Home inventories dropped again in the Reno-Sparks area and remain low with even fewer houses on the market at the end of February. There were 37 active bank owned properties for February (10% of the market), holding steady since January.
The actual closings in February were up which may reflect some of the pending sales at the end of the year that finally got through the sale process. Closings of traditional and REO sales was up and closed short sales remained steady from the previous month. Bank owned properties made up 7% of the market with 64 solds in February. January bank owned solds were 9% of the market but the actual number was less than in February with only 44 solds. Which means the number of bank owned properties being sold is rising.
Currently though, our local market is suffering from a huge lack of inventory so the concept of “supply and demand” is playing a huge part. "There are just fewer listings, traditional or not, on the market," says Dee McNeely of Dickson Realty. "That encourages people to really look at different options, like bank owned listings." But because of the lack of inventory, many bank owned and traditional listings that are priced correctly are receiving multiple offers and prices are being pushed up. This then causes some people not get their loan because the property doesn't appraise for the purchase price. Cash offers are coming in and buying up these listings because they don’t need to work around the appraisal.
If you are considering purchasing a property any time soon, you should definitely consider the bank owned properties on the market. They are nothing to fear, and you may find many of them at a slightly discounted rate in good neighborhoods, AND you will have an experienced Dickson agent with you the whole time, helping you through the process and always looking out for your best interests.
