Lyman Menger's Blog

It is my observation that there are two real estate

markets operating side by side today.  One is the

regular market that encompasses non bank own-

ed property that are placed on the market at or

near the real value of the offering, and the second

is the bank owned and short sale market where

either the bank owner or the real estate agent

who takes the listing places the property on the

market at a fictitiously low price encouraging

potential buyers to act with an auction mentality

that drives the price up to where it probably

belongs, or higher.   Buyers in this second market

have little or no bargaining power and must

comply with the terms dictated to them by the

bank owner.  If you don’t do it their way, the

buyers offer is not even considered.  And because

there are so many people vieing for each low

priced property, the buyers do not have any

ability to negotiate.

Additionally, while these predominantly lower

priced homes that qualify for FHA financing and

are thus in the first time home buyer category,

they are being scooped up by investors and

investment money pools.

This second real estate market is a frustration to

everyone involved – agents and buyers.  Almost

every bank owned property receives multiple

offers, as many as 50 or more in some cases.  Of

course only one buyer gets the property and all

the rest go back to looking.  This is absolutely not

a healthy real estate market in my opinion.

WHAT DO YOU THINK!!!