Market News-Have we turned the corner?

Warmington starts building anew, Phase 2 of a gated neighborhood in Chatsworth, 12/2011 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>I like to touch base any time I think you'd appreciate my latest market take. The Real Estate market is getting stronger, aided by seasonal activity (a preponderance of sales take place in the four months May June July August), sales remain steady in all areas of the market. I must emphasize this is locally in Southern California. On a national basis you'll see all kinds of gloom and doom. Foreclosures continue to rise unabated. Floods in the Midwest. Gigantic wildfires in the Southwest. But not here in So Cal! In The SFV-Malibu-Conejo-Topanga markets where I do most of my business, foreclosures seem to take up a smaller and smaller portion of the market. I know this firsthand, because I have an investment group that actively seeks these out. Flips are still very possible in this market. This brings me to a phenomena I associate with market bottoms- the CASH buyers are very active in our market. Maybe you've noticed, maybe you haven't, but sales volume in the equity (stocks) markets has tumbled. Any guy on Wall Street will tell you the retail buyer has disappeared. That's because there's more money to be made in real estate. There's also the big brokerages like Goldman Sachs forming investment groups, with what appears to me to be a 3 or 5 year window. They are paying top dollar- often in excess of list price. According to the National Association of Realtors monthly Realtors Confidence Index survey, cash buyers are a steady 35% of the market at the moment. You always see "hot money" at the market bottoms. Also, in the hottest locations, developers have started building again. Look at Warmington. They are finishing the "phase two" of all their gated developments. There's one on Topanga north of Devonshire. So if I were to venture an educated guess, this market is at or near a bottom, and has been so for about seven months, bumping along, with maybe another eight to ten months to go. If you're one of those "waiting for things to go down" buyers, well, look around, they have! I'm not trying to panic you into anything- I think you probably have about six months, maybe more, to grab a good deal at these prices. I sent a very similar letter to my buyers back in 1992. That was the bottom then, and things took another two years to get cooking. So keep looking, there are great bargains out there. The only wild card to me is how long interest rates stay at the bottom like this. I am available any time for your questions, and don't be afraid to leave your number. I have a lot of people in my database. You won't get called relentlessly. I simply do not have the time.