The muted market
REAL ESTATE
Many buyers and sellers are playing the waiting game, but there is some movement, especially in foreclosures.
THEY filed into the Eagle Rock open house alone and in groups. Others came in pairs, as if boarding Noah's ark. Some had been looking for two years, some longer.
Twenty-three families checked out the bedrooms (small), dining room (large) and kitchen (upgraded) during the four-hour open house on a recent cool, cloudy Sunday. Three expressed interest in buying the three-bedroom "character home," as Coldwell Banker agent Denise Barnes described the 1,364-square-foot 1922 California bungalow, reduced to $605,000 from $645,000. But most said they were waiting for prices to drop further.
"It's pretty ugly out there," said longtime Coldwell Banker broker David Toyama, who specializes in Eagle Rock, Glassell Park, Highland Park and Azusa. His business is down 50% from a year ago, he said, "and that wasn't our best year either."
Hope springs eternal, however, and spring typically is the season of highest hopes for buyers and sellers. Despite slumping consumer confidence and ever-worsening economic news, some hardy souls are venturing into the housing market, and not all of them are just looking.
"This won't be a silent spring; we'll have a muted spring," said Andrew LePage, an analyst with DataQuick Information Systems, which tracks home sales and prices. "We're not diving into the abyss, but it's very slow."
Those who can stomach the risk of some short-term equity loss on a home they expect to keep for several years and eventually see appreciate are inching their way back to the market, economists and agents say.
That's because mortgage rates have ticked down from 6.07% for a 30-year fixed-rate loan in early January, according to Freddie Mac, to 5.88% early this month, conforming loan limits have gone up in some Southland areas -- from $417,000 to $729,750 -- and there are plenty of homes for sale, said economist G.U. Krueger of IHP Capital Markets, an Irvine residential real estate investment firm.
Buyers waiting for the market to scrape bottom, however, probably will have to wait longer, economists say, as those who aren't in a hurry to list their properties will be sitting tight.
"There are a lot of foreclosures to compete with," Krueger said. "Eventually, that inventory will burn off, and we'll have stability in the prices. You'll see a slew of buyers then . . . thinking the market's bottomed out."
Deal sweeteners
