Currently, there is intense competition among buyers in the Santa Maria market. If this is a buyer’s market, it sure doesn’t feel like it anymore. Indeed, with the banks calling almost all the shots in the under $300,000 market (short sales and foreclosures), it certainly feels like a sellers market.
There are 442 active or contingent listings in Santa Maria and Orcutt. However, over half of those listings (248) are contingent short sales, and only 35 are active REO listings. The contingent short sales are in the waiting stage, i.e., waiting on bank approval of their terms. The REO (bank owned) listing inventory appears to have shrunk in the last couple of months, with buyers waiting on the sidelines to pounce on the next bank owned listing.
It is not unusual to find that a foreclosure listing has received 15 offers. As a result, buyers are also heavily concentrating on short sale inventory. Multiple offers on the first day are also quite common for short sales. 271 units are pending, 49 of those are short sales, and 128 of them are REOs. In the past 30 days, 128 single family residences were sold in the Santa Maria – Orcutt market; 68 of them were REOs, and 31 were short sales.
In this fast moving market, emailed property listing alerts are a must. If you would like email alerts or a list of available homes in the Santa Maria or Orcutt area, send an email to me at tni@MintProp.com. You can also search for properties on my websites: www.iLoveSantaMaria.com, www.SantaMariaRealEstateSearch.com, & www.BuySantaMariaForeclosures.com (map based search). If you have questions about a specific property, or would like to set up an appointment to consult about a possible short sale of your property, I can be reached at (805) 878-9879.
Tni LeBlanc, JD, M.A., e-PRO
Broker/Owner, Mint Properties
(805) 878-9879, tni@MintProp.com
www.iLoveSantaMaria.com
www.SellMySantaMariaHome.com
www.BuySantaMariaForeclosures.com
www.SantaMariaRealEstateSearch.com
- Based on the information from the Central Coast Regional MLS. Neither the Association, the Multiple Listing Service, or Mint Properties guarantees or is in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by the Association or its MLS may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.
