Poorly thought out housing policies....
Here is just another example of a housing policy put in place by our beloved government agencies can have a negative effect on home prices. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have a 30 day first look policy in Las Vegas (most of the country this period is 15 days). During this 30 day period, the only offers that will be considered on the home are offers by buyers that intend to occupie the property as their primary residence. Very altruistic on the Fannie and Freddies part. It is a great idea to let homebuyers that are getting a loan and are going to live in the property have a chance to buy it without actually competing with Cash investors. The issue is, the majority of our market is made up of cash investors (52% in July). There are not enough owner occupied buyers to buy up all of the homes for sale. So, the home sits there for 30 days and does not sell. At the end of that period, Fannie and Freddie say oh, the home did not sell, so we must lower the price. Viola! A cash investor buys it and off we go. With an over supply of homes and not enough demand from owner occupied buyers, doesn't it make sense to have the homes open to all buyers from the get go, but give priority to owner occupied buyers instead of giving the cash investors a discount after the home has not sold for 30 days? Let the investors buy the homes at the fresh on the market price (they will, and they are with other properties). We need to look at any way possible to preserve our home prices. Getting rid of the 30 day first look will help.
Posted at 12:09PM Aug 11, 2011 by Jeff and Kelly Stafford in Real Estate | Comments[0]
