CNN Money reports on California. “Five of the cities on the Bottom 10 list are from this region, making the long rural stretch of Highway 99 between Sacramento and Bakersfield look like a treacherous real estate ditch. ‘A market where housing has increased by so much so fast when unemployment is that high is unsustainable,’ says Frank Owens, who sits on the board of Fresno’s builders association. ‘This market is going south.’”
The Fresno Bee. “Real estate agent Twyla Smith is trying to promote herself in what has become a sluggish real estate market. It’s her way of trying to stand out from the throngs of agents who got into the field when the market was red hot and who now find themselves scrambling for business as home sales decline.”
“She got into the real estate business four years ago. So did hundreds of thousands of others looking for sure money. There are plenty of homes for sale and potential home buyers, but properties aren’t moving as fast. For Smith, that means her income is more uncertain now. ‘I have only been used to the booming market,’ she said. Now, she said, ‘you have to work harder.’”
“Now, her name and telephone number is on the sign outside the north Fresno home of Mike Kadrie, who had been trying to sell his home on his own since June with no solid offers.”
From Inman News. “Prudential California Realty is ‘rightsizing’ in recognition of the market realities of slower sales, said Sherry Chris, the company’s COO. ‘All companies are looking at what the right things to do right now are. We’re rightsizing our company, looking at cost-containment opportunities and growth opportunities,’ said Chris.”
“Chris said that the market conditions will present special challenges for the huge group of agents who are relatively new to the industry, and there likely will be a decrease in the agent population over the next 18 to 24 months. ‘This to me is a market correction. It’s just a leveling out of the market. It’s not a downturn that is going to be going on for an extended period of time,’ Chris said.”
Tags: Mortgages, Real Estate, Homes, Market Conditions
