I have a very good friend and Realtor(R) in San Diego, CA that I speak to about our market place. We coorespond often with newsletters, stats, and information about our areas, not to mention sharing our ideas.
She said something to me this morning that some of you may have a hard time with, but I know she is right on target. She said "Wow, Rick the Hilton Head Market is like our San Diego market was 6 months ago". She said our market 6 months ago had some foreclosures, some short sales, and activity was certainly up. She even sensed that people really thought the bottom would be around the corner. FAST FORWARD, right now she said the San Diego area is OVERWHELMED with REOs (Foreclosures) and short sales. OVERWHELMED! She says that people are buying and that they are selling, but almost everything selling is an REO. In our Hilton Head Area market we have some foreclosures and short sales, but certainly not the number that I think we will see 6 months or even a year from now. The number of foreclosure fillings in Beaufort county keeps rising and the number of short sales hitting the market place keeps going up on a daily basis. The banks are too short staffed to handle all of them, they are simply flooded with short sale requests, loan modifications, and consumer questions. Call your bank sometime and the automated line now says: If you have stopped paying press 1, if you are thinking about stopping payments press 3, if you are calling to negotiate a short sale press 9, if you are calling to modify your loan, press 5, etc..........it's amazing! People this is the reality of our market place, I try to prepare my clients for that and to inform them that we may be in for a long haul. So many people have stopped paying becuase of job loss, financial stress, or becuase they have given up hope of selling. I am seeing more and more people that just give up and don't even attempt to work with the bank on a loan modification or a short sale. If you plan to walk away, you have nothing to loose to try and negotiate with the bank or at the very least attempt to. Always take a proactive approach! Why leave it up to a miracle by simply walking away. Contact me today at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to discuss short sales or what is happening in our market place. We at the Carolina Realty Group study this market and the market trends constantly. We continue to be the number 1 Realty Group, Team or Agent in the Area!
