Foreclosures are high, but more buyers are showing interest
Local Realtor David Baumgartner feels sorry for all the people
losing their homes, but he also sees the bright side of the housing
market these days
– first-time homebuyers having options they didn’t have before
and assuredness the industry will hit its stride again.
Foreclosures are high, but more buyers are showing interest
Local Realtor David Baumgartner feels sorry for all the people losing their homes, but he also sees the bright side of the housing market these days – first-time homebuyers having options they didn’t have before and assuredness the industry will hit its stride again.
“I feel sorry for the people who are losing their homes,” said Baumgartner, of the Baumgartner Realty in Hollister. “But on the other hand, I feel good about the people who get the American dream, buying a home.”
Some real estate agents in San Benito County such as Baumgartner this week touted signs of a market turnaround despite steadily poor foreclosure numbers, while pointing out how first-time buyers have opportunities they hadn’t had in decades around here.
Figures released last week by Irvine-based RealtyTrac, however, show the negative impact that the housing downturn continues to have on many local families.
Those numbers showed that there were 129 noticed of default – the first stage of foreclosure – filed in May 2009.
As a whole in California, there were more than 92,000 homes in foreclosure, but that was a 4.5 percent decline from April.
The notices of default number in San Benito County represented a 49 percent spike, as the overall number of properties in some stage of foreclosure increased by 33 percent over the prior month, according to the figures.
Local Realtors, though, pointed to there being a lot more activity in the market in recent weeks and months – and those first-time buyers continuing to have more opportunities to afford a house.
Marilyn Ferreira of Intero Real Estate noted how the “market today is moving very fast” and she said there have been multiple offers – including short sales – on many homes.
She believes it is the first time in 20 years when homes have been affordable for many first-time buyers in the area.
“It’s a great market,” she said. “There were no first-time buyers a few years ago.”
Ferreira pointed out that a “tremendous” slate of intentives – such as V.A. loans and tax credits – also are enticing buyers to enter the market.
She also contends, despite May’s poor numbers locally, that the foreclosure market as a whole is improving.
“I am very encouraged by the pace of the market,” said Ferreira, who added she has been holding first-time buyers seminars in recent months. “But unemployment is going to be playing a big role this fall, and now, because people are losing their jobs.”
Intero Real Estate Broker Ray Pierce also said he is “pretty optimistic” about the current housing market.
“We’ve seen bad markets before, but the real-estate market always turns around in California.”
With interest rates and home prices being at “historic lows,” Pierce said the market can only improve.
“We’ve been through the toughest part of it and we have nowhere to go except up,” Pierce said.
Baumgartner concurred: “Not to say it’s going to happen overnight or tomorrow, but it will happen.”
Staff writer Colin McConville contributed to this report.
