Los Angeles

[dipr]

looking at this, seems like they have a lot of delays or the sales might not happen?

[Goran_K]

That's a big problem with housing these days, very few of these distressed sales actually close. 

It's also a big problem statistically too as the NAR attempts to use "pending sales" as a barometer for housing market health, sometimes double and triple counting homes that have been pending for 3-4 months. 

[Andiamo53]

^^^

So then Goran (and everyone else for that matter), what would you make of this article:  BS or cautious optimism?

http://news.yahoo.com/rising-sales-point-better-housing-173654738.html

[Seneca]

BS.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/nar-continues-tradition-making-mockery-itself-revises-december-home-sa...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveodland/2012/02/06/unemployment-8-3-or-11-or-15-1-2/

http://usawatchdog.com/8-3-unemployment-lie/

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/03/us-usa-economy-jobs-challenger-idUSTRE81111U20120203

http://www.gallup.com/poll/152753/Unemployment-Increases-Mid-February.aspx

If you're a journalist, you can't really go wrong predicting that housing may be recovering.  You can do that every single month from now until mid-century, and (1) no one with power and money will be angry at you, whether you are wrong or right, (2) you have plausible deniability either way it turns out, (3) you can use the same story over and over again, and sooner or later, you'll be right!  It's a no-brainer. phone-it-in story.

[Goran_K]

---

Andiamo53 wrote:

^^^

So then Goran (and everyone else for that matter), what would you make of this article:  BS or cautious optimism?

http://news.yahoo.com/rising-sales-point-better-housing-173654738.html

---

From your article Andiamo: "The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday..."

As soon as I read that sentence I knew the article had ZERO credibility. The NAR has a policy of distorting and lying about numbers. In fact they were caught doing that for the December numbers just recently:

NAR Continues Tradition Of Making Mockery Of Itself, Revises December Home Sales From +5% to -0.5%

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/nar-continues-tradition-making-mockery-itself-revises-december-home-sa...

As long as you assume that any NAR cited figures are lies or distortions, you will never be disappointed.

[starlitegirlx]

I've seen one pending, maybe two, go back on the market. I suspect that it's still the banks being cautious and not lending where they feel there is a risk or properties are still overassessed, which I'm finding is still the case despite everything that's gone on. It's like we're closer to actual value, but still not quite there.

[newatthis]

I think the term distressed tells a lot.

If you have a seller and buyer who are both financially able to do  the transaction quickly, things can run smoothly. I got a traditional mortgage and closed on a property that was owned by the same family for 30 years  in less than 30 days.

I think everything is bogging down so much because lending is stricter and there are so many underwater properties.

[IRGDIRECTREO]

most of these forums saddens me that I was here asking the same questions...

my answer has always been and still is: find a better help.  There are plenty out there.

world of real estate that I faced assures me that, yes there are real pros in this field.  Just that they are away from retail's reach.