Monterey County Foreclosures Makes Home Buying Possible

September 23rd, 2008

Monterey County has recorded that about 63.1 percent of the properties sold in August were a foreclosed property. The county real estate had a huge rate of foreclosures last month. The properties sold in August last year comprised only 7 percent of foreclosed properties. The median sales price for homes in Monterey County in the month of August was $299,000. It shows a decline of nearly 48 percent from what it was last year during the same month. The median sales price in July was $307,000. The decline in price of homes has made a large number of first-time buyers to buy homes that would have been otherwise impossible for them to buy.

The sales activity in the month of August in Monterey County was 74.6 percent higher than the figure last year during the same period. This included a total of 398 sales which had both new and old condos and single-family homes. The total sales activity in the county last year August was 228. Today, the Monterey County has become a very affordable place to buy a property, which people could not think of a few years back. Foreclosures are increasing and price of homes are falling at the same time in the county.

Real estate expert Sandy Haney has said, “Historically, we are always one of the least-affordable areas. We’re not on that list anymore. We’ve moved someplace that I didn’t think we’d ever go.” A large number of investors are also coming up to take the advantage of this situation. They are buying the properties at much cheaper rates. There is a stiff competition among the buyers in this foreclosure market. They have started to bid on multiple properties at a time. The percentage of households which could have afforded to buy only an entry-level property in Monterey County has increased to 40 by the close of the second half. It was 17 in the second half last year.

Once it used to take about a month or even more than that to have a prospective tenant for a rental home. However, these rentals are having their filings much faster due to the fact that more number of applicants is contending for a single rental property. As Cryder puts it, “The rental business is huge these days. We can’t keep anything.” Though foreclosure is a big hit to the housing market, but it is proving highly beneficial for the first time buyers.