soundoff (4 Responses)

1. chrissy
   

   Well its no wonder they are raising, the prices are more realistic now!

   January 22, 2013 at 10:33 am | Report abuse |
2. Ancient Texan
   

   Speculators taking advantage of cheap mortgage money to buy for future appreciation?

   January 22, 2013 at 9:55 pm | Report abuse |
3. chrissy
   

   Lol yep @ Ancient Texan, and that too!

   January 22, 2013 at 10:24 pm | Report abuse |
4. Joanna
   

   I don't know where your reporter gets her informatioln but the people buying houses at these reduced prices are NOT first time buyers for the most part. The buyers are ALL CASH INVESTORS who swoop in and buy sight unseen, preventing any "average Joe" from getting a chance to BE a first time buyer. Your reporter should talk to real people, and to real estate AGENTS. They will tell you 19 out of 20 sales are in "back up offer" status before they even hit the MLS listing. And how do I know this? Personal experience at trying for over a year to buy a home. I am a 66 year old grandmother with high FICO scores, a good down payment, and am preapproved...and yet, on every single occasion, I have been put on the back burner in favor of an all cash investor. In one instance my offer was accepted, but then the bank kept raising the price! I agreed to the price change just to get into the home, and they turned right around and sold it out from under me to a cash investor at $50K more than they agreed to sell it to me. And I have a LIST of people to whom this has happened. Trying to buy a home as a 'regular' person these days is MORE DIFFICULT than EVER because investors are going crazy! So maybe your reporters should talk to people involved in the process instead of looking at reports turned in that only reflect sales going up but not who is doing the buying!

   January 23, 2013 at 2:04 pm | Report abuse |