Costa Mesa Real Estate Blog

My how the market has changed- a year ago we were trying to figure out how short sales worked, and now a great majority of the homes coming into our local Costa Mesa market are bank-owned homes.

It is really interesting as you look back 6 months or so....At first, the banks were pricing their homes right in line with where the market was at, and now it seems they are creating the lower end of the Costa Mesa market. Most of the bank owned homes are coming on in the $375k-$525K price range, and most are experiencing incredible demand.

I represented a client in February who bought a bank owned home and it was a pretty interesting negotiation- we did the ping-pong routine for about five counter offers, then finally put our foot down with a best and final offer. We got it- and we actually shaved $80,000 off of their asking price. My client is in a great positioin- he sold his home a couple of years ago for an outrageous sum, and although he needs to put money into fixing the current home he purchased, he is still way ahead.

What is different about earlier this year and today with bank owned homes is that the prices have come down even further and many, many more people have become interested in them. And why not? When you can put 20% or even 10% down and it becomes a cash flow positive investment, it makes great sense. The Costa Mesa home you purchase today will certainly be worth more in time, and frankly I think we will see this market return sooner than expected.

I submitted another offer for a Costa Mesa home recently and there were already 15 offers on the banks desk- only 2 days after this home came on the market!!

If you are looking for a bank owned home in Costa Mesa or anywhere nearby in Orange County, call me at 714-743-9882 and I would love to talk to you about our auction buying program called ClientDirect.