Long Beach real estate news – CA

When a homeowner lists their home for sale and they owe more on the mortgage than it’s worth they are probably selling their home via a short sale. Many times when searching various internet sites you will find a listing that appears to be at a too good to be true price. If it appears to be too good to be true, then it probably is.

Often times real estate agents for whatever reason will advise clients to list their property way below market value when doing a short sale. Granted short sales are not as popular as say many reo or bankowned properties, but listing a short sale way below market does a disservice to the homeowner.

After all the bank must approve the short sale. A broker’s price opinion will be ordered and the comparables in the area will be reviewed to see if the accepted offer is appropriate or at market value. If the broker’s price opinion comes back much higher than the list and offer price the bank will not approve the short sale.

So it’s really important to understand that just because a property looks like a great deal, it may not be. If it’s listed just slightly below market then that is probably ok. Most bank owned properties are selling for market price in Long Beach right now, so a short sale listing agent may want to price the short sale property just below similar bank owned properties in the area. Slightly below market however is really no more than 5% below market value in some areas of Long Beach and often is just 2% below market value.

Your real estate agent should give you the buyer or seller a list of comparables in the area and discuss relevant pricing strategies. An experienced real estate agent that knows the market in your area should be able to give you all the comparable information that you need. If you have any questions feel free to contact me.