price a buyer is willing to pay even when it is lower than the owner’s debt in order to avoid foreclosure proceedings, have become more accepted.

“You might have to do a short sale,” Bierbaum says. “You need an agent who can help with that. Now banks are capitulating to the idea that short sales are in their best interest.”

Programs in the Obama administration offer help – loan modification or loan refinance –for owners whose mortgage payment is more than 31 percent of their take-home pay.

Copyright © 2009 Tribune Business Weekly