aprilFOOLS2013

Housing market mania / Multiple offers are routine, many above the asking price — buyers coddle sellers and OK deals with few contingencies

What could will go wrong?

Tim and Trish Davis sold their five-bedroom home in Vacaville in four days. Even with a $150,000 profit from that sale earlier this month, however, they’re fighting to land a house in Moraga or Lafayette, towns closer to their jobs and with strong school systems for their two teenagers.

A week ago, the Davises offered $775,000 for a three-bedroom home listed for $725,000. There were 13 offers, eight above $800,000.

“We knew the base price (in Moraga) would be high,” said Tim Davis, a 45- year-old account manager for Coca-Cola in Oakland. “But what we didn’t realize was that the bidding war was going to be so brutal.”

Despite the plodding pace of the Bay Area’s economic recovery, the housing market is roaring, driven in part by rock-bottom interest rates and a relatively low number of properties for sale. In a flashback to the whirlwind days of the dot-com era, multiple offers of 10 or more have become increasingly common in the last few months, and desirable homes are selling within days — sometimes for $300,000 or more above the asking price.

As sellers preside over the fray, buyers are becoming more desperate. Some are letting the seller live in the home rent-free for months after the sale; others are writing offers with few — or no — contingencies. And a growing number of buyers are shouldering riskier loans in an effort to afford their dream home.

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